Quarterback Feleipe Franks enjoyed a late-season surge toward a breakout season in 2018. (Photo: Jay Metz/UAA Communications)
Gators, Franks Seek to Maintain Offensive Turnaround
Friday, August 23, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During their first game-week practice of the season on Monday night, Florida's starting offense toiled inside the team's indoor practice facility as head coach Dan Mullen and his staff directed preparation for Saturday's season opener.
As quarterback Feleipe Franks took snaps under the watchful eye of Mullen, a few feet away Mullen's most famous former pupil shared an extended conversation with Emory Jones, the Gators' redshirt freshman quarterback.
In one snapshot, the Gators' past, present and future stood amidst the casual chaos of practice. The sight seemed fitting as No. 8-ranked Florida prepares to face Miami on Saturday night at Camping World Stadium in Orlando in a much-hyped opener to kick off the 150th anniversary season of college football.
Not since Tim Tebow's final season a decade ago has the Florida offense appeared so promising.
"It's going to be a good offense to watch,'' senior receiver Freddie Swain said.
In a decade defined by quarterback battles, a rotating cast of offensive coordinators and finishing near the bottom of national rankings on offense, the Gators closed Mullen's first season back in Gainesville in the end zone for a change. Finally, the Gators had their bite back.
Along the way, they rallied to defeat former UF head coach Will Muschamp and his South Carolina team in dramatic fashion, highlighted by Franks' shushing of the crowd. They ended a five-game losing streak to Florida State. They beat Michigan for the first time in program history with a convincing 41-15 romp in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, boosting them into the top 10 of both final national polls.
The turning point was the comeback victory over South Carolina, overcoming a 17-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter for a 35-31 win. The Gators shredded the Gamecocks for 528 yards and didn't let up the rest of the season, averaging 45 points and more than 520 yards over the season's final four games.
Franks, booed early against the Gamecocks and benched the previous game in a deflating loss to Missouri, responded with the best play of his career down the stretch. Over the final four games, Franks completed 64.9 percent of his passes for eight touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 177 yards and four scores rushing.
Ask him the difference, and he immediately mentions confidence.
Ask him if the Gators can maintain that momentum in 2019, and he doesn't hesitate.
"Everything is there to click,'' he said.
In a mild preseason camp in terms of position battles, much of the focus surrounding the Gators centered on Franks' rise and his growth and expectations in Year 2 of Mullen's offense. Franks, who passed for 2,457 yards, 24 touchdowns and only six interceptions a season ago, has gone from the team's biggest question mark to a player nominated for some of the season's top preseason awards.
Mullen is often very measured in his praise of the 6-foot-6, 240-pound redshirt junior since he took over the program, but on Monday, he made headlines by sharing how much Franks has grown as a player since we last saw him help beat Michigan in December in Atlanta.
"I think he's already improved more during the offseason than he did throughout last season on the field — in his performance and understanding the system and decision making and making plays," Mullen said. "It is the big picture of the quarterback. It's every intangible that comes with that. How do you manage the game? Your decision making, your leadership, your mental and physical toughness.
"All of those are aspects of things at the quarterback position that I think he's taking huge strides at more than he's completing a higher percentage of his passes."
What those intangibles mean for Franks and the offense will start to be revealed against the Hurricanes, who will take the field for their first game under head coach Manny Diaz, Mullen's former defensive coordinator at Mississippi State.
With so much history between the two head coaches, nothing Florida does on offense or Miami does on defense is expected to be much of a surprise.
"It's always a chess match,'' Gators co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach John Hevesy said this week. "We know what we've got to do and that's the biggest thing for us. We've got to hold our end of the deal up."
Miami returns a veteran defense up front, anchored by a trio of senior linebackers in Shaquille Quarterman, Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud. The Hurricanes' talented defensive line, headed by junior end Jonathan Garvin, provides an immediate test for a Gators offensive line that features four news starters.
While much of the pregame focus has been the familiarity factor between Mullen and Diaz, Franks has another view on why Florida's offense is primed to pick up where it left off.
"He was still learning our names," Franks said of Mullen entering last season. "Now we're comfortable with him. Me personally, more comfortable with his play-calls. He's more comfortable with me executing the play-calls. And I think that's most important when you have a head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterback and the whole offense on the same page. That just comes with time. That's just what's different between now and last year, the comfortability."
Next up, proving that last season's late offensive flourish was a preview of the future and not an ode to the past.
In the case of Franks, it's all in the present.
"I've seen him do all the off the field stuff at a much, much higher level,'' Mullen said. "We'll see how he's going to handle the highs and lows and the adversity that we're going to face whether it's adversity of success or adversity of defeat and how we handle all of that in between."
