Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gators quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson has now been around long enough to get a feel for the guys he'll spend a lot of time with this spring. He's met with them individually, studied their film and learned as much as he can about their strengths and weaknesses.

Johnson's next job is to teach them Dan Mullen's offense and guide them through it during spring camp as the Gators try to sort out their quarterback situation heading into the summer.

A former quarterback at Utah, Johnson is confident the group of Feleipe Franks, Kyle Trask, Jake Allen and early enrollee Emory Jones is capable of getting the job done. He wants to give them an opportunity to perform before coming to any conclusions about how they stack up in the race.

"It's going be open,'' Johnson said of the competition. "We'll put everybody in the position to see what they can do. I talked to the guys about this [Wednesday], everyone's kind of starting from the same spot in terms of learning our offense. Everybody is kind of starting from ground zero."

Franks, a redshirt sophomore, is the only member of the foursome to take a college snap. Trask missed last season due to foot surgery, Allen redshirted as a freshman and Jones just arrived on campus last month.

Franks opened the season as the starter, lost the job twice, first to Luke Del Rio and then to Malik Zaire, but regained the job both times due to injuries. He showed the usual growing pains of being a first-time starter. Franks threw for 1,438 yards with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.

"The biggest thing that I see is I see the ability,'' Johnson said. "He made plays when he has opportunities to make plays and then obviously had some plays that I'm sure he'd love to have back. You can see the talent. He has some tools that we definitely can work with and get the best out of him."

Meanwhile, Jones is a player Johnson has known for three years and recruited at Mississippi State. Jones chose the Gators over Ohio State during the early signing period in December and enrolled at UF in January.

The Gators plan to take a close look at Jones in spring camp.

"At the end of the day we're going to play the best guy that we feel gives us the opportunity to go out there and compete at a high level," Johnson said. "He's going to get every opportunity to get out there and compete and showcase his talent and see how he fits. I am excited to get to spring ball and see what these guys can do in a real football setting.

"I feel good about what we have in the room. I think those guys are all talented in their own way and they all kind of have a different skill set."
 

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 DAVIS ON MEND
 
Running back Malik Davis emerged as the Gators' most dangerous threat out of the backfield until a knee injury against Georgia sidelined him the rest of the season. Davis strung together five consecutive games of 90 or more yards, including a career-high 124 against Vanderbilt, before injuring his right knee in the first quarter against the Bulldogs.
 

Davis underwent surgery soon after the injury and continues to rehab according to running backs coach Greg Knox.

"Coming along well,'' Knox said Thursday. "He's limited in certain things he does throughout our workouts, agility stuff."

Knox said Davis is trying to add weigh to his 5-foot-11, 194-pound frame. Despite the injury, Davis finished second behind Lamical Perine on the team in rushing last season with 526 yards. He averaged 6.7 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns.

While Davis is expected to be limited in spring practice, he is working toward being ready by the start of fall camp.

"We'll take him through spring and see how he does,'' Knox said. "We'll just play it day-by-day with him."
 

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IN THE PLANS
 
Larry Scott is back in his home state after a two-year stint at Tennessee. Scott started his coaching career at USF and then spent three seasons at Miami, where he went 4-2 in 2015 as interim head coach following the exit of Al Golden.

Scott, who was offensive coordinator and tight ends coach last season with the Vols, was hired by Mullen to coach the Gators' tight ends. He inherits a group that returns C'yontai Lewis, Moral Stephens and Kemore Gamble, and added newcomers Kyle Pitts and Dante Lang during the early signing period.
 

There is talent, and equally important to Scott, a plan to utilize the position heavily in Mullen's offense.

"You can tell from just the history, watching video of a Mississippi State offense when you're sitting in other rooms, and they're playing common opponents, and different things like that,'' Scott said. "You always knew in the game-plan process his philosophy – the tight ends are a big part of it."

DeAndre Goolsby led UF's tight ends with 13 catches last season as a senior. Lewis had only seven catches and Stephens, six. Gamble did not play as a freshman but is a player Scott recruited while he was at Miami. Gamble played at Miami Southridge.

"He's getting pushed out of his comfort zone,'' Scott said. "He's learning what that's all about. It's kind of fun to watch him grow through these phases that he's going through right now. The talent level he has, we'll start to get what he has out."
 

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QUOTE OF NOTE
 
"I truly believe there is no better place in America to play quarterback than the University of Florida. You walk right outside that stadium and you see three Heisman Trophy winner statues out there. That excites me as a position coach. We have some huge shoes to fill in that room." – Quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson
 

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EXTRA POINTS
 
Running back Jordan Scarlett, who missed last season due to suspension, is back working out with the team. Knox said Scarlett continues to work himself back into football shape but that the talent is clearly there. Scarlett led the Gators with 889 yards rushing in 2016 and was the team's starting tailback heading into last season prior to being suspended. "I do know he's a tremendous athlete and there's a lot of good things he can do,'' Knox said. "I'm looking forward to working with him this spring." … In the final game of Johnson's playing career, he led Utah to a win over Alabama in the Sugar Bowl as the Utes finished ranked No. 2 in the national polls. Still, he has no plans to pull out film of him playing to show Florida's quarterbacks how it's done. "Oh, no. I've been coaching long enough now,'' he said. "I try to keep that stuff hidden. The older I get the better I could have been."