Razorback Roster Rundown: No. 13 Feleipe Franks

This article is part of a series previewing the Razorbacks’ 2020 football roster.

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Despite arriving in Gainesville, Fla., as a highly touted recruit, Feleipe Franks redshirted during his first season with the Gators. He hit the ground running the following year, though, starting eight games. It was the first time since 1988 that Florida had started a redshirt freshman at quarterback.

Things didn’t go particularly well for him that year, as Franks completed just 54.6 percent of his passes for 6.3 yards per attempt with nine touchdowns and eight interceptions. The Gators went 4-7 and head coach Jim McElwain was fired midway through the season.

Enter quarterback guru Dan Mullen. Under his leadership, Franks’ numbers improved dramatically - completing 58.4 percent of his passes for 7.6 yards per attempt with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions, plus seven scores on the ground - and Florida won 10 games.

It seemed like he was going to build on that performance as a redshirt junior last year, but unfortunately, he went down with a severe broken ankle that proved to be a season-ending injury in the third game of the season. Granted one of the games was against an FCS opponent, but Franks had completed 76.1 percent of his passes for 9.8 yards per attempt with five touchdowns and three interceptions up to that point.

Backup Kyle Trask took over and played well while leading Florida to an 11-win season, which prompted Franks to enter the transfer portal and explore his options.