Former NFL HC: Gators QB Kyle Trask Will be Successful for 'A Long, Long Time'

Former NFL head coach Jim Mora believes Florida Gators quarterback Kyle Trask could be successful in the pros for a very long time.

Nowhere to be found in the conversation of top five quarterbacks, Kyle Trask's believers as an NFL Draft prospect are seemingly few and far between.

His believers are ones worth listening to, however. One of those believers is former NFL and college head coach Jim Mora Jr., who shared his thoughts about Trask as a pro prospect with AllGators days before the 2021 NfL Draft.

In addition to tight end Kyle Pitts, who is one of Mora's and this reporter's favorite draft prospects this year, "Kyle Trask deserves a lot of recognition, a lot of credit and to be talked about," Mora said. 

"I think that he's a great value in this draft. You hear about the big five, you know, and those guys true belong up where they are, they deserve to be talked about," Mora continued. "But Kyle Trask to me is kind of the under the radar, forgotten guy in most of the media discussions." 

Trask led college football in touchdown passes in 2020 with 43 while ranking second in yardage with 4,283, accumulating 22 starts in his career and finishing his redshirt senior year as a Heisman Finalist. Yet, Trask falls behind the likes of Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, BYU's Zach Wilson, Ohio State's Justin Fields, North Dakota State's Trey Lance, and Alabama's Mac Jones on consensus big boards.

A lack of elite arm strength and threatening mobility has caused Trask to fall out of the favor of the public eye, but Mora, a former NFL decision-maker himself, doesn't see the lack of those two traits as a block in the road for the former Gators' gunslinger.

"You know, people define mobility a different way. And I define it as the ability to move around in the pocket, find throwing lanes, buy time, maybe slide out of the pocket [to] buy some time, keep your eyes down and field and still find an open receiver," said Mora. "And I watch Kyle Trask play, those are things that he does well. He's a tall guy, he's a big guy. I think he's been really well coached. I think that he's got, you know, tremendous arm talent. And I think whoever gets him is getting a player that's going to be successful in this league for a long, long time."

Mora shared that he believes quarterbacks in the modern NFL are generally rushed into action too quickly in this day and age, when they could instead benefit from one or multiple years as a backup to a seasoned veteran. Projected to fall out of the first round, most likely, Trask may not have as much recognition as other quarterbacks but at the same time might be as ready as any of them to step onto the field immediately if called upon, Mora suggested.

"Unfortunately, we're asking these top draft picks now, these first round picks to come in and play right away. Some of them succeed, some of them struggle. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that they're not getting a chance to really kind of learn," Mora explained.

"I think Kyle Trask is unique in that he probably has the football intelligence to come in and be a successful starter right away," he continued. "Maybe not successful in terms of helping his team win games, but not losing games. You know, I don't know that he has a special traits that are going to propel his team to winning, just load them up on his back end and win. But I think he's got the emotional intelligence to go in and play and play efficiently."

The 2021 NFL Draft is scheduled to begin Thursday, April 29 at 8 P.M. ET.