It may have taken a while but Feleipe Franks finally appeared comfortable in Dan Mullen’s offense near the end of the season last fall. Now going into his second year in the system, confidence is high in Gainesville that the junior signal-caller will have his best campaign to date as a member of the Gators.

During his most recent media availability on Monday, Florida coach Dan Mullen offered up his thoughts on when Franks started to “loosen up” and embrace what the Gator coaching staff was asking their starting quarterback to do on the field.

Despite Franks’ success last fall, Mullen said Franks really started to relax during the offseason.

“Probably after the season, you know,” Mullen said on Monday. “I mean and going back and reviewing it and let after he probably reflected on the whole season, and getting into spring. I think (he) loosened up because I think he was going through it the second time going out on the field and knowing that he knew kind of what he was doing. It allows you to be a little bit more confident that way.”

We’ve all seen the clip of Mullen dancing on the sideline to make his quarterback laugh. According to Mullen, that was all apart of the process of getting Franks to relax.

“I mean he stayed pretty uptight through most the season I tried, I mean, I danced on the sidelines, try to get him loosened up and have some fun,” Mullen said. “But I think after – coming in, going into like spring ball, when he had a little bit more confidence it allowed him to be a lot more relaxed in knowing – when you sit there and you go through it installing like, ‘Oh, I know that I’m not just learning it, I know it.’ I think that allows you to have a lot more confidence and be a lot more relaxed and have some fun.”

Franks registered career highs in completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and had fewer interceptions last fall, but if he truly has embraced what Mullen is asking of him to another level this offseason, it’s a safe bet that those marks will all be broken by the quarterback during the coming season.