Buddy Martin Blog: The Trask-Franks Trade-In Baseball Lexicon, It Was “A Good Deal For Both Teams.”
Updated: Nov 16, 2020
I still have picture in my mind: As teammates encircle their maimed quarterback like pallbearers, some on bended knee, Kyle Trask is standing right next to the portable elevated stretcher as his good friend Feleipe Franks is being transported off Kroger Field, weeping, grimacing in pain and badly injured.
Florida trailed, 21-10, with a little over three minutes to play in the third quarter, Gators Head Coach Dan Mullen having chosen to go for it on fourth down. Franks rolled out to run the ball and as he was tackled, was bent backwards. He was severely injured with a broken leg and his teammates appeared in semi-shock.
Next up was the little used quarterback from Manvel, Texas, but was he ready for this scenario? That next-up quarterback tonight – and likely for the next 20-something games – looked almost grief-stricken, consumed with empathetic pain for his good friend Feleipe that he didn’t appear to have a clue about the difficulty of the task ahead. Could he even overcome this emotional moment?
Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to your new Gator quarterback. And goodbye to Feleipe. It was quick and unorthodox. And painful. But fortuitous.
Prior to Trask’s takeover vs Kentucky, Franks had struggled a bit, completing 12x17 passes for 174 yards, one touchdown and one interception. The numbers Trask posted were not impressive, 9x11 for 126 yards and no TDs, but he did score the go-ahead TD on a perfectly executed 4-yard keeper. Posting 19 unanswered points, the Gators prevailed 29-21.
Quite frankly we weren’t aware of what we were seeing: The debut of an elite quarterback who would lead Florida back to a championship aura.
When you’ve never taken a meaningful snap in your college football career – and you’re going into your third season without having started a game since you were in ninth grade -- heroic antics are not likely expected of you. That’s the first time we underestimated Kyle Trask. And it’s been that way ever since that moment.
Boy, were we wrong.
My smart friends like Bubba Ennis and Lee McGriff were always strong on Trask and had been advocating for “the guy behind Franks who was a better passer.” I made a mental note: Balderdash! Franks was the experienced guy with a strong arm and amped up competitive juices who once put his index finger to his lips and shssshed the home crowd. He fought to win that game and for his team and his job.
And yet it seemed Feleipe was always precariously teetering on the brink of a benching. How you gonna bench him? Mullen almost did that after Franks laid an egg against Missouri in 2018, Florida’s second double-digit loss in a row. Instead, Franks got a reprieve, maybe because of an injury to Trask.
Fate conspired in favor of these two young men as Franks stayed true to his teammates after his injury, cheering them on in an air cast and on a scooter, watching Trask grow into the job, then quietly exiting out the back door transfer portal with class and dignity. No bitterness or vocally expressed regrets, just a guy with a degree in his satchel , a strong arm and a strong desire to compete again with hopes of pursuing a next-level career in the NFL.
At the same time, graciously stepping aside without whimpering to allow his friend Trask to slide into his old role and avoiding having to put his coaches in the unenviable task of choosing one over the other. Kyle won the job by default, but would have won it in head-to-head competition anyway because it was now his team. Feleipe, still good enough to play and start in the SEC, found a home in Fayetteville.
Good on everybody.
Trask has been nothing short of phenomenal in the 4-1 run, with his crowning achievement of beating old nemesis Georgia and posting a career high 474 yards and four touchdowns on a string of 5 straight games with four of more TDs.
Suddenly the guy who came out of moth balls and off the bench to an obscure beginning is right up there in the Heisman Trophy conversation with Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields. And you wonder how he could have been missed by coaches all these years, or if he just improved expeditiously with good training. I am sure that Coach Brian Johnson’s concept of having all three quarterbacks take an equal number of snaps daily in practice with the No. 1 unit contributed mightily to his improvement.
Not to launch into a stats comparison here between Trask and Franks, because it would be disrespectful of what Feleipe has done. It’s no small matter that Franks has already thrown as many touchdown passes (14) as Arkansas did all last season.
He has helped Sam Pittman resurrect Arkansas to a 3-3 record – and if they don’t get hosed by officials in a loss to Auburn it would be 4-2 – which is impressive enough that it makes Pittman a strong SEC Coach of the Year candidate, even if he is missing this game in Covid quarantine.
Trask’s 1,815 yards and 22 touchdowns with just three picks is in a class by itself.
And the 14 TDs and 1,428 yards with three interceptions by Franks is nothing to sneeze at. He comes back home with a fair set of credentials.
"I think Feleipe's a great quarterback," Mullen said of Franks' performance this season thus far.
"We had him for quite a long time, so, I'm seeing what you see out of him. A guy that has a high touchdown-to-interception ratio, really strong arm, you know. I mean, he's a veteran player now, played in the league, so the games and moments aren't too much for him. I know he's playing kind of a newer offense to learn, but when you're an older, veteran guy, I think you understand concepts, you understand coverages, you understand what's going on out there on the field. He's picked it up really fast, and I think he's having a great year. But I wouldn't have expected anything less than that from him, and, you know, the Feleipe I know."
All week long players and coaches have been answering questions about their relationship with Franks and while I wouldn’t call it a love-fest, I must say to almost a man they expressed great respect and were happy to see his success elsewhere.
Everybody from his quarterback room buddy Trask, to his former roommate Brett Heggie, to Mullen, his wife Megan (“she’s more in touch with him than me,” said Dan) to position coach Johnson talked of Feleipe in glowing terms.
Said Trask: “I think we had a very beneficial relationship while we were both playing here because we were great friends off the field, but at the same time, we were both competitors, and we competed with each other every day, and I think we made each other better in the end.”
What about the way he’s been playing?
“Yeah,” said Kyle. “I mean, he’s always had big-play potential, and he’s always been a great quarterback, and I’m happy for him, and he’s playing well over there. Arkansas definitely got a good quarterback in Feleipe.”
“That's my brother," running back Malik Davis said. "When he left it was definitely hard, but he was just making the right decision for himself.”
As for Franks, he has plenty of gratitude for his old team and his new team.
“Just being at the University of Arkansas has been a blessing for me,” Franks told reporters after beating Tennessee, 24-13. “These guys had my back every game throughout the season making plays for me. That’s all I can ask for.”
It’s a feel-good story all the way around, but if Franks comes in The Swamp and torches the Gator secondary for an upset by a 17 ½ underdog, I don’t imagine he’d be welcomed back. For Feleipe it would be the ultimate revenge. For his quarterback room it would be a nightmare. And he’d better plan to move to the Ozarks when he retires.
Great column, Buddy, maybe your best I’ve read. How ironic that a quirky schedule due to an unforeseen pandemic should bring Feleipe back to face the Gators.