UF’s quarterbacks will require a flexable offense.
ATLANTA – Dan Mullen has coached a number of talented quarterbacks and explosive offenses over the years. But UF’s first-year head coach does not plan to live in the past.
Last season’s game plan at Mississippi State will not be the blueprint for the 2018 Gators’ attack. Quarterbacks Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask will not be expected to emu late Nick Fitzgerald, who threw for 36 touchdowns and ran fo r30 more the past two seasons for the Bulldogs.
Mullen said he told Franks and Trask early on he did not expect them to change as quarterbacks — improve, yes, but not by doing things they can not.
“The person that needs to change is me,” Mullen said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “And what we’ll do is change offense around the strength of the quarterbacks, and they’ve surprised me. Iwant to see howthey continue to grow and develop through the summer.”
Franks, Trask and first-year freshman Emory Jones will enter preseason practices Aug. 4 to begin yet another quarterback race for a program searching for answers at the position since Tim Tebow.
Mullen’s ability to develop quarterbacks, from Alex Smith to Tebow to Dak Prescott to Fitzgerald, could be put to the test.
Franks is the only UF QB with experience — much of it bad for the 20- year-old. F ranks, the season-openings tarter, was benched three times last season and finished with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions.
But senior left tackle Martez Ivey said he saw a different Franks emerge by the end of spring practices.
“I saw how much fun he was out there having,” Ivey said Tuesday. “I didn’t see that for awhile from him. Maybe when he first got here he was having fun. Now he was actually having fun on the field. Thatwas very comforting to see.
“Itwas something new.” Meanwhile, Trask, who sat out last season following foot surgery, is the best pure passer in the group but has yet to throw a pass during a college game.
Ivey said both the Franks, at 6-foot-5, 227 pounds, and Trask (6-5, 239) possess impressive arm strength, the size and physicality to play tight end, and a love of competition.
“They’re legit guys,” Ivey said. “In my eyes, they’re very legit. I could see what they can do in the spring. This offense is going to help them. Depending on who starts they could have a breakout season.”
Jones, who enrolled in January, also could have a role in the offense. It will depend on how quickly the 18-year-old has digested the playbook and added weight after arriving at 192 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame.
Mullen is confident he can figure out howto score points with whoever ends up under center.
“There’s not a specific way to do it,” he said. “Every quarterback I’ve had, they are all different shapes and sizes and different talent and skill sets. To be honest with you, our job as coaches is to put them in position to be successful.
“If I have a— if I got a square peg in a round hole, OK, I mean, you can sit there and slam all you want; it’s not going to work. What you need to do is go find a square peg, right? Or a round peg in a round hole or square peg in a square hole.
“It’s not that complicated.”