Florida football: Matching up the Gators and Canes on offense

Florida and Miami have very different quarterback situations.

Florida returns a two-year starter and redshirt junior Feleipe Franks. Franks had a great 1st year in Dan Mullen‘s spread offense, improving every aspect of his game. Franks passed for 2457 yards and 24 passing TDs as well as tacking on 7 rushing TDs with 350 rushing yards.

He finished the year on a four-game tear against South Carolina, Idaho, FSU, and Michigan. Franks averaged over 215 passing yards a game with completing about 65% of his passes in those games. But what stood out in these games was Franks’ grit. He ran for four TDs and made tough runs in all four games.

On the other side, Miami has a quarterback who has never played a meaningful college snap. Manny Diaz named redshirt freshman Jarren Williams his starting QB on August 12th. Williams has little to no college game tape as he’s only thrown three college passes.

In high school, Williams threw for 3015 yards in his senior year with 550 rushing yards. His arm talent cannot be denied based on his high school film. However, the rushing yards can be deceiving because make no mistake, Williams will not be running all over Florida. His 20 yard dash time is slow at 4.83 seconds and is much slower than Franks’ last recorded 20-yard dash at 4.65.

Against an SEC defense, Williams will not be scrambling and making many plays with his legs. He’ll have to stand in the pocket and try to deliver against one of the SEC’s best secondaries.

The bottom line is that I can’t see Williams having success behind two freshman offensive linemen against an aggressive Florida defense run by defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. Franks could have trouble against an experienced Miami front 7 but it won’t compare to the trouble Williams will have made his first career start against some of the best defensive playmakers in the SEC.

Advantage: Clearly Florida