After witnessing Feleipe Franks' 2019 debut, there's one thing I think we all need to understand
ORLANDO — Saturday night was everything Feleipe Franks was and is.
The ball he threw to Josh Hammond that resulted in a 65-yard gain to set up the go-ahead score will be on Franks’ NFL Draft highlight reel. The post-touchdown pass celebration that included high-fiving Gator fans behind the team’s bench — that appeared like Franks did some, um, “communicating” with Miami fans as well — will be at the center of every “Franks is never going to get it” argument.
The patient but decisive touchdown run and dive will be why some argue that Franks turned the corner as a player willing to capitalize on all of his skills. The horrendous but baffling interception that gave Miami a chance to put together its own potential game-winning drive will be why others argue that Franks will never be an elite signal-caller.
(Franks claimed it was such a bad throw because he was hit as he made it while Dan Mullen took the blame for making such an aggressive call in that spot with 4 minutes left, but added that he did so because of how much he trusts his quarterback.)
After watching how Franks performed and acted, I’ve come to one definitive conclusion about him as the face of Florida’s program — he is who he is, and that’s not changing.
Does that mean all of the offseason chatter about his maturation was a bunch of hot air? Not necessarily. Mullen praised how Franks responded to adversity.
“I think he made a lot of good plays. He’ll know he can do a lot better,” Mullen said. “I think he knows the faith we have in him, we are going to put the ball in his hands, try and let him go win the game for us. We did and — wasn’t exactly how we drew it up, but he knows we are going to keep giving him the ball and let him make decisions and try and go win games for us.”
I was interested in how Mullen handled Franks’ night because I thought that said a lot. Would he blast him and say the throws, the celebration with Florida fans and some of the decision-making was just not up to — dare I say — the Gator standard? Nope. Mullen accepted Franks for his faults and his feats. This is who he is.
When Mullen walked off the podium following his postgame press conference on Saturday night, Franks, Hammond and linebacker Jonathan Greenard traded places with him. Hammond and Greenard were rocking official team gear while Franks came in wearing ripped blue jeans and a denim jacket. Mullen made a quip about Franks looking more like a Major League Baseball player than a college athlete, which was topical because Franks was drafted by the Boston Red Sox this summer.
Mullen has accepted the fact that he has a quarterback who goes to the beat of his own drum. That beat isn’t one that Florida fans are always going to follow along with. There are going to be more head-scratching throws and eye-rolling touchdown celebrations with Franks.
Feleipe Franks has been average all night…Florida gets a lead and he goes to the crowd to talk junk? pic.twitter.com/LIJP83iPyr
— Dayne Young (@dayneyoung) August 25, 2019
Those of us who convinced ourselves that the roller-coaster was over were thrown for a loop Saturday night. At halftime, plenty of Gators fans were too nauseous from the ride and wanted off. They wanted to get on the Emory Jones ride instead.
I don’t want to say Franks can’t get benched because obviously he did in a November game last year, but on Saturday night, there was a 0% chance that Jones was coming out of that halftime locker room as the starter. Mullen has invested too much time and energy into making Franks his quarterback project.
I say that not to tell Florida fans that they need to love Franks unconditionally and that he should be free of criticism. That’s not the case at all.
I say that to tell Florida fans that this isn’t changing. Franks might have great games in which he looks like he put it all together, but he’s never going to be perfect. He’s just not. At this point in his career — this is Franks’ 4th total and 3rd as an SEC starter — Franks is what he is. That is, an exceptional talent with next-level ability who sometimes makes high school-level mistakes on and off the field.
There’s a reason that Mullen joked at SEC Media Days that if anybody on Twitter who calls out Franks knows more than Florida’s offensive staff, he’d hire them. From the outside, it appears that Franks still struggles with the Florida quarterback fishbowl. His desire to be fully embraced by the Florida faithful conflicts with his desire to try and — for lack of a better word — shush his doubters. That battle is ongoing.
