It's clear why Aaron Philo was Florida's obvious choice to be QB1

The worst-kept secret in Gainesville has been revealed — Aaron Philo will be the Florida Gators' starting quarterback when they open the season against Florida Atlantic on September 5.

Despite all the talk of a true quarterback competition between Philo and Tramell Jones Jr., this was going to be the likely end result. Philo transferred to Florida in the offseason from Georgia Tech, following offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, and the general belief was that he was handpicked by the coach to run his offense.

"We are moving forward with the quarterback situation. Aaron Philo is going to go with the ones more than anyone. We are preparing for him to be the starter for Week 1," Jon Sumrall said in Monday's media session.

Sumrall added that he met with both players Sunday, and while Jones will continue to get some reps with the first team during practice as well, this is officially Philo's show.

Aaron Philo will be the starting QB and it makes sense

There have been some legitimate questions about Philo since he arrived in Gainesville, and we've gotten to see him on the field. The arm strength is decent, but it's not anything special. He's got some size, probably a little thicker than the 6-foot-1, 207 pounds he's listed as, and that's going to be very important in an offense where the QB run game is important.

It's hard not to like Philo's mentality. He appears to be a gamer and he clearly hates Georgia, which is a big positiive. Philo has embraced whatever competition, real or perceived, that there was for the position. Jones, by his own admission, is continuing to grow in the offense, and by presenting some real physical arm talent that might have even caught the coaches by surprise, he could give them less hesitation to make a switch if things don't go as planned early. 

But this decision primarily came down to comfort. Sumrall and Faulkner are more comfortable with the knowledge that Philo has of what they want to do on offense and his ability to execute everything to their specifications.

"Yeah, I would say [Philo's ability to] operate at the line of scrimmage at just a touch higher level and more efficient," Sumrall added. "You know, there's no surprise to that in spring, because he had been in the system and Tramell had not. Tramell has improved a ton, but I still think we're able to operate the full offense at a little bit higher level right now with Aaron and with the whole package."

Don't take this as a sign of Sumrall settling. He's going to be ten toes down on Philo and give the redshirt sophomore plenty of runway to show that he can be what the Gators will need him to be this year. Now it's time for the team and fans to rally around Philo and hope that his play on the field will be the foundation for the success that everyone around Gators football wants to see. 

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