Dan Mullen shares his thoughts on Florida’s QBs following weekend scrimmage
The quarterback derby continues in Gainesville with no end in sight — and that’s the way Dan Mullen apparently wants it heading into the summer.
During his Monday afternoon media availability, the Gator coach offered up the latest on the competition between Feleipe Franks, Kyle Trask, and Emory Jones. While many fans may be eager to know who is going to lead the team out on to the field for the Sept. 1 season opener against Charleston, Mullen is in no hurry to make that announcement.
Here’s what Mullen had to say when asked if any of the quarterbacks on the roster have separated themselves from another.
“Not for me. I don’t pay attention to separation. I’m watching all the guys and worrying about how we are getting better… It’s a long time before we have to make any decisions or play a game — so I’m not too concerned with that right now. Unless I need to see something; whever that’s in a leadership role or at other positions. Everyone is battling for playing time,” Mullen said. “There were some things with them that I saw improvement on, there were mistakes that they still made that I was disappointed with.”
Mullen then noted that the most frustrating thing for him is to see his quarterbacks struggling mentally on after going over more advanced teachings.
“They handled some hard situations well and then all of a sudden, they got the easiest situation you could be in, a third and 12 and it’s coming from every direction; they got used to handling exotic blitzes coming at them, then all of a sudden the base defense freaked them out… Overall, they managed the game better than the week before,” he added.
Mullen offered up these comments when asked about Feleipe Franks’ performance.
“He threw a couple of touchdown passes. I still think we have to complete a higher percentage of passes,” Mullen admitted. “That’s not always accuracy, sometimes it’s decision making as well… When to take a shot downfield, when to make the safe throw, etc… Feleipe had the best numbers at the quarterback position.”
As for the progression of early enrollee Emory Jones, the Florida coach offered up the notion that forcing the freshman to make plays with his arm and not his legs is step one to becoming a collegiate player.
“He working and learning on how to be a college player. One of the things, as a young quarterback, you are going to put him in a situation to be successful. The easiest thing for young QBs is to run the football — and that’s something we try to take away from him a little bit in the learning process to push yourself to do other things,” Mullen added.
As for the reports that Franks rushed for a few scores, Mullen said not to pay much attention to that.
(That’s debatable) “If you ask the defense, there were zero. If you ask the offense, there were probably a few,” Mullen said. “Most of those were scrambles, more than designed QB runs. Maybe a couple we called, but we blow the whistle when someone gets near the QBs… He made some nice plays running.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com