Tim Tebow in the LSU game in 2006, a performance that included a jump-pass touchdown to tight end Tate Casey. (Photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Mullen's Resurrection of Jump Pass Stirs Flashbacks
Friday, September 7, 2018 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – In a bit of serendipity that stirred memories of past glory and provoked thoughts of future possibilities, a single play stood above the rest in the debut of Florida head coach Dan Mullen.
The play that really made Mullen's night in Florida's 53-6 win over Charleston Southern was a blocked field goal by Zachary Carter right before halftime. Leading 38-0 at the time, Carter showed the type of relentless effort Mullen has preached since he returned to UF.
However, the play that had everyone else talking: quarterback Feleipe Franks' jump pass for a 3-yard touchdown to Tyrie Cleveland 24 minutes, 11 seconds into the Mullen era.
In its wake, Mullen, Tim Tebow and Tate Casey have all chimed in on the jump pass that Mullen helped make famous at Florida. That one happened in 2006, a play Mullen called, Tebow threw and Casey caught in a home win over LSU that quickly took its place in Gators lore.
In Mullen's debut Saturday, Casey was in his first game as Florida's sideline radio reporter. Meanwhile, Tebow stopped in town Thursday – and visited Florida's quarterbacks at the Swamp while here – for a charitable food drive for underprivileged kids.
In the play's immediate aftermath, Mullen offered this analysis: "We practiced it a bunch,'' he said. "Both [Feleipe] and Kyle [Trask]. They didn't look great at it at first. He threw it kind of hard. Supposed to put a little touch, a little finger roll. It was kind of cool."
As Mullen reflected on Franks' pass that gave Florida a 31-0 lead in the second quarter, he asked Casey, in attendance at the postgame press conference, his thoughts on the reincarnated version.
A @GatorsFB QB throwing a jump pass ...
— ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) September 2, 2018
Seems familiar 🤔 pic.twitter.com/WE5ckkbrc4
Casey caught Tebow's 1-yard jump pass 12 years ago right before halftime in a jaw-dropping moment of devastation for LSU's defense.
"It didn't look as good,'' Casey quipped.
Tebow offered a more diplomatic approach on Franks' dart to Cleveland in the middle of the end zone.
"I thought it was good, really well designed and set it up really well. I thought Feleipe threw it really well,'' Tebow said Thursday. "He did his off one foot. I went off two, so there were some differences. But it was awesome. I also think he probably could have run it in."
As Mullen seeks to reboot Florida's offense and rebuild a program coming off a 4-7 season, revisiting the past in the opener was a nice touch.
The jump pass has been a part of Mullen's play-calling dating back to his days at Utah, where as Urban Meyer's offensive coordinator, the Utes reportedly dipped into the dusty playbook of former Utah coach "Cactus" Jack Curtice.
The story goes that while at Utah, Meyer discovered an old Curtice playbook from the 1950s. Utah had a play out of the T-formation in which quarterback Lee Grosscup handed off to "a kid from Price who would go toward the line, then pull up and pass," former Utah offensive lineman Ron Fullmer told the Deseret (Utah) Morning News in 2007.
On Monday, Mullen referenced the first time he called a jump pass – the play was referred to as a "pop pass" at the time – while with Utah in 2003. In an overtime win at Air Force, Utes tight end Ben Moa took a direct snap and tossed the winning score on a two-point conversion to tight end Matt Hansen, giving Utah a 45-43 victory.
"Alex Smith was not a running quarterback,'' Mullen said. "I mean, he was really good at some read-option stuff and he could pull it. Even today, he can pull it and he's fast enough to run around the edge, but he's not kind of a between-the-tackles power runner, so we did a bunch of direct snap stuff. We had a play in [at] the goal line where we would direct snap to, it was Ben Moa, and he'd power away. As soon as you snap it to him everybody is going to just not think he's going to throw it and we had a jump pass off of it."
The play worked to Moa's surprise, considering that on fourth down he had bulled his way into the end zone from the 1-yard line on a similarly designed play.
"So then, we ran it," Moa told The Athletic this week, "and it looked like we were running the same play. So, everybody blitzed, the tight end slipped to the back, and I just jumped and popped it over the top."
The play has remained in Mullen's playbook over the years since, gaining national attention with Tebow in 2006 and again in the national championship game against Oklahoma to cap the 2008 season, right before Mullen left to become head coach at Mississippi State.
For his part, Franks said he had never watched Tebow's jump passes prior to his own against Charleston Southern. Two days later, he confirmed he had.
While Mullen would have preferred a softer touch on his thrown, Franks prefers the end result.
"Pretty or not, it got in the end zone,'' Franks said.
Mullen credited quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson for dialing up Franks' pass at the perfect moment.
As always, it's all about the timing.
"You saw them, they all pounded into the line of scrimmage and it was an easy completion," Mullen said. "You've got to set it up a little bit to get them not expecting it."
-- FloridaGators.com senior writer Chris Harry contributed to this report.
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