What’s life line 48 hours after you etch your names in Florida Gators football lore for the rest of time, well, partly the same, but not exactly.
Feleipe Franks and Tyrie Cleveland connected on a 63-yard touchdown pass as time expired to beat the Tennessee Volunteers 26-20 on Saturday. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium erupted, the bench cleared and players, coaches and fans tried to wrap their minds around what had just happened.
“Things have been going pretty fast since Saturday night,” Cleveland said Monday. ‘I watched the play like 50 times. It’s been crazy.”
Cleveland has been Florida’s go-to receiver with the absence of Antonio Callaway. The sophomore explained why, other than the obvious, he has watched the final play against Tennessee so many times.
“The thing I like most about the play is the crowd when they made the noise, when they go crazy. That’s why I like looking at the play. Just to see my teammates all running on the field and going crazy, and just to see the fans going crazy,” he said. “The atmosphere was very crazy. I just feel like that play was a dream come true.”
Franks also had an interesting Monday before heading into meet with the media. The redshirt freshman quarterback walked into his history class with Dr. Steve Noll. Dr. Noll has been teaching at the University of Florida for 25 years and has mad a habit out of handing out a trophy to students that ask good questions or have a good answer to a question. When Franks walked into class Monday, Dr. Noll was waiting for him.
He just gave me the trophy out of nowhere today to start the class and told me good throw,” Franks said with a smile. “That’s kind of how class started.”
The duo will have the rest of their lives to look back on that play. It’s one that will be shown every year in the days leading up to the Florida-Tennessee game and it’s going to go down in history. They’ve enjoyed it, soaked it in and maybe even watched it a couple of extra times but they have to move on.
”You want to keep a level head. Especially at the quarterback position, you never want to be too high or too low if things aren’t going your way, because that’s part of the game,” Franks said. “We enjoyed it Saturday and Sunday and now it’s back on and we have to prepare for Kentucky.”