2020 Florida Gators Season in Review: Quarterbacks
An unprecedented season necessarily is followed by unprecedented results, and that's exactly what happened this year for the Florida Gators' quarterback position. It was manned by one player, redshirt senior Kyle Trask, for much of the year, and the returns were plentiful.
Heading into the 2020 season, the original plan for Florida was to essentially host a competition between Trask and redshirt sophomore quarterback Emory Jones. While Trask was the incumbent starting quarterback, there was plenty of talk regarding the impending showdown between the two signal-callers.
However, spring football was put on pause last year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. No spring football, no competition, or at least not enough to make such a dramatic decision from one season to the next. While Trask remained the starting quarterback, Jones was forced to take a back seat, becoming the backup for yet another year.
In April of last year, Gators head coach Dan Mullen spoke about the continuous competition at quarterback, specifically with Trask. His comments shed some light on how the quarterback was viewed and why he was retaining his starting job. The biggest reason? Experience.
"There's a confidence that comes with, 'I've been out there, I've led the team in big-game situations, I've led the team to big victories and played in all of these different arenas so far.' So I think when you look at Kyle that way, I think that breeds a lot of confidence in him being not just a leader on the field, but you also add his confidence and comfort within our offense, in our scheme and what we're doing," said Mullen.
"I think it allows you to spend a lot more time being a great leader and being vocal, holding other guys to certain standards and raising the play of the guys around you, which is what you want to do as a quarterback."
For all intents and purposes, that was exactly what Trask would show throughout the season and more.
Surrounded by a star-studded group of pass-catchers, Trask appeared unstoppable in 2020. Completing 301 out of 437 (68.9%) of his passes for 4,283 yards, 43 touchdowns and eight interceptions, Trask was one of the best quarterbacks in college football, a Heisman Trophy finalist.
While it appeared to be coach speak at the time, Mullen mentioned in August how far Trask had come, even going so far as to say he had "graduate-level" progression entering the season.
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"I mean he understands the offense and the reads and all of that. It’s how fast he’s getting to everything, the ability to check and change plays. The ability to extend the game plan where he has automatics that he can get us to, ‘Hey, we like this play against this look.’"
On multiple occasions throughout the year, Trask was seen getting coached up by Mullen but he also offered his own opinions on plays and how the game would go. With complete control of the offense, it appeared that Trask wouldn't be stopped.
While his success would have allowed a certain level of self-praise, Trask was never one to gloat, nor was he one to complain about any potentially missed opportunities. One of those instances became clear after Trask was pulled prior to throwing a fourth touchdown in the team's victory over Vanderbilt. It would have extended his streak, and etched his name further in SEC history.
"Like I’ve said from the beginning, we’re here to win games," Trask said following the team's victory over Vanderbilt. "I’ve said this enough times, I don’t care if I throw 10 touchdowns or zero touchdowns, I just want to win. We did a great job. … we started a little flat, but we did a great job coming together and finding a way. This was a huge win for us.”
Sharing the wealth was always in Trask's blood, though the team didn't veer away from their leader on offense very often. The rest of the team's quarterbacks, Jones and freshman Anthony Richardson, rarely saw the field. On the year, Jones appeared in nine games, completing 18 out of 32 of his passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He would add 217 rushing yards on 32 carries and a touchdown on the ground.
Richardson would play even less, appearing in just three games, passing the football twice for 27 yards, one touchdown and one interception while running the football seven times for 61 yards. 42 of his rushing yards would come against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cotton Bowl, the team's final game of the season.
Moving forward, the Gators will continue to add talent to its QB room, including the addition of Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna in the 2021 recruiting class. With Jones as the team's assumed starter and Richardson as its backup, the quarterback room will shift dramatically, hoping to produce as well on the ground and through the air moving forward.
