Les Miles explains how Florida was able to flip QB Feleipe Franks from LSU
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Not that this weekend’s Florida-LSU rivalry game needs anymore bad blood, but let’s remember for a second that Florida QB Feleipe Franks was once a Tiger commit.
In fact, he flipped his commitment only six weeks before enrollment, leaving LSU in a tough place.
On Wednesday, Ross Dellenger of The Advocate spoke with former LSU coach Les Miles, who explained that then-new Florida coach Jim McElwain was able to use negative recruiting to get Franks away from LSU:
“Somebody calls you and says, ‘Listen, I just got the head coaching job at Florida. I want you to come be my quarterback, and I’m not going to be fired,’” Miles said. “‘That Miles guy, he’s going to be fired. Handwriting is on the wall.’”
Miles added that LSU AD Joe Alleva’s comments to the media weren’t helping Miles and the Tigers convince Franks to stay, either:
“They could paint a stable position, and I really … as soon as they got rid of Muschamp and went with McElwain, there was an offensive guy,” Miles said. “(The Franks family) felt like it was going to be different, and there was always a dark cloud hanging over my head as long as (athletic director) Joe Alleva was going to talk to the press.”
Of course, Franks ended up as a Gator, and there’s no changing that now. Still, it’ll be a little extra motivation for the Tigers this week to prove to their former commit that he should have stayed.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
