Per Twitter: Malik Zaire to Florida

Submitted by The Baughz on

Just saw some posts on twitter saying Zaire has committed to the Gators. Looks like that game just got a little harder. I was hoping to face a guy with a lot less experience. Oh well. Was going to be a dog fight regardless who was at QB. 

FGB

May 29th, 2017 at 12:49 AM ^

Per SEC rules, they had two grad transfers that failed to meet certain academic requirements, so they are barred from taking any other grad transfers for three years. 

https://www.seccountry.com/florida/report-former-notre-dame-qb-malik-za…

Who'd have guessed the SEC would have a rule to encourage academic performance.  Thank god they'll be correcting things in line with their MO by revoking that rule for a competitive sports edge.

Michigan4Life

May 28th, 2017 at 9:18 PM ^

because DeShone Kizer is a NFL QB who stepped up immediately and seized the starting job when Zaire got hurt. It was that point where Brian Kelly couldn't bench Kizer because of his performance as a redshirt freshman. Zaire never lost his starting job with his play on the field, he lost it because he got hurt and Kizer was a stud when he took over. Zaire was on fire to begin his sophomore campaign.

PopeLando

May 28th, 2017 at 6:23 PM ^

I remember the Florida bowl game, where the announcers said that the Gator QB could really run the football well...but that Florida would not be taking advantage of that, because they wanted to be a RB-based offense. I was like, "tough luck Florida fans. We've been there, and it sucks"

bacon1431

May 28th, 2017 at 2:24 PM ^

He didn't get spring football with them. Their offense hasn't been good under McElwain. He will have a month to prepare for his first game. And it will be against a Don Brownn defense. I'm not very worried.

alum96

May 28th, 2017 at 3:17 PM ^

This only helps our strength of schedule for playoff seeding, when we trounce them and UF goes on to be 10-2 behind Zaire.

#MemorialDayKoolAid

lhglrkwg

May 28th, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^

It's bearly June and he's not even officially there yet. Do we think he'll master the offense in 3 months? If I was Florida I'd be nervous marching him out there fresh off the boat against what should be a very good defense. Odds are good that he throws more picks than TDs

Guy Fawkes

May 28th, 2017 at 4:03 PM ^

Nothing to worry about. This guy isn't a world beater and him playing Michigan in his first game is much more worrisome for him than it is for anyone on Michigan. Only kicker is if the offense gets a lead in the 1st half

MichiganStan

May 28th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^

Am I missing something or are Malik Zaires stats pretty much unimpressive and incomplete?

2014: 21/35 completions, 266 passing yards, 1TD

2015: 26/40 completions, 428 passing yards, 4TD

2016: 11/23 completions, 122 passing yards, 1TD

He's barely played. He's been beat out by Gholson and Kizer every year.

Seems he just has a "Big Name" due to all the QB contrversy that happened at Notre Dame

I completely fine if we have to face him against Florida. He's going to have a tough time running against don browns defense which could equate to some poor passes that our secondary can pick off. Plus its his first game at Florida and he wont have much prep time. THis could be really good for us.

 

LSAClassOf2000

May 28th, 2017 at 4:47 PM ^

Well, that makes the Florida game a little more interesting perhaps, although I am still pretty sure we can win this one all the same. 

Of course, it means that Austin Appleby won't be able to show off his inner Purdue from go, but maybe that's better for Florida.

Bp6

May 28th, 2017 at 11:09 PM ^

I'm surprised more of you are not worried about this transfer. None of our corners have much experience, and none have stood out so far through winter / spring. I think the Zaire transfer makes floridas offense better for sure, it's just how much better? Certainly, if Malik plays like his former self, floridas offense will be much tougher to defend. I certainly believe that coach brown and the rest of our defensive staff will have our corners in a better place than they are now. I still think Michigan wins, but shit could go either way now.

pmark1210

May 29th, 2017 at 12:49 AM ^

exactly. it's funny to see all the "he couldn't start at nd" talk here. dude was highly recruited, starting at nd until he broke his leg. then an nfl an stepped up. No shit he didn't win the job back. I'm very concerned about him going to Florida. it makes them better. that's not ideal.

MichiganStan

May 29th, 2017 at 2:20 AM ^

Highly recruited doesnt mean shit. So he had a 92 247 rating. 10th best DUAL THREAT QB in the nation.  Big woop!

He played ONE good game in 2015 yet you guys are acting like Florida just got Baker Mayfield or something.

He has like 90 pass attempts in 3 years for 800 yards total. He's going to be playing at a new school in a new offense with new recievers against one of the best defenses in the nation. He's the one thats fucked.

Do these game logs scare you?

http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/gamelog/_/id/550967/year/20…

Once he gets some expierence under Floridas offense a few games into the season sure he might be a good QB but the 1st game? Doubtful he comes out and tears us a part

 

 

 

Bodogblog

May 29th, 2017 at 11:06 AM ^

It's Nussmeier primarily.  H3 couldn't do much with what he had here in a longer window of time (even though still very short here).  His offense is extremely risk averse and run based.  Brown won't let you run, you've really got to trick him a la FSU.  But that takes practice time and Zaire will need all of that just to get the O down.  Stop a few tricks and the few shots they take downfield and the defense should have a good day. 

MichiganStan

May 29th, 2017 at 1:46 AM ^

"If Malik plays like his former self"

He doesnt really have much of a former self to judge. He's barely played in college. Add in the fact he's now going to be playing at an entirely new school and offense in his first game I think Michigan will be fine.

Not an easy feat to transfer to a new school and conference and come out of the gate throwing like a top 10 QB. Theres a better chance he comes out making a lot of mistakes than there is he comes out ring us apart. He wont have the best rhythm with his recievers. He'll be going up aganist one of the best D-Lines in the nation.

 

Wolfman

May 29th, 2017 at 1:25 AM ^

I recall the first thread we started on this subject matter. Many made the point about what problems Zaire might represent to our defense. I made the statement then, based on McElwain's statements about him "looking forward to our current quarterback and it's going to be fun going forward." At that time I stated obviously he wouldn't be going to FL after a statement of that nature. Well, how very wrong. He could present more than a few problems, but he still has to fine tune so much, i.e., timing, "go to receiver," etc. In other words, I think he would have a lot more on his plate than our defense. In any regard, with him should be a more exciting game and we have to beat who's in front of us routinely until we're back, so I think we accept the challenge and prevail. Thus will be Coach's message.