Florida officially announces transfers of Malik Zaire, Jake Fruhmorgen

After months of speculation and weeks of informal acknowledgements, the Florida Gators officially welcomed former Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Malik Zaire to the program on Monday.

And, oh, right, they welcomed former Clemson Tigers offensive lineman Jake Fruhmorgen, too.

This announcement comes on the day classes begin for Florida’s Summer B academic term, and is timed with Fruhmorgen and Zaire being enrolled in classes at the university. And rough PhotoShop work — I mean, there were months and months to prep these graphics, and this is what ended up being the actual release? — aside, this is the welcome conclusion to a saga that dragged on for more than half a calendar year in the case of Zaire, and a reminder that Fruhmorgen, who more quietly committed to the Gators in March, is also joining the program.

Of course, in Zaire’s case, that extended delay in formally acknowledging his transfer had a lot to do with the SEC rule barring Florida from accepting graduate transfers as a result of the academic failings of grad transfers Anthony Harrell and Mason Halter in 2015. That rule was relaxed in early June, permitting Florida to take Zaire at a moment between the first and last reports — first and last of the early offseason, anyway — about his intent to join the Gators.

Fruhmorgen, on the other hand, is not a graduate transfer, and will have to sit for the 2017 season before becoming eligible in the 2018 season, per Florida’s release.