Florida Gators position reevaluation: Quarterbacks

Before the season, I did a position focus on each Gators' position group. Let's look back five games in and see what we think now.

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First, you have the ugly. 

In Florida's quarterback room, there's three guys and I have narrowed each one down to one adjective: ugly, steady and mystery. 

Feleipe Franks is the ugly. This was not because of anything that had to do with his play on the field before his injury, but his injury itself. Franks dislocating his ankle, this early into a season that had so much preseason hype, was a worst-case scenario for the redshirt junior. 

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The circumstance surrounding him, to be brutally honest, is an ugly one. Not just because he can't play the rest of 2019, but because he may never start for the orange and blue again. Who knows what next year's QB future is? What if Kyle Trask has an incredible year and takes sole possession of the job? What if Emory Jones is as special as we all think he is and coach Dan Mullen decides it is his time? 

For Franks, it truly, truly sucks. Let's move to the other two that are still healthy. 

Trask is the steady. Everything we have seen from him tells us that he may not have the deep ball, or the athleticism of a healthy Franks, but the floor is much higher. He is mentally sharper and more accurate. A five yard out route is much less likely to fly over somebody's head and fall into the hands of a defensive back with No. 11 behind center Nick Buchanan. 

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Furthermore, this season rests on his pads. The reality now for the Gators is that this team's destiny mostly depends on how high Trask can reach. We know he can complete short to mid-range passes to steadily move the ball down the field when given time. What we don't know is if he can reach that next tier of offensive general that can make him, and UF special.

Lastly, we have the mystery: Emory Jones. He is the true unknown in all of this. We truthfully still have no idea what Jones gives you on an every-down basis and we won't this year unless Trask gets injured or becomes unbearably awful. 

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This really matters more for next year, since in all likelihood no crucial offensive play for the rest of 2019 is going to see No. 5 on the field, but it is a huge cornerstone for the future. 

Overall, this group to me is actually pretty underrated. Franks struggling in his first few games gave this room a bad name, but the fact that UF can lose its starting QB down 11 on the road in the SEC and still win is a testament to head coach Dan Mullen. He really is capable of squeezing every possible ounce of talent out of his passers.