Perhaps it was premature to assume that Franks was finally going to turn the corner and close his career as a decorated Florida quarterback. And perhaps it’s premature to judge Franks based on such a small 2019 sample size.
After all, if he’d come out and threw for 400 yards with 75% accuracy and led the Gators to a rout of Miami, the “turn the corner” narratives would have been out in full force for Franks. But that’s not what happened. Instead, we saw a microcosm of Franks’ up and down career.
It won’t be like that every week. Franks could string together 3 or 4 really solid games in a row like he did to end 2019. He could also have first halves that result in boo birds against anyone on Florida’s schedule. If Florida fans thought the roller-coaster was over, Saturday night served as a reminder that there’s at least another year of the Franks ride.
They don’t have to put on ripped blue jeans and a denim jacket, but 2019 won’t be quite as stomach-churning as Saturday night if they brace themselves for every Franks twist, turn and loop ahead.
Franks is out of control stupid.
I still don’t understand why people think/thought he was a good quarterback. He’s just not.
He’s tall.
One thing we must understand also : Franks is not an SEC QB.
Well clearly he is, he’s literally been quarterbacking an SEC team for 2+ seasons.
And Miami’s 2-Star freshman LT is an ACC Power 5 offensive lineman…..
He’s not a GOOD sec QB I think he meant to say. He’s average on his best day.
I know. And none of the rest of us can understand why.
mediocre too I might add
I realize it’s a long season and Florida will certainly improve, but aside from taking advantage of a Miami left tackle, who last year was playing HS football, Florida did absolutely nothing that would make you believe they will contend in the East.
I wouldn’t say he isn’t an SEC level QB …but we’re not winning any championships with him either. He’s a middle of the pack, high risk – high reward guy and I think Connor pretty much nailed it.
Doing that stupid showboat pose with your arms crossed in the end zone after scoring doesn’t exemplify maturity to me. You are responsible for 4 turnovers dude …be a leader and show some humility.
Yes.
Nice breakdown. Franks is a below average – average SEC QB. He has exceptional arm strength, but is lacking in the accuracy department. He’s not mentally tough enough to take the next step in his progression. If you’re doing all of that peripheral nonsense, you aren’t completely focused on doing your job. It’ll get you by playing an average ACC team, but its a detriment once you get into the meat of your schedule.
He didn’t look any different to me. If I’m a Florida fan, I’m more worried about the offensive line. Most of the stupid things Florida did last night can be quickly fixed. There’s no fixing a line that can’t block. You just have to wait until they get better.
Not sure how you come to that conclusion. The OL held their own, all things considered. The offense not clicking is all on Franks.
No, upstate, the Oline did not hold their own. The only unit on the field that performed worse last night was Miami’s Oline.
Franks is not a bad QB. But, he doesn’t handle pressure well. If the UF Oline could at least be average, I think Franks would eliminate a lot of his miscues.
I’d say our secondary was way worse than our offensive line.
Yeah, the secondary’s nonexistent tackling stood out more than the o-line, but they couldn’t get any sort of up-front push in the run game at all.
Didn’t say he was bad but certainly the most schizophrenic QB in all of CFB… and he was bad Feleipe last night. The OL kept him upright and allowed him time…. and for that unit starting their first game against that front 7, thought they did ok.
The o-line was playing in their first game together against one of the better front 7’s they’ll face this season. Miami’s defense was #2 in the country last season mainly because of their front 7 and they pretty much had everyone return. I think they did what was expected of them in that scenario. People seem to think they should be in midseason form already and that’s just delusional. I knew there would be some overreaction, but this is just a different level than I expected. It’s crazy!
Miami’s defense was not ranked #2 in the country last season, they were 18th.
We averaged 1.9 yards per carry. I wouldn’t be happy with that.
How bad is Emory Jones if Franks is the undisputed starter & best chance to win ball games? QB whisper…
Ron White said it best. “You can’t fix stupid”. Franks is a 1st class dumbass.
