ATLANTA – Gators quarterback
Feleipe Franks' hold on the starting job appeared to be unraveling in early November.
In a loss to Georgia on Oct. 27, he missed several throws that could have drastically changed the outcome of the game and saved his team's championship aspirations. The following week against Missouri, Franks completed just 9 of 22 passes for 84 yards, was booed loudly by his own fans and benched by coach
Dan Mullen in favor of
Kyle Trask.
An injury to Trask in practice the following week allowed Franks to maintain a firm grip on the job. He then only threw for 61 yards in the first half against South Carolina, prompting more boos and calls for freshman
Emory Jones to be handed the keys to the offense.
A lot of players would not be able to take such a constant barrage of criticism and bounce back from it. Last year, Franks never seemed to overcome negative plays and criticism.
Receiver Van Jefferson congratulates Feleipe Franks after Franks scored on a 20-yard run Saturday. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
But, like so much about the 2018 Gators, this season was different for Franks. In the final 3 1/2 games of the season (second half of South Carolina, Idaho, Florida State and Michigan), he completed 56 of 87 passes (64.6 percent) for 801 yards with seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
"The mindset I go into each and every day is the mindset to get better, trusting the coaches, the players and my family," Franks said. "That's what I try to do every day. We have a great support staff at UF, and that's what I try to do. I try to get better every day and not worry about the things I can't control."
In Saturday's 41-15 Peach Bowl defeat of Michigan, Franks overcame some missed throws early to go 13-for-23 for 173 yards and a touchdown. He added 74 yards and a score on 14 carries and was named the game's offensive most valuable player.
"I think the steps that he's taken, it just shows how you can improve," Mullen said. "He didn't worry about anything. Didn't worry about all the outside stuff, whether it's good or bad. I always tell our guys that don't matter. You watch the film so you know. Whether someone thinks you played good or bad is irrelevant. Watch the film and judge yourself. You know how to get better."
Franks completed 188 of 322 passes (58.4 percent) for 2,457 yards, 24 touchdowns and only six interceptions during his redshirt sophomore season, significant improvement over his 2017 numbers (125 of 229, 54.6 percent, 1,438 yards, 9 TDs, 8 INTs).
Franks credited Mullen for helping to instill a better mindset in turning around his fortunes.
"I don't think my confidence could have got any lower [last season], where there had been a bunch of different things," he said. "With me trusting Coach [Brian] Johnson and Coach Mullen, they helped me bring back confidence day in and day out, whether it be in practice or on game day. Being able to come out here and not play conservative. Just go out and play the game I've been playing my whole life. And it just made football fun again. That's kind of what it did for me."
TAYLOR TO NFL
Starting right tackle
Jawaan Taylor announced a couple of hours after the game that he planned to forgo his final season of eligibility and enter the NFL draft. Considering the 6-foot-5, 325-pound Taylor is projected as a potential first-round pick, the news was not surprising.
Taylor's path from overweight and out-of-shape UF camper to a likely high pick in April's draft started the summer prior to his senior season at Cocoa High, the same school that produced Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl defensive MVP
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
Following a lackluster showing at a Florida camp due to his weight -- Taylor weighed more than 380 pounds at the time -- former UF offensive line coach
Mike Summers told Taylor to get in shape if he wanted a scholarship. Taylor went home, dropped more than 50 pounds over the next year, and was in the Gators' starting lineup as a true freshmen in 2016. He started for the 35th time in 37 career games on Saturday.
Taylor is listed on ESPN draft analyst
Mel Kiper Jr.'s
Big Board as well as
Todd McShay's
Top 32. He has been projected as high as the 12th overall pick by McShay. Meanwhile, Taylor has signed with agent
Drew Rosenhaus.
BURNEY SPLASHES
With a long month of preparation, bowl games are often opportunities for younger players to get more playing time and make plays.
For UF, one of those players was true freshman defensive back
Amari Burney. Teammates raved about him all season and particularly during bowl prep. Against the Wolverines, he recorded a tackle for loss, a pass break-up and his first career sack.
With junior nickelback
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson headed to the NFL, Burney is his heir apparent. Burney's versatility and athleticism make him close to an ideal fit in defensive coordinator
Todd Grantham's scheme.
"Right now, it's just about watching everything [Gardner-Johnson] does and just trying to mimic the little things and put those into my game," Burney said. "He has taught me a lot since he was at corner. He taught me how to cover so it was very helpful for me."
CAPTAIN IVEY
The Gators had a rather unusual looking setup for the coin toss on Saturday. Rather than sending out three or four players like he typically does, Mullen sent out just one, senior left tackle
Martez Ivey. The rest of the senior class lined up behind him on the field.
Ivey was part of former coach
Jim McElwain's first recruiting class. He experienced the joy of back-to-back SEC East crowns and the disappointment of a 4-7 campaign in 2017. He cited that bad taste in his mouth as one of the reasons he decided to return to UF for his senior season.
