Five reasons Florida's Emory Jones will play more in 2020

With Kyle Trask about to embark on his last season in orange and blue, Emory Jones will be Florida’s quarterback of the future and take over as the starter in 2021.

But even as a backup, Jones is still an important facet of this offense and will become more prevalent in Dan Mullen’s system before he secures the spot as QB1.

Here are five reasons why Jones will play more this upcoming season.

Jones appeared in 11 games in 2019, throwing for 267 yards and three touchdowns with a 65 percent completion rate. Tack on his 42 rushing attempts for 256 yards and four touchdowns, and you’ve got a pretty impressive sample size for a backup quarterback. He performed well against SEC rivals Auburn, LSU and Tennessee, leading UF on a scoring drive following Trask’s injury and tossing a TD in Death Valley. He also had 80 yards of total offense (47 passing, 33 rushing) and another touchdown pass against in-state rival Florida State. His performance in those games showed he can handle pressure and step up when his number is called.

Leading up to those more high-profile games, Jones proved he can produce on the field with impressive performances in non-conference matchups as well. Against Towson this past season, he completed 6 of 8 pass attempts for 74 passing yards and a touchdown as well as a 29-yard run to secure Florida’s 38-0 win over the Tigers. During his 2018 campaign, Jones put up big numbers against Idaho as well. He completed 12 of 16 attempts for 125 yards and two touchdowns, along with 19 yards on the ground. Any way you look at it, Jones has an admirable track record against opponents both big and small.

The quarterback spot is not what it used to be, and Jones fits the mold perfectly for how the position has evolved. Jones’ dual-threat ability makes him a powerful offensive weapon, especially in Mullen’s system. In 2019, he led the team in yards per carry (6.1) among players with at least 10 rush attempts, ahead of running backs Lamical Perine and Dameon Pierce. Jones toted the rock 42 times for 256 yards and four touchdowns, three of which came in a single game against Vanderbilt. More than half of his rushing yards in 2019 came in SEC games where the stakes were high, including his nine carries for 36 yards at LSU.

Another statistic to consider is that Jones was not sacked once in 38 pass attempts last season. His ability to evade pressure and escape the pocket helps extend plays, move the chains and keeps drives alive. That’s a skill set Trask doesn’t provide.

Having an extra quarterback with experience and different strengths not only provides UF a leg up in game situations, it also places an extra burden on opponents as they get ready for the Gators. Each week, defensive coordinators will have to prepare not just for Trask, a pro-style passer, but also Jones, a dynamic dual-threat QB who could be thrown into the game at any moment.

That places added stress on those coaches and defensive players. They have to take the time during the week to create and learn a game plan for both quarterbacks, making their preparation and practices much harder.

Two-quarterback systems can sometimes get messy if an established starter has to split time with a backup. That won’t be the case with Trask. Barring any unforeseen setbacks, he is the clear-cut starter for 2020 and won’t let Jones’ playing time cause any bad blood between the two.

Trask is a team-first player and shouldn’t be upset if Jones’ involvement in Florida’s offense increases this season. If serving as Feleipe Franks’ backup didn’t make Trask transfer, Jones getting more action isn’t going to bother him. These two want to see the team succeed and won’t let something like sharing snaps get in the way of that.

With Trask in his final season at UF, Jones is set to take over as the starter after this year. Playing the former Rivals100 member more this fall will add experience to his résumé and get him ready to take the reins when the time comes. As Mullen’s first quarterback signee, it’s likely that the torch would have been passed directly to Jones had Franks never gotten hurt.

Without that season-ending injury, Trask never would have emerged last year and established himself as the starter. He still could have stuck around and competed for the job in 2020, but Jones would be viewed as the favorite to win the competition. With that in mind, it’s important that Jones continues to be groomed for the future.