Feleipe Franks' Homecoming Should Have The Florida Gator Defense On Alert... And They Know That
Feleipe Franks’ return to The Swamp is bound to be one of the most interesting stories in college football this week.
The former Florida Gators quarterback, who took on a villain role in his final few games in Orange and Blue, spent four years at Florida before his time in Gainesville expired after a gruesome ankle injury ended his 2019 season and allowed for the story of Kyle Trask to take shape.
Franks’ roller-coaster-of-a-college-career continued after rehabbing his ankle and transferring within the SEC, joining the Arkansas Razorbacks.
And as fate would have it, when the league poured its “Covid cocktail” of conference only schedules, it included No. 13 returning to play within the orange walls of The Swamp — the same orange walls that both boos and applause bounced off of during his time there.
Franks and the Razorbacks have improved significantly under first-year head coach Sam Pittman—who tested positive for the coronavirus COVID-19 earlier this week—and are looking to keep their momentum as they roll through a tough road game against the Gators.
And knowing Feleipe Franks, as his former teammates remind us, the new-found Arkansas messiah is bound to seek vengeance against his former team. Not because he’s malicious, but because he’s a competitor.
"It'll be different for sure, you know," Florida center Brett Heggie, and Franks' former roommate said earlier this week. "Me and him, obviously, are really close friends and it'll be different to see him in another jersey. Just one thing for sure, I know he's a competitor and he's going to come prepared and ready to play. But so will we, so it should be fun."
Meanwhile, members of Florida’s defense, after years of chasing something they couldn’t have, are ready to play live football against Franks, where they are no longer told not to hit the quarterback.
"In practice, you cannot hit that quarterback," Florida linebacker James Houston said. "If you touch that quarterback, you're going to get in trouble. It's fun hitting someone that you couldn't lay a finger on for four years. It should be fun to see how that D-Line especially gets after it."
However, though the defense has appeared much improved in its last two games against Missouri and Georgia, squaring up against Franks and the Razorbacks shouldn’t be taken lightly. Not simply because Pittman has the Hogs heading in the right direction, but because Feleipe Franks, as all Gators know, has the talent to punish defenses in more ways than one.
Here are three big, yet very familiar reasons the Gators' defense should be on its heels come Saturday night:
The Boy Has Got An Arm
There’s no secret here. Perhaps the biggest factor leading to Franks’ recruitment was his talented arm.
Prior to getting to Gainesville, the young gun from Crawfordville, Fla. competed in a number of quarterback camps, clinics, combines and competitions. This reporter can remember following his recruitment and hearing week in and week out how he had won the “long ball” award that week.
In the offseason between the 2017 and 2018 season, Franks once again added an accolade to his resume after winning the “long toss” competition at the QB Retreat Camp.
The winning toss?
Seventy-four yards. 74 yards!
For reference, a play we all remember where we were when it happened:
In the “Heave to Cleve”, Franks launched a ball 63 yards to the endzone for a walkoff touchdown against the Tennessee Volunteers in 2017.
On the other end of “Train Jill Right, Big Ben In”, was Tyrie Cleveland, and by our calculations, Cleveland caught the ball after it had traveled roughly 69 yards through the air.
Needless to say, about anything from his own 30 yard line and forward is fair game for a touchdown for Franks.
In other words, Florida’s secondary, which has worn a “razor thin outfit” as Mullen describes, will have to be sure to keep every play in front of them — which is something the Gators struggled with last week against Georgia. Fortunately for Florida, the Bulldogs’ quarterback problems were on full display last Saturday and the Dawgs weren’t able to capitalize on some prime offensive opportunities.
However, you can’t expect Franks to have the same struggles. After all, he’s in his fifth year in the SEC and will be playing in a very familiar place.
Albeit Somewhat Inconsistent, When He’s On…He’s On
The “hot hand” theory is a fallacy, according to people who know how to do math. They say no matter how many completions in a row a quarterback might throw, each consecutive throw has a 50% chance of being a completion…no matter what.
And while that’s statistically true, that doesn’t seem to be the case with many — Feleipe Franks included.
In his time at Florida, it seemed as there was a shortage of times in which Franks was mediocre. Instead, it either looked as though he was playing well, or not well at all.
Much of the latter happened in the pre-Dan Mullen era. And being said, you can’t help but wonder if Jim McElwain’s scheme was fit for a guy like Franks. Because once Mullen took the reigns, Franks was having more success making those big time throws.
The task of connecting with his receivers was never too tall for Franks after an offseason learning from Mullen and quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson.
With or without space, Franks was able to make big time throws in his time at Florida.
This is more pressure on the Gators secondary unit to make plays in the defensive backfield. Franks has adjusted nicely to his new receivers in the midwest, so given room, or even the slightest window of opportunity, Florida should know that its former quarterback can capitalize.
At 6-foot-6, Franks Has No Problem Causing Issues With His Legs
In the last two games especially, the Florida defense has applied more pressure against the opposing quarterback, with 12 quarterback hurries against the Missouri Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs.
This has been one of the biggest improvements for the Gators defense and where Defensive Coordinator Todd Grantham sees future success.
"The biggest thing is, to me, is hits on quarterbacks. And I'm thinking legal; how you pressure the quarterback, your ability to, you know, continually, you know, get the hits, get the pressures because at the end of the day, if you're getting X number of hits or pressures that should correlate into getting a sack."
Against a guy like Franks, the defensive front should not only be prepared to produce that pressure and in turn take away some of Franks’ time to look downfield, but also wrangle up the big bodied QB.
One of the former Gators’ biggest strengths was extending plays with his legs (see Heave to Cleve).
If there is one thing that we can all agree on in terms of Feleipe Franks, it’s his relentless effort. Whether you look at his career as a whole, individual games or individual plays, nothing is over until Franks decides it is.
And pressure doesn’t scare the Arkansas quarterback. In fact, heading into the Georgia matchup in 2018, Franks was completing 57.6% of his passes when pressure was applied, according to Pro Football Focus.
Not only is Franks more than capable of making throws on the run, but he is also a very capable runner.
In his time at Florida, Franks rushed for 438 yards and eight touchdowns. He has also rushed for 174 yards with the Razorbacks midway through this season alone.
And though many of Franks’ rushing attempts come at the goal line or fourth and short just to pick up a yard or two, that hasn’t always been the case:
However, if you calculated the times Franks’ legs got him out of trouble and extended plays so that he could make a throw (again...math) that yardage would certainly make his rushing yardage look like a drop in the bucket.
So just as Florida’s secondary will have to take away plays downfield, the Gators’ improved defensive front will have to stay level headed through all the excitement of Franks’ homecoming and be prepared to make stops up front and possibly beyond.
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