Gators No. 1 priority for fall camp: Finding starting quarterback

Florida averaged 22.1 points last year which ranked 104th in country

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When Dan Mullen was the offensive coordinator at Florida he was the engineer behind an explosive offense that led the Gators to a pair of National Championships. Now as head coach of the Gators, Mullen is trying to help the program rediscover the offensive magic that has been missing since he left Gainesville to become the head coach of Mississippi State nearly a decade ago. 

One of the main reasons Mullen got the head job at Florida is because of his reputation of being a quarterback guru. As fall camp begins on Friday, Mullen isn’t any closer to naming a starting quarterback than when spring practice ended back in April. 

“I would love to get that done,” said Mullen when asked did he have a timetable for naming staring QB. “That's something to me that I want to feel comfortable with. I don't have the timetable because if I give myself a specific timetable, I don't know when we're going to be ready to make that decision. I hope it's a clear-cut decision that we know this person is going to give us the best opportunity to win games and lead our program into the future.”

Last season Florida averaged only 22.1 points per game which ranked 104th in the country. The Gators have only averaged over 30 points per game, once in the past seven years.

In 2017, Feleipe Franks got the majority of the Gators snaps at quarterback. As red-shirt freshman he completed 55% of his passes for nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. Now entering his sophomore season, Franks is one of the early favorites to get the starting nod. 

“I’m trying to win games,” said Franks at Thursday’s football media day. “I’m trying to bring back Florida to where we were when I grew up. I’ve always dreamed of playing at a big school like this. I want us to get back to where we use to be, winning games.”

If Franks is 1A in the race for the starting quarterback spot, fellow sophomore Kyle Trask is a close 1B. But unlike Franks, Trask has yet to take a snap for the Gators. 

“He definitely has a good history of working with quarterbacks like Tim Tebow and Dak Prescott,” said Trask when asked what it’s been like learning from Mullen so far. “Those guys have had a lot of success after college. It’s really easy to buy into what he says knowing his past. We all know that he knows what he’s going and what he’s talking about.” 

True freshman Emory Jones is also in the mix to become the Gators starting quarterback.

Mullen has a little less than a month to make a decision. The Gators open the 2018 season on Sept. 1 against Charleston Southern.