Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The last time fourth-year junior quarterback Kyle Trask started a football game was as a freshman on the junior varsity team at Manvel (Texas) High. Asked if that was a concern as his Florida team looks to this weekend's home date against Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee, Gators coach Dan Mullen supposed Monday that if he sensed Trask might be nervous then maybe redshirt freshman Emory Jones would be sent out there for the first snap. 

"Then we'll get [Trask] in for the second play," Mullen said. "That way he wouldn't be starting." 

He was kidding. 

Probably. 

Trask, the career backup, got a battlefield promotion Saturday night to the No. 1 spot when Feleipe Franks, the starter for 18 consecutive games dating to late in the 2017 season, was lost for the year to a dislocated ankle. Trask coolly took over and fashioned a fourth-quarter comeback from 11 points down by leading the offense on three touchdown drives on the way to a 29-21 victory, completing nine of 13 passes for 126 yards and rushing for a 4-yard touchdown and go-ahead score. 

In his brief time on the field, the 6-foot-5, 239-pound Trask looked very much the part of a starting college quarterback, and come this Saturday will be under center when No. 8 UF (3-0, 1-0) takes on SEC Eastern Division rival Tennessee (1-2, 0-0) at Spurrier/Florida Field. Mullen indicated during his weekly news conference, though, that Trask may not be the only quarterback to play for the Gators. 

Mullen had a package for Jones ready for UK, and after Franks left the game the coach had every intention of getting Jones on the field — until Trask played so well. He hit his first four passes and needed just six plays to get the Gators in the end zone and make it a one-possession game. 

"The coaches do a great job of preparing us for these kinds of moments," said Trask, who in four possessions helped the UF offense net 222 yards and three touchdowns. "I was trying to take advantage of my opportunity." 

He did that and then some. 

By the time the Gators and Vols kick it off at high noon, the college football world will know that Trask played behind D'Eriq King, who is now a star at the University of Houston. He came to UF in 2016 and sat behind Austin Appleby, Luke Del Rio, Malik Zaire and Franks, attempting just 29 passes over five games of mop-up duty along the way. After relieving Franks and looking good in last year's ugly home loss to Missouri, Trask was in line possibly to make his first start, but broke his foot during a non-contact drill at practice the following week. Franks excelled from there, while Trask rehabbed amid speculation — with new chance to play in sight — he would seek a transfer. 

But he never even considered it. 

"I know the whole portal thing in the past year or two has been big, but this is one of the best schools in the country, so I figured why leave when I have a top-10 education, friends I love dearly, a football team that's very supportive of me?" Trask said. "I did not want to leave at all." 

His patience — more importantly, his perseverance — paid off. 

"He was very decisive," senior wideout Josh Hammond said of Trask's play under pressure in Lexington. "I think he came into the game, and he knew where he was going to go with the ball, and there was no second-guessing about, 'Should I do it? Should I not go it?' He got the ball out pretty quick and wasn't afraid to let it sling a little bit. Coach Mullen did a good job keeping the call pretty simple on the first play, to come out and throw a hitch, just to kind of get warmed up and get a feel for the game. He played at a really high level."

And led the Gators to a really big win. 

As expected, Trask was bombarded with calls and texts from friends and family, not to mention appreciative fans of the Gator Nation via social media. 

"I'm really grateful for that," he said. "At the end of the day [though] we're here to win games. Really, my focus now is on Tennessee 100 percent." 

That, obviously, was the focus of all Gators, including the ones not playing. When Trask and Jones showed up for Monday's quarterbacks meeting, Franks was there to lend support to his teammates. 

"I told him to stay home," Mullen said. "But he was still at the meeting and as positive as you could be in that situation." Franks is scheduled to have surgery on the ankle next week, as the trainers room in the south end zone is getting more crowded with each week. Joining flanker Kadarius Toney (shoulder) and corner CJ Henderson (ankle), who both went down the previous game against Tennessee Martin, was defensive end Jabari Zuniga (ankle), who exited the UK game in the first quarter but returned in the second half. Toney is unlikely to be back to face the Volunteers, while Henderson and Zuniga will be limited in practice this week and re-evaluated closer to game time. 

Their teammates want them back. 

"It's sickening when the injury bug bites," said senior linebacker David Reese II, whose 16 tackles (13 of them solo) against the Wildcats earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

As for the guys that will play, they began preparation for a UT team that got off to an epically poor start in losing to both Georgia State and Brigham Young at home, before getting in the win column Saturday by beating up on FCS-classified Tennessee Chattanooga 45-0. Their visit to the "Swamp" will be the Vols' first road date of the season. Florida has won 13 of 14 in the series, including seven straight at home. 

Tennessee is ranked 12th in the SEC in total offense (394.0 yards per game) and seventh in defense (306.0 per game). Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano has completed nearly 66 percent of his passes for 629 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. Tailback Ty Chandler is averaging 82.7 yards per game and 5.9 per carry. The Vols' best receiver is wideout Jauan Jennings with 12 catches for 208 yards and four touchdowns. 

While the obvious buzz around the Vols is the team's troubling start in Coach Jeremy Pruitt's second season — Georgia State, which shocked UT in the opener, lost over the weekend to Western Michigan 55-10 — the UF upperclassmen are putting the challenge in the proper perspective. 

"Just because they had a rough couple of weeks, they're still Tennessee. They're still in the SEC. Still guys that can make plays and can come in and beat us," grad-transfer linebacker Jonathan Greenard said. "We're going to play to the best of our ability on our home field. We're going to treat them as if they're the No. 1 team. We need to pick it up. So, now we just have to get back out to practice and execute."

Practice this week at the quarterback position will be down one very important and popular player in Franks, but the preparation there won't be drastically different, according to the head coach. Trask said after his Kentucky heroics that Mullen, along with QBs coach Brian Johnson, try to prepare three starters each week, which means more reps for so-called backup players than what might go on at other places. 

In that way, very little will change.

"Not their game prep, not the reps at practice. We're not going to change the offense completely around them. Our job is putting them in position and doing what they do well and letting them be successful out there on the field," Mullen said of Trask and Jones. "I think they know the team and the coaches have confidence. How we've practiced through spring and training camp, Kyle's been in the huddle with the 1s a ton [and] Emory's been in the huddle with the 1s, even how we scrimmage, everything. Those guys have gotten with the guys that they're going to be playing with. So there's already a comfort level when we're actually on the field. I think it's all the other stuff that comes [with it] that's going to be the adjustment for them."

As in the attention that comes with being the quarterback for the Gators. 

Or one of the two. 

Probably.