Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks is swarmed by teammates after his go-ahead touchdown run in the victory over Miami. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Carter's Corner: Love Him or Hate Him, Franks is Gators' Guy
Saturday, September 7, 2019 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – One game into the 2019 season, a win over those despised Hurricanes of Miami no less, and a tired trend has resurfaced for the Gators.
The man under center, quarterback Feleipe Franks, is once again under fire.
A fourth-year junior, by now Franks is accustomed to the love-hate response he seems to trigger from a portion of the fan base. If he wears a jean jacket to his postgame press conference instead of a coat and tie, they offer a critique. From my vantage point, the true Franks haters are in the minority but stand as a very vocal crowd on social media stages.
To label "most Gators fans" as out to get Franks would be unfair and inaccurate if you inspect message boards, comment threads and Twitter pages since the Miami win. Sure, there are plenty of posters who seem to think they could wake up this morning and run Dan Mullen's offense better than Franks tonight against UT Martin, but there are also unabashed supporters and those who give fair and thoughtful assessments of No. 13.
In reality, this is what Franks signed up for when he left the small town of Crawfordville for UF whether he knew it or not. Mullen has reinforced that truth on several occasions since taking over the program following the 2017 season. If you are going to play quarterback at Florida, you must have thick skin and ignore the critics who have no idea how the play that didn't work was designed to work.
"Outside opinions aren't as important as inside opinions,'' Mullen said this week.
On a more global scale, such is life for anyone in the public eye in 2019: politician, celebrity chef, college quarterback. The gloves are off and everyone is taking swings. We live in an age when Tom in Trenton and Mary in Micanopy have a voice and simple tools only a keystroke away to voice them, for better or worse.
Megan Mullen, wife of Gators head coach Dan Mullen, offers her support to UF quarterback Feleipe Franks prior to the win over Miami. (Photo: Piper Hansen/UAA Communications)
Those choppy waters can be difficult to navigate even for the savviest among us, much less a college kid who is growing up in the spotlight. If you have been paying close attention to Franks since he emerged as Florida's starting quarterback two years ago, you've seen the growth beyond what he does on Saturdays.
He has grown as a leader. He stays out of trouble. He works hard behind the scenes. He handles critical questions from the media much better, whether using the English language or body language. When asked Wednesday about the latest cries of dissent at his play against Miami (17 of 27, 254 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, 1 rushing touchdown, 1 lost fumble), Franks answered the way Tom Brady or Drew Brees might.
"Everybody is going to have an opinion. Whether you like me or not, I'm here to win games,'' he said. "I'm here to become the best person, the best player I can be. That's my main focus. What everybody else thinks is really not my main concern. Everybody on this team has my back. Coaches have my back, and really, that's all I'm worried about. And my family has my back."
You probably have to go back to Doug Johnson to find a Gators quarterback who elicited such strong opinions from Gator Nation about his every move. The strong-armed Johnson could drive fans nuts one play and have them tripping with delight the next. But in Johnson's day, there was no Twitter or Facebook or near the number of 24/7 media outlets that now analyze and re-analyze every throw until the next one.
As for Franks, truth be told, he seems to thrive off some of the animosity. It's who he is and quite frankly, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Hey, the Gators have not lost a game since he shushed the home crowd in the South Carolina victory last season.
I get where Mullen is coming from, of course. You can't let public opinion impact your day-to-day actions and preparation. But in the heat of the moment, such as Franks punting the ball into the stands following the victory over Miami, who cares. Call it overexcitement, cockiness, letting off steam, whatever you want.
Franks cares, which is what Gators fans should care about.
Furthermore, Franks is the most polarizing player the Gators have had since Tim Tebow. That's a good thing and something the program needed. A decade removed since Tebow's glory days, to be a marquee program, you need marquee players. Florida has lacked significantly in that department since Tebow played his last game in "The Swamp" 10 years ago.
Jeff Driskel was a great physical talent but got beat down by the critics and transferred to reboot his career at the end. Will Grier played with swagger and won, but he did not become a college star until at West Virginia following his tainted exit from UF. Dante Fowler Jr., Teez Tabor and Vernon Hargreaves Jr. were high-profile defensive standouts for the Gators, but anyone who knows the Florida program knows defense doesn't move the needle like offense.
If Franks was clearly regressing, perhaps the constant overanalyzation would make more sense. The numbers say otherwise. For a bit of perspective – at the risk of overanalyzation and simplicity -- Franks is on pace to finish the season ranked in the top 10 in Gators history in career passing yards and touchdowns. Since the South Carolina win, he has completed 64.5 percent of his passes (80 of 124) and thrown 10 touchdowns and two interceptions. He has added 185 yards rushing and five scores, including the game-winning 3-yard run against the Hurricanes.
Is Franks headed for a Heisman season? No one is saying that. But he has an opportunity to have a distinguished career at a school known for producing some talented quarterbacks, three of them erected in bronze outside the stadium.
The Gators have done nothing but win since Franks zoomed up the ladder of public awareness since his seminal moment against the Gamecocks. Winning usually cures what ails. Not so for Franks.
Still, love him or hate him, he is the face of this team.
"He is our guy. He is our leader,'' senior receiver Josh Hammond said. "He is very competitive. Sometimes his emotions rises up, but at the end of the day, he is the guy when we need to make a play we count on. It doesn't matter what anybody else has to say. We're behind him 100 percent."
