Kyle Trask Pads Heisman Reel In No. 6 Florida Gators Huge Win Over Arkansas Razorbacks and Franks
On a night Kyle Trask demanded to be considered a Heisman finalist, there was one play in particular that encapsulated the No. 6 Florida Gators (5-1) huge 63-35 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks (3-4).
From the Florida 36 yard line, Trask handed the ball off to Dameon Pierce who turned back for the pitch. It was a flea flicker, something Florida has run sparingly under Head Coach Dan Mullen, despite his penchant for trick plays.
For half a second, disaster loomed. Trask dropped the pitch and while bending down to pick it up, an Arkansas rusher got around the line and was baring down. But Trask, showing the poise that has become legendary to his game this season, simply picked up the ball, ignored the rusher and delivered a strike down the left sideline.
On the other end was waiting Xzavier Henderson.
“They were bringing a blitz off the edge and kind of pushed the pocket back, and we kind had a little… it wasn’t the greatest exchange between us,” explained Trask.
“We have to clean that up, obviously, but I picked it up and I saw Xzaiver Henderson had a step on. I threw it as far I could, flat-footed and see if he could make a play, and he did a great job.”
The true freshman had recognized the change to Trask’s timing following the dropped pitch when he looked back for the ball. To accommodate, he pushed off his man and turned around. Now running backwards, Henderson faced the ball and adjusted his speed. By the time he hauled in the rainbow pass, the Gators had moved 43-yards down the field.
Head Coach Dan Mullen didn’t see the bobbled pitch, but isn’t surprised his quarterback didn’t flinch.
“You have a flea-flicker, ‘I got a little bit of time. I know what routes guys running. I know what time they're going to develop, so you know all of a sudden it comes back and I got to scoop it up and slowed the timing down, but it's a slower timing play so I don't have to panic in that situation.' So he, I thought did an excellent job managing that situation.”
After putting the Razorbacks defense on their heels, Florida rushed to the line for a quick snap from the 21-yard line. Trask dropped back, looked right and arced one up for Justin Shorter.
The Nittany Lions transfer bullied his body around the defenders and came down with the score to make it 21-7.
“I know Shorter, he works really, really hard,” said Trask of his receiver.
“He’s got great hands, he's got great range, you know, go up and get anything. And I saw that guy covering him, he was trailing him with his back turned, so I knew if I put it up there for him that he would be able to make a play on it and he did a great job at that.”
The score was indicative of many things, the smallest of which not being that Penn State is winless and let one of their best former 5-star receivers leave and he’s doing things like make ridiculous physical touchdown catches while down the depth chart because that’s just how many talented weapons Florida now has on this offense.
The catch was so ridiculous in fact that receiver Tre Grimes—on the sidelines taking a breather—bolted off the bench, around the official and into the endzone to maul his teammate in celebration. It drew a flag but no one seemed to care.
That’s just the type of night it was for Florida, one in a long line of what is become the type of season it is for Florida. In total, 593 yards of offense, 36 first downs and eight offensive touchdowns plus a defensive touchdown. But the flea flicker to Henderson and subsequent touchdown to Shorter was just one snapshot of what this Florida team has been doing to tear defenses apart this season.
Even without the nation’s top tight end and future first rounder Kyle Pitts (he’ll miss next week as well while recovering from nose surgery), the Gators spread it around to 10 different receivers for the second week in a row.
“It’s awesome,” states Trask, who had just as many touchdowns as incompletions (6).
“We’ve known this ever since fall camp about how many different weapons we have. Even when we had Pitts in there, a lot of people like to double team and try to shut him down and leave other guys one-on-one but this week everybody did a great job stepping up, beating their matchups, and making plays on the ball.”
Kyle Trask broke several in a long line of Florida and SEC records, now owning so many, the rundown will need to be its own separate article. But the one that stands out is the redshirt senior has now thrown for 28 touchdowns this season, the most in SEC history through six games. And he’s done it in all league games.
Saturday night, he threw for six touchdowns against a Razorbacks defense that had entered the day as the second best pass defense in the league, giving up 222 yards per game through the air. Trask and Emory Jones combined for 385 passing yards (Trask, 356; Jones 29).
Even after Trask had thrown his fifth touchdown, Head Coach Dan Mullen was coaching him on the sideline after a missed read.
Recalled Mullen, “I’m trying to remember what the missed read was, he missed a read. So, I’m not the greatest pat-on-the-back guy all the time, especially in games. I’m coaching up. I’m kind of a perfectionist: Hey, these are things, I want us to be exact in everything that we’re doing. I do, I’m encouraging, hey, this was really good, but this something you missed or we’re going to fix this or you could have done this in this situation.”
It’s the attitude that will help shape the passer into a potential Heisman candidate. As will plays like the deep ball down the sideline into tight coverage to Tre Grimes or when he recognized a break in the defense and found Grimes wide open just outside the endzone. Arguably the most physical of the Gator receivers, Grimes picked up the baton as the Razorbacks focused on shutting down Kadarius Toney and accounted for six receptions, two touchdowns and 109 yards.
"Tre is just such an explosive receiver with very strong hands. Similar to Kyle Pitts and some 50/50 ability, he can go up there and snag any ball,” explained Trask.
“So, I have complete trust in him and not only him, but the rest of our receiving corps 'cause I see how hard they work throughout the week, and what kind of plays they can make and the speed they've got. So, when I'm dropping back I've got complete trust in my guys.”