As of right now, Florida is the 4th best team in the East with Franks as qb.
That’s a stretch
Uga
UK
mz or usc
Uf
Ain’t happening. And I’m pretty sure you feel that way too and just doing your best Troll performance
Missouri fans are starting to sound like Dawg fans and that’s hard to do. The confidence from that fan base is something else.
I mean, we have reason to be confident against Florida. A winning record and a +50 margin in the last two games will make you confident.
Jake Bentley better
When you really need Bentley to come through…he chokes, erratic & inconsistent-that is Jake Bentley….better than FF, who really cares?
Bentley’s best pass happens in Five Points!
The ‘Canes tried to steal ALL of the class – what with their fancy turnover chain and all the touchdown bling. Mighty proud of our Franky Phillips – keepin’ it real!
What’s to understand about Franks?
He’s EXACTLY who I said he was. Where’s CO Jones and Joe Marks?
CO Jones has got to be a guy that posts on the Gainesville Sun website. He’s on of those guys blinded by the orange and blue glasses. Good guy though.
It’s crazy that Florida is coming off a big win and all everyone can talk about is how bad Florida is. And rightfully so. I don’t really understand the commitment Florida has to Franks, especially when other major SEC programs bench/transfer starting QBs on an annual basis.
He’s a showboat… Cam Newton style.
Should have been benched, when he went back to hi-5 the fans in the stands!!!
A CONFIRMED LOSER.
That was the first thing I thought was his antics reminded me of Cam Newton.
He needs to act like the veteran leader QB as he should and not act like a doofus.
I ALMOST feel sorry for you FL fans.
At least Cam backed up his ego with his performance. Even Cam wouldn’t have been celebrating a 4 turnover crap performance like that.
This is what I was thinking. I don’t mind people talking smack, as long as they back it up on the field. But, I do feel like running your mouth all the time sets you up for failure in the long run.
Trailer trash calling a player stupid on an SDS comment thread is about what you should expect, I guess.
He had a 62% completion rate, threw two TD passes and rushed for a third. I re-watched the game and none of the fumbles were his fault. He threw a bad pass high over the middle and got hit from behind while trying to throw the ball out of bounds.
And it was the first game of the year, against a non-cupcake opponent. Let’s see how all your QBs do in their first games.
The poor tackling on a few plays is being overblown. That one long run by Dallas was just the dude breaking tackles. That happens. Good players break tackles. I don’t think Franks is that good at all but that 2nd Pick he threw I really believe he was trying to throw it away and got hit. It happens. Play calling was more to blame there. This is why you don’t want to play good teams in the first game. I think the defense looked great most of the game. Greenard is an absolute beast. The o-line needs to improve and hopefully they will. Franks is just inaccurate and inconsistent. I really hope we can see Trask and Jones get some PT this year.
Emory Jones should be your QB. I said that last year. I saw the kid play in high school. He has the talent and the intangibles to be a very good QB. Maybe Mullen sees something we don’t.
Agree, the play call with 4:26 to go in the game and FL throws the ball! Really? You have 2 talented running backs. Their defense was getting tired so you run the ball. Heck, Franks is even a good runner and hard to bring down. Why didn’t he run more?
I re-watched the game. You’re right about the tackling on the Toney and Dallas runs. Although C.J. made a weak effort on the long Dallas run, both plays were mostly just bad angles to bring down very good backs.
When the O-line got their assignments right the blocking was pretty good. Talent isn’t an issue. Assignment integrity will come with more game experience.
We’ll probably see a lot of Jones in the second half of the next game.
But this business about Franks being inconsistent. Last night he was 17 of 27. That’s a 63% completion rate (62.96% to be precise). How good or bad is that? Here are the 2018 season average completion percentages for a selection of eight other recognizable quarterbacks that performed at this level of consistency or worse:
62.9% Drew Lock
62.6% Kyle Shurmur
62.2% Jarrett Guarantano
61.9% Jake Bentley
59.2% Mckenzie Milton
57.8% Joe Burrow
57.3% Kellen Mond
51.6% Nick Fitzgerald
You’re trying too hard. He was terrible.
