Gators’ Jones ends spring as starter, with a caveat
But the team wants to develop a strong backup QB
GAINESVILLE — UF coach Dan Mullen stated the obvious as spring practices concluded Saturday: Emory Jones is the Gators’ starting quarterback.
“I mean, I’ll give you an honest answer,” Mullen said when asked. “I would say, ‘Yes.’ But I don’t think of it in terms like that.”
Mullen will not rely on the redshirt junior to shoulder the entire load at the game’s key position. To do so would be shortsighted, if not detrimental, to the Gators.
In the view of Mullen, long known for his ability to coach QBs, redshirt junior Anthony Richardson needs to be just as prepared to handle the first snap of the 2021 season Sept. 4 in the Swamp against FAU. The Gators next need to develop a quality backup between first-year freshmen Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna, just in case Jones and Richardson are unavailable.
“You’ve got to prepare at least two quarterbacks ready to go,” Mullen said. “My thought process is, ‘How are we getting two starters ready? And then we have the two young guys, so what’s the backup plan after we have two starters?’
“Instead of, ‘Hey, Emory’s the starter. You’re the backup,’ we need two starters and then I’ve got to figure out the backup situation we’ve got.”
Mullen still concedes Jones must set the tone as the Gators enter a long offseason due to spring practices ending nearly a month earlier than in the past. UF faces more than five months before the start of the regular season and several of those without coaches allowed on the field to instruct them.
Veteran leadership is critical at each position, Mullen said, to build on the progress made during 15 spring practices.
The cancellation of 2020 spring practices due to COVID-19 prevented many players from making significant strides during the offseason. Jones, though, spent the previous two years working behind Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask, and then spent last summer seeing how Trask prepared himself and led his teammates.
“Kyle Trask last year getting everybody on the same page to do it, Emory watched how he did it,” Mullen said. “So now it’s his turn for him to go show those guys how to do it, and then Anthony learns and then shows them how to do it.”
The leadership of Jones and Richardson will be critical to the development of the Gators’ pass catchers, who possess talent but like their QBs have big shoes to fill. UF lost top three receivers Kyle Pitts, Kadarius
Toney and Trevon Grimes — a trio combining for 32 touchdowns catches in 2020.
Among the team’s young receivers, Mullen singled out inexperienced redshirt sophomore Ja’Markis Weston.
“I thought he took huge steps this spring,” Mullen said. “Was a guy that probably played the least [in 2020].”
Weston has one career catch for 13 yards, but Mullen was high on the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Clewiston native during National Signing Day in 2019, thinking he would prove to be a steal for the Gators as a three-star recruit.
“Some of the guys have played,” Mullen said of Weston’s fellow pass-catchers. “But I thought he took a big step forward.”
Mullen said the Gators ended spring without any “serious injuries,” but said a number of players sat out Saturday’s final scrimmage due to various minor ailments. The team finished spring with just 10 healthy offensive linemen, which would have made it difficult to stage a spring game if Gators had chosen to do so.