The Florida Gators are nearing the halfway point of spring football camp with no clear cut starter at quarterback.
Dan Mullen’s quarterback résumé speaks for itself and it includes his quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson. Monday Johnson spoke with the media for the first time since spring camp started. Johnson’s first impressions of his group was the arm strength. You don’t need to be a former Division I quarterback or a football coach to know that. Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask both can chuck a football 70-plus yards in the air, but how many 70-yard passing plays are you dialing up on any given Saturday?
The biggest thing Johnson brought up Monday was what he calls, “class to grass.” Having physical ability can only take you so far. The ability to take what your coach tells you in a meeting room, on a chalkboard or diagram, internalize it and show that you comprehended that information and apply it on the field.
There has been no question of incumbent starter Feleipe Franks’ physical ability, but his decision making and football IQ have been called into question. Johnson hasn’t had that issue so far this spring.
“He’s handled the installs. He’s come in and studied it. He’s done a good job of coming in and taking it from the class to the grass and putting it on the field and is making some plays and getting everybody involved in the offense.”
Johnson says he’s watched Franks escape the pocket and throw a ball 75 yards in the air. He joked it would take him two throws, a 40-yard pass followed by a 35-yard pass; to be able to cover the yardage Franks can throw it. Kyle Trask has a similar arm and is the other veteran presence in the room.
“I think it was either practice two or three, (Franks) made a throw and I remember I just looked over at Dan, we kind of just both just looked at each other and shook our head and it was a pretty impressive throw,” Johnson recalled. “They’ve all kind of had some of those throws. Kyle Trask had one today where he threw off a play-action pass and it was a great read, he got to No. 3 in his progression and put it right on the guy in stride for a touchdown. So those guys, they all have flashed and shown some ability to make some big plays.”
Trask pushed Franks for the starting job last spring. He played through an injury for most of the 2017 spring camp and needed arthroscopic surgery after the spring game. A foot injury would eventually sideline for he entirety of the season, but he’s not an afterthought in this race.
Behind those two, who have clearly separated themselves thus far, is the hot name that everyone wants to know about. Freshman Emory Jones has been a mixed bag so far this spring. Jones’ athletic ability is undeniable. His speed, quickness and escapability has been on display but with him wearing an orange non-contact jersey it’s hard to get a grasp of precisely how effective that can or will be. Johnson did remember several times where Mullen has decided to pull the non-contact jerseys off of his quarterbacks, though.
“A couple years ago, I think it was the year after Dak graduated, we went into the spring with a four-man competition and they were all live all spring so we could see what those guys could do,” he said. “So there’s been times throughout our career where quarterbacks have been live.”
Jones and redshirt freshman Jake Allen have taken all of their reps with third and fourth teams. Allen has outperformed Jones at times this camp but Johnson does take into account Jones’ age.
“The biggest thing to me is just his confidence of coming in and knowing what to do and not being overwhelmed by the level of competition,” Johnsons said of Jones. “He’s come out, he’s competed no matter what group he’s going with, whether it’s the ones, the twos or the threes. He’s come out and he’s known what to do. He’s been very, very eager in the meeting room as well.”
The Gators will have its first scrimmage of spring this Friday, which will be open to the media. It will be interesting to see if the quarterbacks are non-contact, as Johnson said they have done previously, which would show how Franks and Trask look running the ball and just how effective Jones is using his legs as a weapon.