Where Does PFF Place Gators QB Emory Jones in Its 2021 Preseason Rankings?
With the Florida Gators set to start their fall camp in just a month, all eyes will be on its new starting quarterback in Emory Jones for the 2021 football season. Many have already taken notice, including Pro Football Focus, who recently released its preseason quarterback rankings prior to the start of the season.
Jones is a redshirt junior and up-and-coming quarterback in the college football ranks. He's bided his time for a few seasons, including taking the backseat last year to former Florida quarterback Kyle Trask, now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While Jones hasn't started a single game in his career, his potential has been seen as one of the highest in the country thanks to his strong arm and scrambling ability, making him an ideal dual-threat quarterback for Florida head coach Dan Mullen's offense.
For PFF, Jones falls at No. 14 on its list of 130 quarterbacks in the FBS. That's quite a ranking for a quarterback who's yet to receive many repetitions in his career, though it comes with a sound rationale, taking his recruiting profile and prior work as an athlete in general into account.
Here is what PFF had to say about Jones:
Jones has yet to start a game in his three years at Florida, but he has still flashed impressive traits.
An elite athlete for a quarterback, Jones boasts real-deal arm talent, producing an 80.6 passing grade across 87 career attempts. He dealt with fumbling issues as a runner in his first season in 2018 but cleaned it up and has since posted an 81.7 rushing grade on 76 carries over the past two years. For perspective, former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields was the only FBS signal-caller who posted a rushing grade north of 80.0 in 2020.
Jones may have a more notable recruiting profile and background, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him become the Joe Burrow or Zach Wilson of the 2021 college football season. What’s most alluring about his situation is that he is partnering with one of the top offensive minds in the country in Dan Mullen, who will have his first dual-threat quarterback as Florida's head coach.
While PFF uses former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields in the same sentence as Jones, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be the same quarterback. Their skills, however, in a vacuum, do match up nicely in the times we've seen Jones carry the football.
Over the past four years, Jones has run the football 92 times for 514 yards and six touchdowns. By contrast, he's passed the football just 86 times, completing it 55, while throwing for 613 yards, seven touchdowns and just one interception.
PFF's ranking of Jones does speak highly to how they feel his season this year will go, however. Last year, for example, Trask was ranked as the No. 48-overall quarterback in all of college football, a stark difference in how they feel about the two quarterbacks.
His ranking would fall in the "good, not great" category, or tier 3, whereas Jones' rank falls in the "high-ceiling quarterbacks" category, or tier 2.
The Gators will hope Jones does live up to the hype and potential that his skillset dictates. He's shown over the years that the sky could be the limit, but he's yet to be able to put it to the test.
Now, as he enters his potential final season at Florida as the team's unquestioned starter, he'll have his chance and could prove everyone right in the long run.
