Feleipe Franks called his on number on 4th and 1

It’s 4th down and 1. The Florida Gators trail the South Carolina Gamecocks 31-28. A field goal would tie the game but Feleipe Franks and Dan Mullen were never thinking field goal.

We got here by way of penalty, then a one yard loss on a quarterback run. Lamical Perine picked up two tough yards to make it third and goal but Franks was stopped at the line of scrimmage. On television Franks was seen motioning and yelling to the sideline to run the play again. In that moment Franks says he was looking for the next play call while imploring the coaches to give him another chance.

“I asked for the ball. I always want the ball. I just wanted to run somebody over. I was just super pissed,” Franks said on Monday. “I just wanted to lower my head.. I mean I have faith in myself and confidence in myself to go and especially on fourth and one you know. I wanted the ball and I wanted to score.”

Franks looked but couldn’t see what the coaching staff was signaling in to the offense. He didn’t see the special teams unit running on to the field so he took this as his opportunity. He went to the huddle and looked at his wristband that has all of the plays Florida plans on running any given Saturday.

“It was like okay one with a running back and one passing it and one where you can run it,” he said. “I was like okay I’m going to go with the one I can run it. So I didn’t see the last call on the four down. I was like, he will probably get mad him if I don’t get it but I have confidence. So I just called it”

Franks took the snap and dove over center Nick Buchannan and right guard Fred Johnson into the end zone. He got up, flexed his biceps and, again, told the crowd that had booed him earlier to be quiet. It put the Gators up 34-31 and the extra point gave us the 35-31 final. Mullen was unaware that Franks called his own number.

“Well it was the same play. So he called the right one because that’s what we signaled. He’s a little flaky sometimes. We ran the same play the play before. It’s just our quarterback off tackle play,” Mullen said. “We signal run the same play and they ran the same play. If he had run it right the two previous times he wouldn’t have had to run it on fourth down.”

It was a moment, for Franks, that shows the kind of player he is. He’s emotional. He was angry when boos met him and the offense after the first drive. He was mad that he didn’t get in on the first down run and it also shows his confidence. That has grown throughout the season and Mullen has taken notice.

“I’ve always said that with quarterbacks. You gotta be able to use your emotions all over the place, you know what I mean?” he said. “You gotta go pump up the crowd and get crazy and excited, then the next play be completely locked in in making a three-way check and changing the protections and reading a read and go through your progressions. You gotta be able to control all your different personalities and emotion.”

Franks continues to grow within Mullen’s offense and as a quarterback. Mullen would like that it not have to come down to a quarterback calling his own number on fourth down, preferring to get the job done on first, second or third instead. But as Mullen has said multiple times this season, he’d much rather have to tell a player “whoa” than “go” and Franks has shown multiple times this season he’s not a player that Mullen will have to motivate in tough situations.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC