Notebook: Franks experience, comfort level showing
Spring practice hits every one hard and Dan Mullen isn’t immune. The head coach of the Florida Gators was still a little hoarse as he spoke to the media Wednesday afternoon—a by-product of the first three days of practice and normal Spring crud he explained—but his message was clear as he talked about the state of his team.
Quarterbacks
The position with the most questions and most importance is undoubtedly at quarterback. Since this is also Mullen’s area of expertise, it’s the one he’s asked to speak to the most. He’s quick to remind that it’s only been three practices so there’s still a lot to evaluate, but says he has been pleased with all of their progress.
Incumbent redshirt sophomore Feleipe Franks is showing experience is key as he exhibits awareness that only comes from playing time.
“I think just his comfort being on the field. You look at him. Kyle [Trask] has a good understanding of the game as well. But you can see with Feleipe his experience, having been out there and playing and being in the huddle and being in there with pass rushers and having played a little bit more college football. You can see that with him in his comfort out there on the field.”
Redshirt sophomore Kyle Trask has been subject to injuries throughout his career in Gainesville and thus has been the forgotten man at times, but Mullen sees the raw tools in place to work with.
“He’s got a live arm. Throws the ball really well. He’s got a lot of talent. Obviously his height helps. Just to be able to say you have him and you have Feleipe, you have two tall guys, so they can stand in the pocket and still see everything. You don’t have to create a lot of throwing lanes, they can throw over people and create lanes. Watching him, I think he’s bought in to what we want to do. Sometimes when you look at quarterbacks and you look offensively for them to pass it and they’re (understanding?) and we tweak it around some of their strengths. I tell them that the running aspect of the quarterback in our offense, I just want you to be a willing runner. If the defense gives you the opportunity to run, go run and go do it. He’s shown a decent bit of athleticism to be able to run the ball as well.”
And when it comes to both of those guys, Mullen sees strength that can’t be taught.
“They have some arm talent. Watching those guys throw the ball, they definitely have some arm talent and ability to make a lot of different throws, which is fun to coach. You can put some more things in. You can do things, you can do it around their ability to throw the ball.”
Not every play though is a 63-yard bomb to beat Tennessee in regulation so Mullen is looking for consistency over strength.
“Accuracy, though, is the most important thing. I'd rather take a very, very accurate quarterback over a guy that throws it 80, 70-80 yards and just explaining that to them and understanding that…. But I've been pleased with how they've picked things up within the offense, too. It's going to take a lot of reps before they get comfortable. But I haven't seen the confused looks out of any of them yet. But it's through three days. We've got another installation tomorrow.”
Transfers
Wide receivers Van Jefferson (Ole Miss) and Trevon Grimes (Ohio State) are still in limbo as they wait for word from the NCAA on the status of their transfers. Both have applied for waivers so they can be eligible to play this season; Grimes for a hardship waiver as he moves closer to home and Jefferson due to the sanctions the NCAA has leveled against Ole Miss.
Jefferson in particular has shined at the first three practices as coaches move him from slot to outside. Whether that will be seen in the fall is unknown but Mullen assured they are following all the proper protocols.
“We’ll just file everything, file everything with the NCAA and let them go through their steps and their process and just cooperate with them in whatever they need to make that decision.
“In any of those things that I’ve dealt with in the past with the NCAA I never try to guess [the timeline]. I never try to put a timeline on it. Some days you’ll get an answer back within a day or two and some days it’s extended a long time. I’ve seen every different scenario so I just don’t even try to guess.
“I don’t know if we filed or put in any of the official stuff yet. It’s all still in the process.”
Tight Ends
The tight end unit has been used mostly as glorified blockers in recent years but Mullen’s offense leans on the stocky receivers. Through the first three practices, we’ve seen several drills that implement them into the passing game with promise of more. Mullen pointed out there is still needed depth at the position is pleased with what he’s seen there thus far especially from his veterans.
“C’yontai [Lewis has] done a good job. He’s a size mismatch and a little bit of a mismatch as a receiver at times, which I like. So we’ve gotta develop him and create (him) as a great blocker. Now he creates that mismatch or that dilemma for the defense.
“R.J. Raymond I think has really done a nice job so far of playing tight end. Because of how we use the tight end, and they’re used in so many different ways, that he can still fit that mold. He’s done a really good job so far.”
Talent
As for the actual talent Mullen inherited, he’s still evaluating the guys but sees potential there that’s exciting. It’s a stark contrast to past lamentations of new coaches who have bemoaned the empty cupboard left by the previous coach.
“We’re still Florida. We still played in two of the last three SEC Championships. We have talent here. It’s not like we have no talent on the roster. These guys all came to Florida and came here to play.
“When I came here like 13, 14 years ago, there was a lot of talent here then. My recollection of that talent then was maybe not day 1 or 2 of practice. it was the team that went on the second year to win the national championship and a lot of guys that went on to play in the NFL. We've got to see how it pans out. There are guys here I feel with a lot of potential. They have the potential to become really good players. We've got to develop them and they've got to buy in and they've got to continue to grow. But we have that."
Benchmarks
Taking over a new program has it’s difficulties though, as a head coach is learning how to work with players they didn’t recruit. Mullen has experience though as he did the same at Mississippi State, and successfully. His plan remains the same in Gainesville as he and this team get to know one another.
“You just kinda keep going until you see where you start hitting walls. And I haven’t seen that. I haven’t seen where there is just confusion. There’s times now where it’s like ‘OK, what happened?’ But to me, it goes into, 'Hey, I understand the install of today,' but yesterday you go back and we threw a couple of plays in from day one. And there wasn’t a questioning look or guys kind of shrugging their shoulders with no idea what to do, so you keep going until you hit that, and then you’re gonna sit there and say ‘OK, at this point, now we’ve got to be careful moving forward because we’ve gotta make sure we know what we’ve done in the past.’ So that's really it.
“To me -- offensively and defensively and kicking game-wise -- teaching a lot of the different fundamentals, seeing what guys can do... It's not worth putting in the whole offense and really stressing everything. It's taking little pieces of the offense from different parts so that we've kind of exposed them to everything. At the end of spring we can look back and say 'this is what our quarterbacks do well' and 'OK, these are the things we want to run offensively.'
“We run a lot of no huddle but we're huddling all spring. I want them to understand because it's easier for me to go from huddle to no huddle than no huddle to huddle. Learning how to be in the huddle, call plays from the huddle, listening to the play, getting to the line of scrimmage and just seeing the signal and lining up and running. Everything we're doing is kind of a teaching progression and then at the end of spring we'll see 'OK, this is what we think the team is' and even going into fall camp a little bit 'this is what the team is and this is what the focus for this season.'"
Open Practices
Mullen and the team were so pleased with the energy and excitement from fans out at the first two days of spring practice that they’ve decided to open it back up for this weekend. You can catch the guys in action from 11:50-2:20. This will be the last open practice for fans until the Orange and Blue Game on April 14.
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