Reality sank in for Florida fans when Feleipe Franks pounded the Kroger Field ground in pain or when he was carted off with his left leg in an air cast.

“Well, what now?”

As much of a bummer Franks’ gruesome injury was — Dan Mullen said the training staff thought he dislocated his ankle and will miss the 2019 season — there was still a game to play, and Florida needed a quarterback.

Check that. Florida needed a savior to somehow get out of Kentucky without its first loss of 2019. Ask the average Florida fan and they might have told you that savior would be Emory Jones, the 4-star redshirt freshman who impressed since he arrived on campus a year and a half ago.

They would have been wrong. Kyle Trask was the savior.

By the night’s end, it was Trask who did everything he could to make Mullen look wrong. Mullen wasn’t wrong for putting Trask in. That, as we found out, was a home-run decision. It was Trask who stepped in and led the Gators on not 1, not 2, but 3 scoring drives to pull off the comeback victory.

By night’s end, Trask had his fair share of spectators wondering why Mullen didn’t start him over Franks in the first place.

That’s not meant as a dig to Franks, who is roughly 8.5 months removed from leading Florida to a New Year’s 6 Bowl victory in Year 1 of the Mullen era. It was Franks who proved Mullen right for staying patient with the talented, but up-and-down signal-caller. Despite his slow start to Saturday night and his head-scratching Week 0 performance against Miami, Franks had the best season of a Gators quarterback since Tim Tebow.

So yes, Franks’ exit could have absolutely torpedoed more than just Florida’s comeback bid on Saturday night. It wasn’t a given that a team watching its starting quarterback get carted off the field was going to spark a turnaround down 11 points on the road, especially not against a Kentucky team that was closing in on its third consecutive year of outplaying the Gators.

But my goodness. Could you tell that that Trask had been waiting for his opportunity?

The guy came in like someone who was sick of being a backup quarterback. That makes sense considering Trask has been the backup since … high school. Yes, he was the backup to current Houston star D’Eriq King at Manvel High School (Texas). Granted, we saw Trask pounce on that potential starting opportunity last year when Franks was benched amidst a woeful performance against Mizzou. Of course a broken foot in practice the following week prevented Trask from truly getting his chance to become the guy.

Now, though, he finally has that chance. After what he did Saturday night, you can bet Florida fans will sleep a bit easier. At least they should.

Trask ran Mullen’s offense exactly the way it needed to be run in that spot — with accuracy and urgency. Trask found Van Jefferson in space. He got the ball into Freddie Swain’s hands on a big play over the middle. Shoot, Trask even did the thing that everyone thought he couldn’t do — he ran. Specifically, he ran in for the go-ahead score.

The offense went into overdrive. Along with that 4-yard TD rush, Trask completed 9-of-13 passes for 126 yards to fuel a 19-0 scoring advantage in the 4th quarter. Jefferson alone had 5 catches for 54 yards in that 4th quarter. Trask didn’t even need the ever-dangerous Kadarius Toney to jump-start the Gators.

On a night in which Toney and shutdown cornerback C.J. Henderson were out before Franks — AKA the guy who Mullen built his offense around — went down, nobody would have criticized Trask if he wasn’t able to step in and save the day. If anything, Mullen would have taken heat for not playing Jones.

That didn’t happen, though. At least not yet.

Even though he flashed some incredible poise and he gained a ton of supporters on Saturday night, we don’t know yet that Trask will definitely be an upgrade to Franks. He could have his ups and downs like Franks. After all, it’s been a hot minute since Trask got regular reps as a starting quarterback (middle school probably?). Kentucky wasn’t prepared to stop Trask and he took advantage. Ask Georgia about the backup quarterback curveball.

Defenses are going to have to game plan for the different skill set that Trask brings. He might not make the dazzling throws that Franks was capable of, nor will he have the same mobility. But Trask figures to be more accurate, and dare I say, a bit more consistent.

Maybe the steady Trask had a weird way of calming everything down when Franks got hurt. Trask looked plenty vocal on the sidelines and there wasn’t any doubt that he was comfortable in Mullen’s system. He’s had 2 years to grasp it.

As Mullen said in the postgame interview, Trask stuck around Florida when he could’ve left. He could’ve left when Mullen arrived after the 2017 season, and he could’ve left after Franks was entrenched as the starter after the 2018 season. Nobody would’ve criticized him.

Instead, Trask earned himself praise for going the old-fashioned route. He proved his coach right. More importantly, he didn’t let Franks’ injury be brutal end to Florida’s 2019 story.

Trask wrote his own chapter on Saturday night, and if that was any indication, it’s going to be a page-turner the rest of the way.