Gators' Kyle Trask Considered No. 13 QB in College Football by 247Sports
Who are the top 25 quarterbacks in college football entering the 2020 season?
247Sports' Brad Crawford took a stab at creating such a list, noting that it is subjective and based not only on previous performances but also projection "based on expected development and the talent surrounding" each quarterback.
In total, six quarterbacks from the SEC made the cut, and Florida Gators quarterback Kyle Trask leads the pack with the No. 13 spot. Crawford went on to explain Trask's placement on the list.
"Arguably college football's most underrated signal caller last season, Trask won't be a popular pick for some as the SEC's top quarterback entering fall camp, but he will be the key to Florida's rise next fall as a national title contender. Coming off back to back seasons of double-digits wins, Dan Mullen believes his 2020 team could be his best yet in Gainesville and Trask is a large part of that. After throwing two interceptions in his first start vs. Tennessee, Trask notched 21 touchdown passes to only four picks over his final eight starts, finishing with 2,636 yards passing. Trask was especially efficient in three games vs. Top 10 competition, registered seven touchdown passes vs. Georgia, LSU and Auburn. All this came after he entered the season as Florida's QB2 behind Feleipe Franks, who has since transferred."
Trask entered the starting lineup for the first time since he was a freshman in high school in Week 3 against Tennessee, and never looked back. Taking over for the injured Franks, Trask went on to post the most productive season by a Florida quarterback - from a passing yards and touchdown perspective - since Tim Tebow threw for 3286 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2007.
Trask finished his 2019 season with 2941 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, and only seven interceptions, completing 66.9% of his 354 attempts.
Based on his unexpected performance, which only makes Trask's 2019 season more impressive, Crawford believes Trask is the SEC's best returning quarterback. Trask stands ahead of Mississippi State's K.J. Costello, Texas A&M's Kellen Mond, Georgia's Jamie Newman, Alabama's Mac Jones, and LSU's Myles Brennan, in descending order.
Interestingly enough, Trask has played in the fewest amount of games played of the six total SEC signal-callers, with 16. The next fewest would be Brennan, who has seen action in 17 games.
The obvious difference is that Trask has started in 10 of his 16 appearances while Brennan has spent two of his three collegiate seasons as 2019 Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow's backup. Being so high on the list despite a limited college career makes Trask's placement even more impressive.
While this list comes from a different outlet, it should be noted that this outlook on Florida's starting quarterback prior to the season is drastically different than last year. When Franks was the Gators' QB1 last August, Pro Football Focus considered him to be the No. 43 quarterback in the nation. Trask's recent performance should provide far more confidence than Franks' up-and-down career to that point.
As the Gators lost four receivers to graduation following Trask's uber-successful 2019 season, it will be interesting to see if Trask picks up where he left off. With no spring camp amidst the novel coronavirus, Trask will not have an opportunity to build chemistry with his new-look receiving corps, but it is believed that Trask holds an advantage over the likes of Newman and Brennan as both have yet to start a game for their respective schools.
Meanwhile, Trask does return his top target in tight end Kyle Pitts for the upcoming season, and the upside of receivers Trevon Grimes and Jacob Copeland is tremendous as they grow into bigger roles.
As things stand, Trask's placement on the list among SEC quarterbacks makes a lot of sense. But what about his spot compared to the rest of college football's top quarterbacks? Projection is important to note, but to what extent?
Does Miami's D'Eriq King, who started over Trask for three years at Manvel High School and recently transferred to Miami from Houston, deserve to be two spots higher after suffering a season-ending injury late in 2018 and sitting out the remainder of the 2019 season after regressing in four games played? How about Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler, who was an incredibly talented high school prospect but has only thrown 11 career passes?
Let us know in the comments below.
