Franks 'ready to go' despite hand injury
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FAYETTEVILLE — Feleipe Franks hurt his left hand in Arkansas’ loss at No. 6 Florida, but it doesn’t sound like it is a severe injury.
Speaking to the local media Thursday afternoon via Zoom teleconference, head coach Sam Pittman said the quarterback hasn’t had any complications with the injury - which is to his non-throwing hand - and that “he’s ready to go” after practicing every day this week.
That is good news for the Razorbacks, who are set to host LSU at 11 a.m. CT Saturday for a game that will be televised on the SEC Network.
After having eight different players start at the position over the previous two seasons, Franks has provided Arkansas with much needed stability at quarterback.
Not only has he played almost every meaningful snap this year, but he’s done it at a high level. He’s completing 68.3 percent of his passes for an average of 239.7 yards per game and has 16 touchdowns with only three interceptions.
“To be honest with you, I have high expectations for everybody and he’s certainly been the player I thought he would be,” Pittman said. “The expectations when he came here were for him to do what he’s doing for our football team and he’s doing what I thought he could do.”
With three regular-season games left, Franks is in a good position to break Kevin Scanlon’s 41-year-old school record for single-season completion percentage (66.2 percent). He’s also on pace to have top-10 single-season marks for passing yards and touchdowns, despite playing fewer games and not having any non-conference games to pad his stats.
Franks has done it all while also taking care of the football. His touchdown-to-interception ratio ranks fourth in the SEC, behind Heisman Trophy contender Kyle Trask at Florida (28 TD/3 INT) and slightly behind Alabama’s Mac Jones and Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond (both 16 TD/2 INT).
Two of those interceptions came in Arkansas’ opener against Georgia. Since then, Franks has thrown just one in 166 pass attempts - and it wasn’t even his fault, as a receiver deflected the ball into the air and it fell into a defender’s arms.
It’s the kind of performance Pittman felt the Razorbacks would get from Franks when they brought him in as a graduate transfer from Florida.
“I’m a big Feleipe Franks fan,” Pittman said. “I always have been. Whenever I was over at Georgia playing against him, he was a scary dude to play against.”