QB Trask is leaner, lighter and eager to help meet weighty expectations
The Quarantine 15 proved to be no match for UF quarterback Kyle Trask.
Trask handled the down time and temptations during the shutdown with the ease he stepped into the starting quarterback role last season.
The Gators redshirt senior enters his final season having dropped 13 pounds while gaining plenty of confidence.
“He’s looking lean,” UF quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson marveled followed Wednesday’s practice. “I think he feels a lot more comfortable being able to get energy on the ball. You can really see just the foot-quickness and the body-quickness improvements.”
Everything about Trask is much lighter these days.
After spending most of his career as a backup, Trask is now the face of a top-10 program. Along the way, the soft-spoken 22-year-old has become a vocal, at times fiery, leader. Trask barely had played this time a year ago, but now he is ready for anything that comes his way this season.
“I definitely feel a lot more confident,” he said Wednesday. “In the quarterback position, experience is a huge thing. So just to have that, almost that whole season under my belt, I feel obviously a lot more confident about this year than I did last year.
“That’s in all phases of the game.”
Trask was in complete com
mand last Friday during the Gators’ first scrimmage since their Dec. 30 Orange Bowl victory over Virginia. He played just two offensive series against his teammates, but both times led the offense to touchdowns.
“I was really pleased with how he came out,” Johnson said. “He was kind of firing on all cylinders and played really efficiently.”
Long a student of the game, Trask has developed such a grasp
of the offense that he can provide input and suggestions to coaches while making sure his teammates are on the same page.
“I think he has taken it to another level, and it’s just him running everything,” All-SEC tight end Kyle Pitts said, “him being the guy that’s the first to meetings and first to call things up, make sure the offense is right and just making sure that everything around him is correct.”
A leaner, meaner Trask also could translate into a little more success running the the ball in coach Dan Mullen’s spread attack. But the 6-foot-5 Texan always will do his best work operating out of the pocket, where his anticipation, poise and accuracy were immediately evident when he replaced injured starter Feleipe Franks and led a comeback at Kentucky.
Despite never starting at college game, Trask never looked back — or got rattled — as he finished with 25 touchdowns passes, the most at UF since 2008, and led the Gators to an 11-2 record.
Trask now looks to smooth out the rough edges and hone the fine points of the game, beginning with improving his 66.9
completion percentage despite it ranking third in the SEC.
“You can never be too accurate,” Trask said. “I would say, ‘Accuracy and just making sure I’m sharp with my reads and my footwork,’ and just getting through my progressions the way that I need to be.”
Now in his third season working with Trask, former college QB Johnson has seen remarkable yet not surprising growth. Turns out all Trask needed was a chance to spread his wings.
“He’s had a bunch of experiences that have shaped him to this point,” Johnson said. “And I think he’s in a position now where he feels extremely confident and comfortable with who he is and what he stands for. Like I told him, I’m really, really proud of him to see his continued development.
“He’s someone that has a really good head on his shoulders. He’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’s inquisitive and asks questions and he’s a thinker. He’s somebody that everybody can look up to and he sets the standard and an extremely high standard for himself through his actions and now through his words. So it’s been good to see.”