I’m not saying he won’t come out and light it up vs FCS, KY and UT …or that he’s not capable of it. But he didn’t look the part last night …and it’s not worth trying to defend it.
NashvilleGator it’s not worth the hassle. The narrative on Franks has already been written. These clowns will always view his performances through the prism of Franks being a bad QB. Throwing for over 250, 62.9 completion percentage and responsible for 3 TDs, one of which was during a game winning drive in the 4th Quarter, won’t change their mind. It’s especially bad with Gator fans. He should do pretty good this year. We’ll be the ones saying “See, I told ya so” at the end of the year.
Really? So you’re saying he looked like a mature, team leader after 25 starts? He was our biggest liability last night ..,and it’s not close.
He only had one completion over 15 yards.
@upstategator, you don’t like the guy because he doesn’t look like he will have a statute in front of the stadium. Or because he acts out after a TD. Or because he didn’t have Gator gear on for the press conference. Or because you just can’t erase the memories of his first season with McElwain.
He certainly made mistakes. But it was the first game and it was not against a cupcake opponent.
The data says he was not terrible.
NG, I’m not sure how you can re-watch the game and not place at least the simple majority of the blame on Franks for the fumbles.
Perine had the ball for 72 hours before Franks decided to pull it and cause the first fumble. And then he pitched it to Davis like it was the first pitch of his entire life. The play was blown up anyway – just take your lumps and don’t risk a fumble there.
I’m not advocating for any other QB (though I’d put my money on the other two handling their emotions better); but Franks reverted to the mean of his abilities on Saturday. I just hope it doesn’t take him too long to get into form . . .
You want to blame Franks for the fumbles, fine. It was the first game.
The pass over the middle that got picked wasn’t an overthrow. If anything it was an underthrow. If Swain doesn’t tip that ball FF would have hit Tyrie Cleveland in stride for what would have been a TD. Watch it again, TC is WIDE OPEN and no one between him and the end zone and very few people can run him down…
I agree that particular pick was not his fault. In real time it looked like a miscommunication amongst the WRs.
If I were the coach of a team playing the Gators, I would be very worried about overconfidence on the part of my players.
Feleipe Franks is going to be Feleipe Franks? Naw! He’ll put on his glasses and reveal his true identity as Clark Kent.
This article could be much shorter.
“He isn’t very good” The End
He didn’t throw for 400 yards and 73%, but did throw for 254 yards and 63% and accounted for all 3 TDs in the game. If not for the boneheaded mistakes, he had a pretty good game. He had 6 int’s total last season, but after 1 bad game in the first game of the season against one of the better defenses he’ll face, suddenly that’s forgotten and all hope is lost for him. The overreaction article before this game was played couldn’t have been more spot on. The doom and gloomers are out in full force.
UGA, USCjr, Mizzou, LSU, Tennessee will all have better defenses than Miami.
Not sure I buy that South Carolina, Mizzou and Tennessee will have better defenses than Miami.
And Florida will play better against all after an open week and a tune-up game. You people are crazy basing all these judgments on a first game, especially a first game against a real opponent.
I can’t wait to see how UGA fares against Vanderbilt this weekend. I’m sure they’ll win, but I doubt it will be pretty.
I get first week jitters but I still believe Maimi has an average defense at best. It’s not a stretch to think the teams I listed will be better. Muschamp and Pruitt will absolutely put out a better defense than Miami.
We’ll see how the rankings look at the end of the year. Or you can just check how good Miami’s defense was last year, compared to the three SEC East schools you mentioned.
South Carolina’s and Tennessee’s defenses may be better next year. But with South Carolina, as long as Jeff Dillman is their strength and conditioning coach, injury-related roster attrition is a concern. Muschamp is a great defensive recruiter and coach, but he should move on from Dillman.