GAINESVILLE John Brantley IV has waited patiently for three years to become the starting quarterback at Florida, but now in the midst of preparing for the biggest role of his football career, he finds himself caught between focusing on the game he loves while worrying about the father who taught him that game. Former Florida quarterback John Brantley III has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is scheduled to have surgery March 10. His son, who begins spring practice March 17, said Friday that his 53-year-old father's prognosis is good, and he's trying to take things one day at a time. 'We've got a very close relationship, so it's been tough,' said the younger Brantley, who turns 21 Wednesday. 'I don't talk about it too much, I try to keep it off my mind as much as I can. It's going to be a tough day, a really tough day. But stuff happens. He should be fine. He's having surgery.' A former Gatorade national player of the year out of Ocala who redshirted a year, Brantley spent the past two seasons as Tim Tebow's backup. With the starting job finally his, Brantley knows how important spring practices are as he and the Gators begin the transition into the 2010 season. So his family, which includes his uncle Scot who played with his brother John at Florida in the late '70s is doing all it can to keep him from becoming overloaded with worry. 'They say, 'Don't worry about it, just focus on what's going on now. We'll figure out the other stuff when it comes down the road,'??' he said. 'But it's always tough to just focus on that and not think about other things. But you know, they keep trying to stress to me it's going to be fine, it's going to be fine, which it will be.' Scot Brantley, who played eight seasons with the Bucs, had heart surgery last summer to repair damage caused by two strokes and lost nearly all his vision in his left eye. 