Sign up for an annual HawgBeat subscription and get $50 for Arkansas gear on the Rivals Fan Shop ––> details

College Students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95. Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to nchavanelle@yahoo.com.

For two years, Arkansas has been a black hole for quarterbacks.

Eight different players have started at the position as the Razorbacks have struggled to consecutive 2-10 seasons. One of them transferred out only to return and beat his former team. Another transferred down to the FCS level. One quit football to focus on baseball. Yet another transferred to a Group of Five team that intercepted him five times.

With Sam Pittman in charge and Kendal Briles leading the offense now, Arkansas is hopeful it has the answer in Feleipe Franks, a graduate transfer from Florida who joined the team despite the Razorbacks riding a 19-game SEC losing streak.

“It would be easy for me to just go to a top program and somewhere where it’s already good, but who am I really helping there?” Franks said. “So I decided to come to Arkansas.”

Perhaps one reason he isn’t intimidated by the massive rebuilding job that awaits him in Fayetteville is that he’s already been a part of turning around a program.

As a redshirt freshman, Franks - who started eight games that year - and the Gators limped through a 4-7 season that saw head coach Jim McElwain get fired after seven games. The following year, things were much different.

“When I was at Florida, we went 4-7 and then went out and won 10 games and played in a New Year’s Six Bowl,” Franks said. “It’s all about - and I’ve seen it firsthand - it’s the motivation. … It just takes that one spark, that one turnaround.”

Franks specifically mentioned that a coaching change could be the spark. That was the case at Florida, as Dan Mullen took over, handed the reigns over to Franks and the Gators had a top-10 season.

Now at Arkansas, Franks will be playing for another new coaching staff, but expectations are much lower. Sports books have put the Razorbacks’ win total at just 3.5 and ESPN’s Football Power Index gives them just a 32.6 percent chance to make a bowl game - not that it matters to him, though.

“I love being the underdog,” Franks said. “I think that’s what makes me go harder each and every day to just prove more people wrong. I think that’s a good mentality for this team to have, as well - just keep proving people wrong. All it takes is a flip of the switch and it will turn around quick.”