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What do we make of our first look at Florida’s young QBs?
By Andrew Olson
Published:
For Florida’s freshman quarterbacks, a lot has changed since January.
When Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask enrolled for UF’s spring semester, the narrative was that one quarterback (Franks) would compete for the starting job and the other (Trask) was lucky to have been offered by the Gators. Upon completion of spring practice, that narrative has been scrapped.
Franks had a very rough night in the Orange and Blue Debut (5-of-11, 58 yards, TD, 3 INT), forcing numerous throws and struggling to read the defense. Some of it can probably be attributed to nerves from being under the bright lights of The Swamp for the first time — he threw all the interceptions on his first four pass attempts. But it should also remind fans that a four-star rating plus 15 spring practices is not a magical formula to forego the growing pains that come with being a true freshman.
To be fair, when Franks committed in December it was logical to expect him to at least compete for the starting job in the fall. The Crawfordville, Fla., product was one of the top-rated pro-style quarterbacks in the class of 2016 while his apparent primary competition, Treon Harris, was a square peg unable to fit in the round hole of coach Jim McElwain’s offense. On Friday, however, Franks seemingly played his way into a redshirt.
Talk of redshirting Franks, which may prove to be premature, isn’t all about Franks. Trask is playing his way into the discussion at quarterback. While Franks oozes potential, it’s evident – even in a microscopic sample size like Friday’s seven-pass performance – that Trask (4-of-7, 63 yards) is more developed mechanically.
The high school backup and two-star prospect whose non-Florida offers consisted of Houston Baptist, Lamar and McNeese State is considered by many, including Gators CB Jalen Tabor, to be the best pure passer on UF’s roster for 2016.
“I love Trask,” Tabor told reporters following a practice earlier this month. “Pretty ball. He has the prettiest ball. It’s different when you get under the live bullets in the SEC. Guys like Dante Fowler, Jarvis Jones coming after you. Can you still step up in the pocket and deliver a ball to help your team win? That’s the only question I have for him.”
Tabor makes an excellent point. Even if Trask throws the prettiest ball, it’s doubtful he would be able to handle SEC defensive linemen as well as Luke Del Rio, the presumed starter and four years removed from high school, or Austin Appleby, a graduate transfer with starting experience at Purdue. Considering Trask’s limited high school snaps, mop-up duty as Florida’s backup or third-stringer in 2016 would likely be more valuable to his development than a redshirt.
In the post-Tebow era, Florida fans have become accustomed to seeing true freshmen quarterbacks thrown into the fire (e.g. Trey Burton, Jeff Driskel, Jacoby Brissett and Harris). But 2016 isn’t shaping up to be one of those seasons. If Del Rio and Appleby stay healthy and out of trouble, Franks and Trask should be able to avoid high-risk situations, and that’s a positive for the Gators’ long-term outlook at a position that has lacked stability for the last six seasons.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
