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Surgery for Luke Del Rio could open the door for Feleipe Franks at QB for Florida

Feleipe Franks (13) moved up to second on Florida's quarterback depth chart behind Austin Appleby when Luke Del Rio was injured. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Feleipe Franks (13) moved up to second on Florida’s quarterback depth chart behind Austin Appleby when Luke Del Rio was injured. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

When healthy in 2016, Florida quarterback Luke Del Rio didn’t do enough to lock up the starting gig heading into 2017.

Del Rio was up-and-down in six starts, but missed time because of knee and shoulder injuries. He was set to enter a competition with redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks, a heralded four-star recruit, but that shoulder will delay that competition until the fall, leaving an opening for Franks to make his presence known.

Florida announced Thursday that Del Rio had successful surgery on Wednesday on his non-throwing shoulder. The injury will cause him to miss spring camp, leaving the door open for Franks and fellow redshirt freshman Kyle Trask to take the majority of the reps.

Del Rio, who began his career as a walk-on at Alabama and had a stop at Oregon State, began the season as UF’s starter and posted a 5-1 record in his starts. He threw for 1,358 yards, eight touchdowns and eight interceptions on the year while completing 56.7 percent of his passes. Del Rio suffered a knee injury Week 3, which sidelined him for two games. He returned as the starter later in the year, but injured the shoulder in a Nov. 5 loss to Arkansas.

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Purdue transfer Austin Appleby took over the rest of the season. Gators coach Jim McElwain said Del Rio was healthy enough to play in the team’s bowl game, but opted to stick with Appleby, a fifth-year senior, in what ended up being a 30-3 win over Iowa.

While Del Rio was out, Franks — the No. 57 overall prospect in the 2016 class — moved up to No. 2 on the Gators’ depth chart, but was never forced to burn his redshirt. With that year of experience under his belt, he will have a big opportunity to prove to the coaches he should be the man under center when Florida opens its schedule against Michigan in September.

If not, McElwain could opt for the veteran presence of Del Rio while bringing Franks along slowly.

For more Florida news, visit InsideTheGators.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!