"When a guy looks at you and said, 'Coach, I love the program. I wish I could come back for one more year and be part of the program for the future,' " Mullen said. "That's who he is, and he represents the 'Gator Standard.' For me, as a senior, that's why we selected him to be the team captain for the year.
"We voted on it early in the year, but I wasn't comfortable at that point. We kind of have game captains each week. To be honest with you, when we voted at the beginning of the year, he was the highest vote-getter at the beginning of the year and lived up to that through the entire season. I'm proud of him."
FINAL CATCH
Tight end
C'yontai Lewis came to Florida as a coveted prospect out of Eutaw, Alabama. He showed flashes as a pass-catcher as a redshirt freshman in 2015, snagging four catches for 75 yards and two scores in the first three games.
For a variety of reasons – inconsistent quarterback play, McElwain's offensive scheme and being undersized at 6-foot-4 among them – he never became a consistent weapon in the Gators' passing game.
Instead, he became valuable to the offense this year as a run-blocker and a team leader. With the additions of athletic freaks
Kyle Pitts and
Lucas Krull to the position this year, Lewis was often dismissed by fans.
Fittingly, the man whose motto is "Won't be long" made arguably his biggest catch in his final game. With Florida leading 27-13 and facing a third-and-6 at its own 29-yard line, Lewis got wide open on a wheel route. Franks had pressure in his face, so his throw appeared as if it would sail over his head.
Instead, Lewis dove and hauled in the catch to extend the drive. Three plays later,
Lamical Perine sealed the win with a 53-yard touchdown run.
In the postgame locker room, Lewis broke into Mullen's speech to share a genuine message about what his senior season has meant, saying he almost quick playing football last December.
GREEN TO TRANSFER
Sophomore receiver
Daquon Green announced his plans to transfer after Florida's win over Michigan. Green played sparingly in his two seasons at UF, catching one pass this season.
A former prep standout at Tampa Bay Tech, the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Green appeared in five games over two seasons with the Gators. He got buried deeper on the depth chart this season following the arrival of transfers
Van Jefferson and
Trevon Grimes.
JONES TAKES SNAPS
It was a given that Jones would play in the Peach Bowl. He had played in three games this season, one fewer than the maximum allowed under the NCAA's new redshirt rule. The only question was how much he would play.
Jones entered the game at the start of the second quarter and ran three plays, handing off to
Jordan Scarlett once and rushing for seven yards on two carries. Once the Gators got into the red zone, Franks replaced him.
True freshman quarterback Emory Jones appeared in four games this season, maintaining his redshirt status heading into 2019. (File photo)
He wasn't reinserted until the game was out of reach in the final few minutes, and he didn't attempt a pass. Still, Jones said he is pleased with how Mullen is bringing him along in his development.
"He puts me in games and situations that help me grow,'' he said.
Making it extra special is the fact that Jones is from LaGrange, Georgia, about 68 miles southwest of Atlanta.
"This is my first time playing in this stadium," he said. "To come here and play in front of my hometown is special."
EXTRA POINTS
The Gators closed the season with three consecutive wins of 20 or more points, the first time they have accomplished that since the Sugar Bowl at the end of the 2009 season (
Tim Tebow's final game) and the first two games of the 2010 season ... Florida's win Saturday was sixth 40-point game of season, or same number combined over previous six seasons (2012-17) ... Scarlett (776 yards) and Perine (826) are first pair of Gators running backs to each rush for at least 775 yards in a season since
Elijah Williams and
Terry Jackson in 1995 ...
Ginger Franks,
Feleipe's mother, got a Peach Bowl victory for the second consecutive season. Feleipe's older brother,
Jordan Franks, now a rookie with Cincinnati, played for UCF in its win over Auburn in 2017 ... Florida improved to 8-5 all-time against Big Ten teams in bowl games ... UF punter
Tommy Townsend's 66-yard punt is a Peach Bowl record, eclipsing the 61-yarder by Auburn's
Damon Duval in 2001 ... Townsend had two punts blocked Saturday, which kept an odd streak alive. In the Gators' last three games in Atlanta, a Townsend brother has had a punt blocked (
Johnny Townsend had one blocked in the 2015 and '16 SEC Championship games against Alabama) ... Gardner-Johnson set a Peach Bowl record with 83 yards on interception returns (one for 53, one for 30 returned for a score) ... Florida's 257 yards rushing are the second-most in school history in a bowl game, surpassed only by a 284-yard performance in a 27-12 win over Georgia Tech in the 1967 Orange Bowl ... Defensive end
Jachai Polite finished the season with six forced fumbles, tying
Clifford Charlton (1986) for the single-season school record ... Polite, Jefferson, Perine, Scarlett and linebacker
Vosean Joseph are among other Gators expected to announce their future plans in the coming days in regards to the NFL ... Freshman kicker
Evan McPherson (50 of 50) joined
Bart Edmiston (71 of 71 in 1995) and
Judd Davis (65 of 65 in 1994) as the only players in school history to make all of their PATs with 50 or more attempts in a single season.
-- FloridaGators.com senior writer Scott Carter contributed to this report.
