Arkansas QB Feleipe Franks officially announces decision about 2021 NFL Draft
Arkansas quarterback Feleipe Franks is officially headed to the NFL draft.
Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman had already indicated this would be the case, but Franks made it official on Thursday evening.
He made that announcement on his Instagram account.
View this post on Instagram
This ends a long career in the SEC for Franks, who also spent time with the Florida Gators.
Franks led Arkansas in a better-than-expected 2020 campaign that ended with a 3-7 record. The Razorbacks were slated to face TCU in a bowl game this week, but it was canceled due to COVID-19.
Franks completed 68.5 percent of his passes this season. He also threw for 17 touchdowns and just four interceptions while averaging 8.9 yards per attempt.
This is a tough quarterback class to break into, but Franks will have a chance to get drafted. According to WalterFootball.com, he is the No. 14 QB prospect in this class. However, there’s still a lot of time and opportunity for Franks to improve that stock in the pre-draft process.
Thanks for the year, Feleipe! I doubt we could have ended that 19-game conference losing streak without you. Best of luck always.
The future goes thru NFL tryouts for him. Best of luck. But far more important to me, is that the SEC makes Arkansas and Missouri play every year. If we have play every year, I like it better that Pittman and Drinkwitz have class act athletes at every position who play great football, know how to win and lose. There is every reason to believe Missouri and Arkansas are each taking about 100 athletes and staff that direction. And contrary to what was written in recent-year stories, i’m not bashing Bielema or Chad Morris, as far as I’m concerned the timing of their style and their roster was just a little out-of-sync and all the hogs and x-hogs will hit their stride long and strong. Same for Drink. After one year, I’m saying, the new power of the Southeast could be in it’s Northwest. Go Tigers, Go Hogs, Go Ozarkalypse 2021
Feleipe Franks, an NFL QB….OK
It’ll be hard to compete in this year’s draft as a QB, but he’s earned the right to give it a shot. He certainly did his part to lead the Hogs. Good job, young man.
I had a feeling that your quarterback should have stayed for another year and would’ve been a huge plus for Texas A&M!
I don’t know – I have mixed feelings. Mond’s played well this year and would have continued to improve if he stayed. Still, Haynes King deserves a good look at the starting spot. He’s the front-runner for next year so far and he seems to have a much higher ceiling than Mond. All indications are he’ll be a really good SEC QB.
Kellen Mond has not declared for the draft. His only comment so far was when asked about returning…interestingly, he said that’s something that’s been tossed around in the locker room.
Wish you the best Feleipe!
Some team will take a low cost, late round chance on franks. His size, athleticism and arm will be too much to resist. He may be able to make a few million and never play a down. Nothing wrong with that. He earned his chance.
Kellen Mond has not declared for the draft. His only comment so far was when asked about returning…interestingly, he said that’s something that’s been tossed around in the locker room.
I believe he will be drafted in the later rounds. And I see him as a very good backup QB. Who knows, he has the skills to emerge as a surprise starter somewhere. I think he made the right decision.
Feleipe really stuck his neck out coming to Ark. A rock bottom team in a tailspin from a loser coach. He endured a lot of criticism coming to a rock bottom team. A team some SEC coach said was one that looked like it had gone through sanctions. Even though he silenced the critics quickly by week 2, peole were still wondering when he was going to self destruct with bonehead plays and decisions. He let his play do the talking.
He will be a great asset to some NFL team.
Thanks Feleipe!
I think franks was one of the best things that could happen to our team this year. Not because he had a good season and led us to 3 conference wins, but he brought stability back to the program for a year. Morris created a toxic environment in Fayetteville, we went through 9 QB’s in 2 season, absolute train wreck. Bringing Franks in brought experience, stability, and leadership to a team whom for some players hadn’t seen before. Someone for the next guy, whether it be KJ or Hornsby to model themselves after.
Franks took a huge Gamble with the decision to come to Fayetteville, and i got mad respect for him.
My thanks to Feleipe as well….personally, he has the size and an NFL arm-but still needs more time to develop his footwork more so, I was really hoping he would stick w/Arkansas another year as they were great for each other, but if he wants to go-then he should go-best of luck.