The road is clear for former Notre Dame quarterback Malik Zaire to transfer to Florida, should he so choose. And it's widely expected that he will.
On Friday, at the conclusion of this year's SEC spring meetings in Destin, Florida, the conference amended its graduate transfer rule that would allow Zaire, who as of this week was reportedly leaning towards Florida, to transfer to the Gators. While Zaire has not officially announced his destination, the following tweet seems rather clear...
Let's go!!!!!!!!!!
— Malik Zaire (@Lucky9Lefty) June 2, 2017
Florida was banned from taking grad transfers for a three-year period, ending in 2018, because two previous transfers failed to meet academic requirements. However, that rule has now changed. According to UF athletic director Scott Stricklin, via the Tampa Bay Times, if a grad transfer does not make adequate academic progress, the program is restricted from taking another grad transfer only the following year.
The SEC was the only Power Five conference with such a restriction on graduate transfers, thus putting it at a competitive disadvantage. The new one-year probationary period is still unique to the SEC.
Zaire is also said to be considering Texas and Harvard, among others. However, the longer Zaire went without making a decision, the more likely it seemed that he was waiting on the results from this week's meetings in Destin. With the SEC's amended rule, Zaire is free to transfer to the Gators, where he would provide instant depth at the quarterback position.
Florida enters the 2017 season counting on redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks to win the job. He is presently competing with classmate Kyle Trask and redshirt junior Luke Del Rio, the 2016 starter, for the job. Del Rio missed all of spring practice while recovering from multiple surgeries.
