As always, Feleipe Franks takes the high road announcing his departure from the Florida program

In a heartfelt post, Feleipe Franks announced on Sunday that he’s leaving the Florida program.

The release didn’t take those close to the program by surprise, but in true Franks fashion, he waited until after the euphoria of the win over Florida State died down so as not to distract attention away from his teammates, particularly the seniors celebrating their last game in the Swamp.

Feleipe Franks will leave the University of Florida. Go be great! pic.twitter.com/D4M8wwDIBG

— David Waters – Gators Breakdown (@GatorDave_SEC) December 1, 2019

Florida fans could and did say a lot of things about Franks. They could say he was maddeningly inconsistent (he got way better there). They could say he wasn’t going to able to lead the Gators back to relevance (they were wrong). They could say he wasn’t very accurate (got way better there too).

But one thing nobody could ever say about Feleipe Franks is that he was a bad teammate.

In Florida lore, Franks is always going to be intertwined with the head coach he committed to: Jim McElwain.

That’s somewhat to be expected. After all, Franks was the signature recruit for McElwain, the 54th ranked overall player in the 2016 class who flipped from rival LSU to join the Gators. He also was the starting quarterback for most of the 2017 season that led to McElwain’s early departure from Gainesville.

In other ways though, that connection to McElwain is completely unfair.

Franks was thrust into that 2017 season and the team (not just Franks) clearly wasn’t prepared for what Michigan was going to throw at them. I wrote prior to that game that Luke Del Rio was the right QB for that start, relying on a statistical case but also understanding that Franks’ high school tape indicated he likely wouldn’t be ready.

It’s hard to remember now, but Florida actually led that game against Michigan 17-13 at the half. It’s also hard to remember but due to a Michigan touchdown drive to open the second half and a Tyrie Cleveland fumble on the following kickoff, Florida was behind 23-17 before Franks ever touched the ball again.

He was then summarily yanked after a fumble on the next drive, driving home the point that McElwain didn’t trust the QB he had hand-picked to start.

That weird season continued with Hurricane Irma canceling the next game against a cupcake and McElwain sticking with Franks against Tennessee. It looked like a brilliant decision after Franks connected with Tyrie Cleveland for the touchdown that permanently broke the Vols’ program.

But that flash of brilliance temporarily hid the limitations in Franks’ game that bubbled up later in the season against LSU, Texas A&M, Georgia and Florida State.

It was after that 2-point loss to the Aggies that Franks proved just how different he is than McElwain and most others put in his situation.

Franks didn’t play well, averaging 5.0 yards per attempt on 27 attempts. But the Gators ran for 236 yards and outgained Texas A&M 371-263. The Aggies completed 8 passes and averaged 2.2 yards per rush.

Yet, McElwain held a press conference afterwards with the energy of someone who had just lost his dog and proceeded to throw Franks directly under the bus when asked about needing to convert third downs.

“Well, we just need to complete them. You know, the plan’s good. The execution piece needs to get better.” – Jim McElwain

My blood boils going back to listen to that press conference even now. McElwain threw a kid into the fire who wasn’t ready and then had the gall to blame him for not executing. It takes some real balls to do that when in the very same game you didn’t know how many timeouts you had at the end of the first half in a game ultimately decided by two points.

Contrast that with Franks’ press conference, presented here in its entirety.

The key quote there: “Ultimately, it’s on me (to get the offense moving).”

And that is what I’m going to remember about Feleipe Franks’ time at Florida. He always took responsibility for his performance, and he protected his teammates from having to shoulder that burden.

The man gave his all to the program, suffering a gruesome injury trying to get a first down against Kentucky. He worked his butt off to get better and it showed in his stats and on film.

Does Franks have limitations? Yes, he does. Has he gotten significantly better in his time at Florida? Yes, he has.

But beyond the on-field stuff, Franks showed incredible poise at all times in the pressure cooker that it is to be an SEC starting QB.

He shouldered the blame during that 2017 season after McElwain exited stage right following dubious death threat allegations. He took the heat of Gator Nation in 2018 during a season where he eventually led the team to a Peach Bowl victory and a 10-3 record.

He remained steadfast when Kirk Herbstreit and Greg McElroy decided to criticize him for his maturity on ESPN platforms. The noise got so loud that Franks’ mother – Ginger Franks – took to social media to stick up for her son and discuss how he was being treated.

McElwain did a disservice to Franks by thrusting him into that Michigan game too early, but a substantial portion of the Florida fan base has continued that disservice by not forgiving him for his 2017 performance, especially as he continued to improve.

It’s ironic because a lot of those same fans were in the stands this past Saturday lauding players who also participated in that season. Those seniors deserve all the adulation they get from Gators fans. They’ve been an integral part of why Florida has gone 20-5 over the past two seasons.

But I’d submit that Franks is the biggest part.

Mullen spoke after the Florida State game on Saturday about the seniors who bought into his program when he came in even though he hadn’t recruited them. The same could be said for Franks, who not only wasn’t recruited by Mullen but didn’t really fit what Mullen ultimately wants to do on offense.

Yet Franks bought in fully.

Whether he won the starting job or not was really irrelevant at that point. He was the person who’d taken the bullets during that 2017 season. He was the man who stood up as the losses mounted and protected his teammates while his coach shrunk away from the opportunity to do the same. And he was a player who immediately bought into the new regime.

I know there were lots of fans confused when Mullen selected Franks to be his starter in 2018. But viewed through the context of what Franks (and that team) went through, it may be that he would have risked losing the team had he not.

Because forget about what you think about his level of play for a minute. Instead consider that Franks’ teammates didn’t have to doubt for one second that he’d be the one to shoulder the criticism from the fan base when the Gators lost to Kentucky early in 2018 and struggled later in the season against Georgia and Missouri.

They knew because he’d done it in 2017. And it just makes me think one thing as Franks’ Gators career comes to a close.

We’d all be incredibly lucky to have more people like Feleipe Franks in our life.

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