PFF ranks Gators QB Feleipe Franks as 43rd best starter in college football
Pro Football Focus, an in-depth football statistics and analysis site that has supplies data to all 32 NFL teams and 66 NCAA FBS programs, has released their rankings of all 130 starting quarterbacks in Division 1 football for 2019.
Some of the rankings were obvious, including those in the top five such as Clemson's Trevor Lawrence (No. 1), Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa (No. 2), Oregon's Justin Herbert (No. 3), and so on.
However - and this is sure to rile up the Florida Gators fanbase - redshirt junior and third-year starter Feleipe Franks didn't receive the kindest ranking. He comes in as the 43rd ranked QB in the FBS - 8th among SEC starting quarterbacks.
The eight SEC QBs ahead of Franks, in ascending order, are South Carolina's Jake Bentley (No. 33), Missouri's Kelly Bryant (No. 29), Texas A&M's Kellen Mond (No. 25), Tennessee's Jarrett Guarantano (No. 21), Louisiana State's Joe Burrow (No. 17), Georgia's Jake Fromm (No. 9), and Tagovailoa.
Here's what PFF had to say about Florida's signal-caller.
Extremely inconsistent with his performances, Franks’ good play was certainly outweighed by his bad play a year ago. Still, with an improved situation going forward, he’s in the best position of his career to succeed. More games like that against Florida State and fewer games like that against Kentucky a year ago and the Gators will be sitting pretty. They do have the advantage in the season opener against Miami.
Franks has certainly had an inconsistent career at Florida, but his four-game stretch to end the 2018 season and lead Florida to a Peach Bowl victory over Michigan offered hope for a more consistent, and potentially dominant, future for the gunslinger.
In that four-game span against South Carolina, Idaho, Florida State, and Michigan, Franks went on a hot streak. He completed 64.95% of his passes for 862 yards, eight touchdowns, and zero interceptions, along with 177 rushing yards and four scores in the ground game.
Considering his new-found comfort and that he's going into his second season within a scheme that maximizes his talent, it's hard to understand why he's so far down the list.
Some of the quarterbacks ahead of Franks are:
No. 42: Shane Buechele, SMU - The graduate transfer heads 200 miles north from his former school, the University of Texas, to start for SMU in 2019. Buechele, who holds the record for passing yards as a freshman at Texas, was benched in favor of Sam Ehlinger (No. 6) during the 2017 season - and saw action in only two games last year.
No. 36: Jacob Eason, Washington - The former starting QB for Georgia has thrown seven pass attempts since 2016 - he suffered a knee injury in Georgia's 2017 season opener against Appalachian State, and was never able to earn his starting gig back from Jake Fromm. After redshirting in 2018 at Washington, the redshirt junior will start this season for the Huskies.
No. 35: James Blackman, Florida State - Blackman did well for Florida State in moments as a true freshman in 2017, after being thrown into a starting role in Week 2 after starter Deondre Francois went down with a season-ending knee injury the week prior. He helped lead FSU to a 6-6 record and won Offensive MVP for the 2017 Independence Bowl.
He played in four games during the 2018 season to earn a redshirt after Francois returned. There have been flashes of talent from Blackman in the past, but how will he play in a full-time role under head coach Willie Taggart - the second-year head coach who saw FSU's historic 36 bowl game streak snap in his first season in charge?
No. 31: Sean Clifford, Penn State - The redshirt sophomore has thrown seven career passing attempts, completing five for 195 yards and two touchdowns. While is production on very limited attempts is impressive, the sample size is far too little to earn a ranking this high. PFF remains objective by solely utilizing data to form these rankings, but context is key...
No. 29: Kelly Bryant, Missouri - Bryant's career has been a mix of ups and downs - he led Clemson to a National Championship appearance in 2017, and transferred from the program this past year after losing his starting job in 2018.
Despite his dual-threat ability, Bryant was arguably carried by strong Clemson teams when on the field. His career statistics for playing in 29 games are pedestrian: 3338 passing yards on 470 attempts (although completing an impressive 66.2% of his passes), 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 973 yards on 257 attempts, and 16 rushing scores. Bryant gets a shot at redemption as a graduate transfer at Missouri, but there's a possibility that his game was elevated by his surroundings at Clemson rather than his own ability.
No. 16: Justin Fields, Ohio State - Fields is one of the highest-rated quarterback prospects ever by multiple recruiting services, so the hype surrounding him is fair.
However, at Georgia as a true freshman backup before transferring to Georgia, Fields threw only 39 pass attempts, completing 27 for 328 yards and four touchdowns. He added 266 yards on the ground and four rushing touchdowns.
Will Fields dominate the field and be considered a better quarterback than Franks this year? It's certainly possible and honestly likely, but much like Clifford, Fields' ranking is based on a limited sample size against lesser competition in most cases. Being nearly 30 spots ahead of Franks is a bit head-scratching right now.
You can check out the rest of the rankings here. Do you agree with Pro Football Focus' ranking of Gators QB Feleipe Franks among all FBS starters? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
