GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Kyle Trask is not shying away from declaring this team's 2020 goals.

“We definitely feel pretty strongly that we have a good shot at [the College Football Playoffs] this year,” the Florida quarterback told reporters on Monday.

Such high expectations is not surprising to Dan Mullen.

"I think expectations within the program have been high since I’ve been here, probably more so," said the Gators head coach. "I think Year 1 once we started to have success I think guys started to raise their level of expectation. Last year we had really high expectations within the team. I think when you add the external part, I think that’s catching up to where we were internally, and I don’t think it’s something that really affects you until you get into the season...Because our guys’ expectations are high right now, you know what I’m saying? It’s not like our team expectations are down here and externally we’re up here, our internal expectations probably are just as high as the external."

Trask is dealing with his own external expectations.

The Texan, who took over the keys to the UF offense in 2019 after Feleipe Franks' injury, is the SEC 's top returning passer.

“That is pretty crazy, just from where I started the season to where it ended,” Trask said. “It’s a pretty crazy ride for me. I just hopefully can improve on that.”

In 2019, Trask completed 66.9% of his 354 passes for 2941 yards, throwing 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. A tough act to follow.

The signal caller is ready to put in the work this spring.

"The biggest thing for me, now that I kinda have a good gist of the offense.. just really want to make sure I’m getting the ball out quick and really focus on making quick decisions," said Trask. "That’s an important part of my game, and really that’s what Coach Mullen wants to see.”

Although Trask is the presumed starter going into spring and into fall, Mullen insisted on Monday that there are no secure jobs in Gainesville.

"Every's position is open," said Mullen. " [Kicker] is wide open too, but Evan [McPherson] is pretty darn good though. I want to see what some of the other guys can do that are coming in.

"He’s still got to go compete.”

So Trask has to be ready to compete in a quarterback room that is home to redshirt sophomore Emory Jones and freshman and early enrollee Anthony Richardson.

“I know he’s got a couple of other guys that expect to start next year,” Mullen said. “He better push himself and continue to work every day and compete at the highest level so he can remain in that position.”

One can argue that both Jones and Richardson's ability to run as well as pass make them a better fit for Mullen's offense. However, Trask's experience and attitude has earned the team's respect.

“It’s really his team and this is his last year,” said Kyle Pitts said. “So he’s going to make sure everybody is competing every day.”

“Really nothing’s changing for me,” Trask said. “I’m still going to compete every day and try to get better every day, find something new I can work on and just continue to go from there.”

The redshirt senior quarterback understands that there is still work to do in order for Florida to reach its goals.

But he is ready to fight for it.

“I think it’s going to take everything we did last year and even more,” Trask said. “Obviously that’s a long time from now. If you want to get there, it goes one game at a time.”