SEC Football: Jake Fromm vs. Feleipe Franks

Feleipe Franks

Feleipe Franks took over for Florida last season and started all 13 games for the Gators.

The rising redshirt junior has been through quite a lot at Florida. From a 4-7 season in 2017 where he got benched on and off through the season to now competing for the starting job, Franks has come a long way.

According to his bio, Franks was the first Florida quarterback since John Brantley in 2010 to start every game in an entire season. This stat is enormous in my opinion because the Gators offense finally had someone to rally around.

Florida found a leader in Franks which helped the Gators find ways to win.

The 6-6, 240-pound quarterback threw for 2,457 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Franks rushed 110 times for 350 yards and seven scores. He led the Gators to a 10-3 record and a Peach Bowl win over Michigan.

Franks made plays with his legs that helped the Gators in games.  A lot of times he had to run because his offensive line collapsed on him forcing him to make plays with his legs.

His arm and ability to make plays in pressure situations is what makes him one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC.

According to a tweet on Nov. 8 from CFB Film Room, Franks was only sacked 12 percent of the time when facing pressure. As the picture below shows, that 12 percent is well below what the SEC average was at the time.

Despite him being able to avoid sacks CFB Film Room notes that Franks had a hard time completing various types of passes.

Unless the passes were over the middle ranging 10-19 yards away, he struggled to make things happen.

However, those stats were through week 10 of the 2018 season. During the last three weeks of the regular season, Franks completed 67.8 percent of his passes and threw seven touchdowns.

He hit his stride in the final weeks of the season, and it showed. Head coach Dan Mullen appeared to be a lot more confident in his team in the last weeks of the season, and Franks proved his worth.

His leadership skills came alive, and he commanded the offense. Franks earned that respect, but it took almost two years to get it from his teammates.

At one point I didn’t think Franks would ever get a chance with Florida’s offense. He proved me wrong and finished strong. This strong finish is a great sign for him heading into his redshirt junior season.

Franks would be a quarterback any team would want to see on the field for them. He’s aggressive, competitive and has a strong arm. Once he puts it all together, he will be successful at the next level.

After his first couple of seasons at Florida, that was hard for me to imagine, but now I expect him to keep improving and showing his worth.