Or the three passes for 47 yards and two touchdowns to tight end Keon Zipperer who stepped in for the injured Pitts.
Or the throw from the Arkansas 33-yard line when he moved the pocket to buy time and direct traffic, seeing a break in the coverage and hitting Jacob Copeland in the back of the endzone for the score.
Or the fact that Arkansas had been leading the league with 12 interceptions and Trask threw none. The Razorbacks did notch one at the end of the game when third string freshman Anthony Richardson received a few snaps.
As Trask will tell to anyone that listens, the credit goes to the weapons around him…but facts are facts. He’s the common denominator.
Even on a day when the offense put up 56 points on their own, the defense worked into a groove that can be built off of and sustainable. However following the win, they were understandably concerned with the explosive moments given up.
Of the 458 yards the Razorbacks racked up, 313 came on explosive plays (pass of 15 plus yards, run of 10 plus yards). Two plays alone accounted for 165 yards, both touchdowns.
“We were happy we got the win but obviously we know there’s some things we have to clean up,” admitted defensive end Zach Carter.
“Our guys, especially on defense, we take a lot of pride. I feel like we gave up too many points. They shouldn’t be able to score that many points, so we gotta go back as a defense and fix some things.”
Added safety Donovan Stiner, “I think we just need to clean up a few things. Little things that can make big plays. I think we need to stay consistent, no missed assignments and things like that, because as you see, one missed assignment can result in a big play.”
But Todd Grantham’s group also held the Razorbacks to 3-9 on 3rd down, meaning the past two weeks, Florida has held opponents to 5-22 on the money down.
“As people know, earlier in the year we were really struggling on third down,” said Carter.
“We just seen how, as a defense we just started to see how important third downs are and we can get off the field. We can get our offense back the ball and they can score points. I think we’ve been doing a great job. It starts in practice. We been doing a great job emphasizing three and outs…let’s get off the field on third down because we know we have an offense that can put up some points.”
The defense did their part to add points as well though, when linebacker Mahomoud Diabate hit running back Rakeem Boyd to force a fumble. Carter scooped up the turnover and lumbered 35-yards for the touchdown.
It was his first score since little league.
“I always wanted to do that in the Swamp and I finally got to do it.”
The pass rush also landed home often, with three quarterback hurries and four sacks with a total of eight tackles for loss for 34-yards.
“With Feleipe being 15-of-19, you know, I mean he was on tonight. So, but one of the things we want to do is kind of get after him. You know not only were we able to knock him off rhythm but we were able to keep them behind the chains tonight with our pass rush,” pointed out Mullen.
And that was the extra piece of motivation needed to not fall victim to the Georgia hangover. Facing former Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks, who transferred to Arkansas this past offseason, meant that after four years of being told not to touch Franks in practice, they now saw red. And they didn’t let up.
Carter got to mark a few things off his Swamp bucket list on Saturday night, taking the chance to sack Franks.
“I always wanted to do that. I finally got to do it,” the defensive end joked after the win.
On one play, Franks pulled the snap and angled left with a keeper. Seeing linebacker Ventrell Miller and safety Shawn Davis both post up and show containment, Franks elected to slide. As he laid on the ground, Davis leaned over and yelled something into Frank’s helmet, until an official pulled the safety away.
But after the game, Davis was the last player to speak with Franks, biding his time to spend some time with his old teammate. When Franks turned and saw Davis standing there, the passer busted out laughing and slapped hands with the safety, a greeting of brotherhood and respect that mimicked the moment Franks had shared with nearly every member of the team after the clock hit zero.
For four years, Franks was outspoken face of the team while Trask learned behind him. The humble nature of Trask meant his praises often came from Franks, who reminded fans and media of the talent of Kyle Trask. The yin and yang personalities worked in the quarterback room, with the two balancing each other out and helping each strengthen the others weaknesses.
So it was little surprise that when Franks made his way through the crowd of players on the field, he sought out Trask.
After finding him, the Razorbacks quarterback wrapped Trask up in a hug that he would’t let go of while once again being the voice for the duo, taking care of the words in the exchange and as always, encouraging his friend because he knew Trask would normally push away the compliments.
"It’s just awesome getting a chance to go out there," said Feleipe Franks.
"Coach Mullen is a wonderful coach and a great coach at what he does. Obviously, Kyle as well. Being able to go out there, I mean I spent so many years with both of those guys, and to see Kyle flourishing and Coach Mullen flourishing and him giving me words of encouragement, that was awesome. To have that, you know, makes me feel good.
"That relationship is lifelong. It’s not something that’s there two to three years. You create those bonds, and it’s there lifelong. The ability to be able to go back and communicate with them, stuff like that is awesome, to have that relationship with Coach Mullen and Kyle."
That friend heard it from more than just Feleipe Franks though. The last player off the field, Trask left to peppered chants of “Trask For Heisman,” the three words echoing the same chant that broke out during the game.
On another recored breaking night, Kyle Trask continued to make his case to be a Heisman finalist. He also helped the No. 6 Gators make a case to be a College Football Playoff team…and that’s what will put a smile on his face.
Says Trask, “Stats are cool, but we’re here to win games. Whatever’s going to help us win games. That’s all I’m focused on. We’re here to win a national championship.t hats the team’s goal, just like a lot of other teams’ goal, is a national championship. To do that, you have to do a great job at winning games. That’s all I’m focused on right now.”
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