Florida Football: 5 Best QBs Gators Will Face in 2015

As Florida enters its new era under head coach Jim McElwain this season, the Gators will be able to rely on what should be a strong pass defense honed under Will Muschamp.

Florida returns star cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III and the rest of its starters in the secondary as well as a few strong contributors in 2015.

Although the Gators fell to No. 42 nationally in pass defense last season, they have the tools to make a jump in the rankings this fall.

The opposing quarterbacks on Florida's schedule are clouded with intrigue at this point in the preseason. Outside of a few returning starters, a lot of the 2015 opponents are still in the midst of quarterback battles in what will be a year filled with new signal-callers in college football.

Here's a look at the top five opposing quarterbacks Florida will face during the regular season, based on experience and the amount of returning talent around them on their respective offenses.

5. Maty Mauk (Missouri)

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Let's go ahead and get this out of the way—Maty Mauk's statistics against Florida in the last two seasons have been underwhelming at best. Mauk completed only 50 percent of his passes against the Gators in 2013 before an absolutely dreadful 6-of-18 performance for only 20 yards at the Swamp in 2014.

However, Mauk and those Missouri teams won both games by comfortable margins and went on to claim titles in the SEC East.

Heading into 2015, Mauk is the elder statesman among the division's quarterbacks.

Yes, Mauk has struggled against Florida's vaunted pass defense and is without his top four receivers from a season ago. But one can't argue with his knack for getting victories, even when the journeys to them aren't pretty.

"Sometimes it might be sloppy," Mauk told Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee at SEC media days. "A 27 QBR or whatever it is, but 14-4 as a starter. I'll take wins over that. I'm not a guy going out there for stats, I'm here to win football games."

With another year of experience and another offseason of preparation, Mauk could turn his numbers around against Florida this fall. Just don't expect another 20-yard game.

4. Patrick Towles (Kentucky)

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In just the third start of his collegiate career, Patrick Towles stepped up and gave Florida quite a scare last season in the Swamp.

Kentucky's now-junior quarterback threw for 369 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats' triple-overtime loss to Florida. That yardage through the air was the most Florida had allowed in the Will Muschamp era until Alabama and East Carolina broke the 400-yard mark later in the season.

"He really did some outstanding things," Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops told Kyle Tucker of the Courier-Journal after Towles' performance. "Just some of the throws were really big-time throws. And I think he showed a lot of poise. ... The place was extremely loud. Really, I thought he handled himself very well."

Now Towles will face Florida at home this season and look to snap the Wildcats' long losing streak against the Gators.

While two of Kentucky's top three receivers from last season have departed, Towles will have four returning starters in front of him on the offensive line.

Towles will go into the matchup this season with confidence from his 2014 performance. His performances slipped toward the end of the year, but he should be fresh for this mid-September matchup.

3. Chad Kelly (Ole Miss)

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A number of the Gators' SEC opponents—Ole Miss, LSU, Georgia and South Carolina—are going through quarterback battles at the moment.

But considering the amount of weapons he'll inherit if he wins the starting job in Oxford, let's pencil in Chad Kelly here.

Kelly, a former 4-star high school prospect, is coming off an unbelievable season at East Mississippi Community College, where the Rebels picked up former starter Bo Wallace. He threw for 3,906 yards, 47 touchdowns and eight interceptions and won a junior college national championship with the Lions.

But what separates Kelly from the future winners of the quarterback battles elsewhere in the conference is his wide receiving corps. The Rebels return three of their top four receivers from a season ago, including returning star Laquon Treadwell as well as first-team All-SEC tight end Evan Engram.

The Gators will have their hands full when they host a potential SEC West contender in Ole Miss to open the month of October.

With Kelly more than likely leading Hugh Freeze's uptempo offense, this attack has the potential to be one of the best Florida sees all year.

2. Everett Golson (Florida State)

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Like Kelly, this one isn't set in stone yet. But it's hard to imagine a former two-year starter at Notre Dame transferring to Florida State and sitting behind someone who only has one career start.

Golson led Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season and a BCS National Championship Game berth in 2012 before being ruled academically ineligible for the 2013 season. Last year, turnovers were a huge problem for Golson, but he still completed 60 percent of his passes for 3,445 yards and 29 touchdowns.

The senior graduate transfer brings a talent-rich but young Florida State team something it doesn't have in Sean Maguire or any of its other backups following Jameis Winston's departure to the NFL. 

"[Florida State] quarterbacks coach Randy Sanders admitted that Golson’s experience gives him an edge," Andy Staples of SI.com wrote. "Golson has won at Oklahoma. He has beaten Stanford twice. If not for that illegal pick, he might have won at Florida State."

Golson would be the most successful starting quarterback on the Gators' schedule if he indeed wins the job in Tallahassee for the upcoming season.

He holds a high spot on this list, but like with Kelly, stick an asterisk by his name for now.

1. Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee)

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When Florida defeated Tennessee 10-9 last season on Rocky Top, quarterback Joshua Dobbs was sitting on the sidelines. This year, the Gators won't miss out what other teams saw in the Vols' strong finish to 2014.

Dobbs went 4-1 as a starter for Tennessee last season, and his only loss came against eventual SEC East champion Missouri. He finished with at 63.3 completion percentage to go along with 1,206 yards and nine touchdowns in his short season of action.

The entire Tennessee offense clicked better with Dobbs at the helm—massive running back Jalen Hurd (6'4", 240 lbs) put up some of his best performances when getting handoffs from No. 11.

The junior has experience winning games in the SEC and leading a Volunteers attack that returns a remarkable 10 starters for this season. His top nine receivers from a season ago are all back, and four of the five starting linemen who paved the way for his success have returned.

Tennessee's hopes are riding on Dobbs, a preseason third-team All-SEC selection, to end the program's long losing streak against Florida.

The Gators will have home-field advantage, and they'll need it against Dobbs and these Volunteers.

All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.