For now, at least, there is no QB controversy

Photo Credit: Chris Spears

For three years Emory Jones waited for his moment to take over as Florida’s starting quarterback. He did everything right. Came to work every day. Practiced hard. Studied film. Won over the coaches with his patience and determination to improve in every aspect of his game. When given opportunities to show he had the right stuff to take over the most storied position in Gator football history, he showed potential.

Then came Saturday night, the long-awaited first start against an outmanned, overmatched Florida Atlantic team that the Gators finished off 35-14. It could have been and should have been worse. A blowout was called for and it really wouldn’t have taken a star is born kind of moment from Emory Jones for the Gators to light up the Owls for 50 or more. A night of good decisions and smart throws would have turned the trick, but that’s not what we got. It’s unfortunate, but against Florida Atlantic, Emory Jones played like he’s still the backup quarterback to Kyle Trask.

Jones ran the ball just fine – 10 carries, 74 yards – but we’ve always known he had a great set of wheels. Trask could take an opening that was worth two yards and get you five on occasions. Emory Jones can take that same opening and get you 10, 15 or more. He showed he could do that against FAU and he made really nice decisions running the option down on the goal line.

No, running was never the problem in the past nor was it Saturday night against FAU.

Throwing the ball? Well, let’s just say that was an adventure. Jones completed 17-27 passes for 113 yards (a very ugly 4.19 yards per attempt) and a touchdown pass, a 9-yarder to Rick Wells who had to wait five full years before he finally made the first TD catch of his career. The throw to Wells and a nice 18-yard completion to Trent Whittemore were his highlight passes. Most of the other 25 passes were forgettable. Before and after the two good throws there were far too many times when Jones took the easy throw rather than look downfield. It’s not as if there weren’t open receivers, particularly in the middle of the field.

Even more troubling than taking the easy throw were the many times Jones could have made a call to Uber Eats for pizza delivery. Time to throw was rarely a problem. If anything, it seemed Florida’s offensive line gave him too much time. Jones so often stood for what seemed an eternity in the pocket only to take the dump down throw or make a soft throw when a dart was required.

Now, FAU wasn’t credited with a single sack or even a quarterback hurry. Some of that has to do with the frequency FAU dropped seven and eight into coverage, but whether they blitzed or went zone, there was no shortage of open Florida receivers.

There were two interceptions and both of them were bad ones. The first was in the second quarter at the goal line. Backup QB Anthony Richardson marched the Gators down the field in his first series of the game but third-and-goal at the two turned into third-and-goal at the seven on a delay of game penalty. Sent back into the game, Jones stared down a receiver at the goal line then threw soft for an easy interception by FAU corner Diashun Moss.

The second interception came in the waning moments of the third quarter when on one of those rare occasions Jones tried to throw it downfield. He put too much air under the ball and it was an easy pick for FAU strong safety Teja Young.

There was one more opportunity for Jones to re-energize what had become a stagnant offense but three completions netted all of 12 yards and another punt. That was the end of the night for Jones and it brought back Richardson, who turned the final 10 minutes of the game into his own personal showcase.

Taking over at the UF 27 with 10:20 remaining, Richardson had a 26-yard run and a 36-yard pass to Ja’Markis Weston in driving the Gators 73 yards for a TD that Malik Davis scored with 7:42 to go to make the score 28-0. Davis finished the game with 104 yards, his first 100-yard game since his freshman year against Vanderbilt in 2017.

On Florida’s next possession, Richardson broke into the secondary and then turned on the jets for a 73-yard touchdown. Later in the game, he had runs of 22 and 11 yards and made a highlight reel play when he leapt over an FAU defender, then landed on his feet for a few extra yards before going out of bounds.

For the game, Richardson carried seven times for 160 yards. He was 3-8 passing for 40 yards, not exactly great stats, but he seemed far more confident going downfield than Jones. Even his incompletions showed off a strong arm. If you’re going to miss on a deep throw, overshoot. Undershooting a receiver on a deep throw results in an interception far too often.

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Of the two quarterbacks, Anthony Richardson was easily the most impressive Saturday night. No doubt, Florida fans will by and large be calling for Richardson to get the start next Saturday night in Tampa against South Florida but it would be a shock for that to happen. Mullen has been around too long and has a long, proven track record when it comes to developing quarterback to dump a quarterback that quickly.

In defense of Jones, this was his first career start. He’s waited a long time for this chance and he probably felt the need to have a great game to prove to everyone that the time in Mullen’s quarterback aging vat has been very well spent. In all likelihood, Jones put more pressure on himself than he needed. Mullen seems quite confident in his abilities so perhaps it’s simply a matter of relaxing and just going out there to do everything he’s trained the last three years to do.

Perhaps.

That isn’t to say that Emory Jones has no need to be concerned about Anthony Richardson. Richardson is an enormous talent who has only scratched the surface of his potential. There is also that teensy matter of what happened in August practices and Florida’s two scrimmages. People who saw the Gators regularly and in the scrimmages were of the opinion that Richardson had the better August and that it’s only a matter of time this season before he assumes the starting role.

To be considered is the fact that Richardson has never taken snaps in SEC football games. Jones may have never started prior to FAU, but he has seen critical snaps in big games, both home and on the road. He’s not going to be intimidated by big crowds or facing off against highly regarded opponents. That alone will weigh heavily in any decision Mullen makes before electing to change quarterbacks.

There is also the matter of the locker room. Like it or not, teams do follow a leader and from all reports, Jones has been that leader ever since the Gators returned from the Cotton Bowl game. Any change that takes place at QB will have to be accomplished with teammates understanding that it’s time.

What we can probably count on moving forward is Richardson getting more opportunities to play. There was no question in 2019 and 2020 that there was a gap between Kyle Trask and Jones. Trask was the unquestioned starter. Jones was the clear backup. Here we are in 2021, however, and based on what we saw Saturday night, the gap that separates Emory Jones and Anthony Richardson shrunk considerably.

How much more it shrinks in the next week or two remains to be seen, but Mullen can’t feel confident that Jones can lead the Gators past Alabama in two weeks time. While Jones was looking like a career backup in his first career start as a college quarterback, Alabama’s Bryce Jones was looking like he’s ready to lead the Crimson Tide to a second straight national championship the way he sliced and diced what was thought to be a good Miami team. While Jones was averaging 4.19 yards per throw and throwing more interceptions (two) than touchdowns, Young was throwing for 344 yards and four touchdowns in an almost flawless performance.

For now it’s safe to say there is no quarterback controversy at the University of Florida. Dan Mullen will start Emory Jones next week against South Florida. If it’s more of the same that we saw against FAU for Jones, then Mullen may feel compelled to make a change, but would he do it on the verge of the Gators playing the No. 1 team in the nation?

We often hear that old saying that the greatest improvement college football teams make is from week one to week two. The same can be said about quarterbacks, especially those making their first career start. The door is wide open for Emory Jones to prove that he is indeed the right quarterback at the right time for the University of Florida, but he has to be feeling the rather talented footsteps of Anthony Richardson.

The Gators are still Emory Jones’ team. For now. He needs to play very well next week in Tampa or else he will be feeling an inordinate amount of heat in the weeks to come.