As quarterback Feleipe Franks took snaps under the watchful eye of Mullen, a few feet away Mullen's most famous former pupil shared an extended conversation with Emory Jones, the Gators' redshirt freshman quarterback.
In one snapshot, the Gators' past, present and future stood amidst the casual chaos of practice. The sight seemed fitting as No. 8-ranked Florida prepares to face Miami on Saturday night at Camping World Stadium in Orlando in a much-hyped opener to kick off the 150th anniversary season of college football.
Not since Tim Tebow's final season a decade ago has the Florida offense appeared so promising.
"It's going to be a good offense to watch,'' senior receiver Freddie Swain said.
In a decade defined by quarterback battles, a rotating cast of offensive coordinators and finishing near the bottom of national rankings on offense, the Gators closed Mullen's first season back in Gainesville in the end zone for a change. Finally, the Gators had their bite back.
Along the way, they rallied to defeat former UF head coach Will Muschamp and his South Carolina team in dramatic fashion, highlighted by Franks' shushing of the crowd. They ended a five-game losing streak to Florida State. They beat Michigan for the first time in program history with a convincing 41-15 romp in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, boosting them into the top 10 of both final national polls.
| First 9 Games |
Final 4 Games |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 6-3 | 4-0 |
| Points | 275 | 180 |
| Points (Avg.) | 30.6 | 45.0 |
| Rushing yards | 1,664 | 1,107 |
| Rushing yards (Avg.) | 184.9 | 276.8 |
| Passing yards | 1,792 | 984 |
| Passing yards (Avg.) | 199.1 | 246.0 |
| Total yards | 3,456 | 2,091 |
| Total yards (Avg.) | 384.0 | 522.8 |
The turning point was the comeback victory over South Carolina, overcoming a 17-point deficit with less than five minutes remaining in the third quarter for a 35-31 win. The Gators shredded the Gamecocks for 528 yards and didn't let up the rest of the season, averaging 45 points and more than 520 yards over the season's final four games.
Franks, booed early against the Gamecocks and benched the previous game in a deflating loss to Missouri, responded with the best play of his career down the stretch. Over the final four games, Franks completed 64.9 percent of his passes for eight touchdowns and no interceptions. He added 177 yards and four scores rushing.
Ask him the difference, and he immediately mentions confidence.
Ask him if the Gators can maintain that momentum in 2019, and he doesn't hesitate.
"Everything is there to click,'' he said.
In a mild preseason camp in terms of position battles, much of the focus surrounding the Gators centered on Franks' rise and his growth and expectations in Year 2 of Mullen's offense. Franks, who passed for 2,457 yards, 24 touchdowns and only six interceptions a season ago, has gone from the team's biggest question mark to a player nominated for some of the season's top preseason awards.
Mullen is often very measured in his praise of the 6-foot-6, 240-pound redshirt junior since he took over the program, but on Monday, he made headlines by sharing how much Franks has grown as a player since we last saw him help beat Michigan in December in Atlanta.
"I think he's already improved more during the offseason than he did throughout last season on the field — in his performance and understanding the system and decision making and making plays," Mullen said. "It is the big picture of the quarterback. It's every intangible that comes with that. How do you manage the game? Your decision making, your leadership, your mental and physical toughness.
"All of those are aspects of things at the quarterback position that I think he's taking huge strides at more than he's completing a higher percentage of his passes."
What those intangibles mean for Franks and the offense will start to be revealed against the Hurricanes, who will take the field for their first game under head coach Manny Diaz, Mullen's former defensive coordinator at Mississippi State.
With so much history between the two head coaches, nothing Florida does on offense or Miami does on defense is expected to be much of a surprise.
"It's always a chess match,'' Gators co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach John Hevesy said this week. "We know what we've got to do and that's the biggest thing for us. We've got to hold our end of the deal up."
Miami returns a veteran defense up front, anchored by a trio of senior linebackers in Shaquille Quarterman, Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud. The Hurricanes' talented defensive line, headed by junior end Jonathan Garvin, provides an immediate test for a Gators offensive line that features four news starters.
While much of the pregame focus has been the familiarity factor between Mullen and Diaz, Franks has another view on why Florida's offense is primed to pick up where it left off.
"He was still learning our names," Franks said of Mullen entering last season. "Now we're comfortable with him. Me personally, more comfortable with his play-calls. He's more comfortable with me executing the play-calls. And I think that's most important when you have a head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterback and the whole offense on the same page. That just comes with time. That's just what's different between now and last year, the comfortability."
Next up, proving that last season's late offensive flourish was a preview of the future and not an ode to the past.
In the case of Franks, it's all in the present.
"I've seen him do all the off the field stuff at a much, much higher level,'' Mullen said. "We'll see how he's going to handle the highs and lows and the adversity that we're going to face whether it's adversity of success or adversity of defeat and how we handle all of that in between."
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