Florida Football: Gators shouldn’t quit on Feleipe Franks

Feleipe Franks looked abysmal in his debut as the Gators’ starer against the Michigan Wolverines. Florida football needs to stick with freshman quarterback.

More: What did we learn from the Michigan vs. Florida result?

Feleipe Franks had a terrible debut as the starting Quarterback at Florida. The Gators never got any offense going scoring both of their touchdowns on defense. Franks was even pulled for grad transfer Malik Zaire.

That’s a long of doom and gloom, but it’s not time do despair yet. Here are three reasons Gator fans can’t quit on Franks and neither should coach Jim McElwain.

1. Suspensions of Callaway and Scarlett

Sure, Franks sputtered, but he didn’t have the firepower the Gators should have at his disposal. Super-athlete Antonio Callaway was suspended with nine other Gators. Callaway has 1,300+ receiving yards and seven touchdowns in two seasons. 2017 was expected to be his breakout year.

Running Back Jordan Scarlett was also suspended. Scarlett had 889 rushing yards and six touchdowns in 2016. Receivers Rick Wells and James Robinson were also suspended, as was offensive lineman Kadeem Telfort. Losing playmakers and an offensive lineman on an offense that hasn’t been able to make plays for almost a decade is a tough situation to put on a new quarterback.

All of the work a quarterback does in the spring, summer, and fall camp getting timing and communication down becomes wasted time when players are suspended. Franks also missed out by splitting reps with Malik Zaire and Luke Del Rio for parts of spring and camp. Coaches want their starting quarterback to have a sixth sense or almost ESP with their receivers. You can’t get that established if your skill players aren’t on the field.

2. Malik Zaire is terrible

Everyone loves the back-up quarterback unless they’re even worse than the starter and in this case Malik Zaire is worse. Franks struggled, but Zaire who has legitimate playing experience looked like he had never played college football before.

Zaire threw for 100 yards but added 25 of those once the game was well over. Zaire also fumbled in the end zone to stretch the Michigan lead. Zaire has not been the same player since the fractured ankle in 2015. DeShone Kizer took over and led the Irish and himself to an NFL Draft pick and starting quarterback status for the Browns.

Zaire, a grad transfer, isn’t the answer. He offers Florida a one-year bandaid and he’s more like a piece of gum in the hole if your canoe has sprung a leak. There’s no reason to panic and blame Franks when, as I previously mentioned, he didn’t have his best running back or wide receiver to work with. Give Franks a full strength squad before quitting on him.

3. The Florida offensive line is bad

No quarterback can succeed behind a bad offensive line. It makes Quarterbacks afraid of “ghosts” or a pass rush that isn’t even there. If a quarterback is hit enough, he’ll run before he should and make poor reads to just get the ball out of his hands and into safety.

Franks looked punch drunk once Michigan’s defense got going and Florida couldn’t pass protect against a 3-man rush. Michigan’s defensive line looked like the “Florida speed” we always hear about. To be fair, the Wolverines are one of the best defensive fronts in the entire nation. It would have been stunning to say the least if Franks could have moved the ball at will against the maize-clad big boys up front.

Next: Major takeaways from Michigan's win over Florida

The Gators may have been without their skill guys but they do have their offensive line in tact and Jim McElwain could have mixed up their pass protection, like Michigan did, in order to give Franks more time to throw and more confidence in the pocket. It worked in 2016 for Mark Richt and Brad Kaaya after the four game losing streak Miami came back strong to end the season. Bad protection and poor play calling can make any quarterback look bad.