Florida Gators’ Feleipe Franks one of nation’s most improved passers

Florida Gators quarterback Feleipe Franks had one of the best year-over-year statistical improvements of any passer in the country.

In his first year under Dan Mullen, Franks’ passing efficiency jumped 30.1 points to 143.4. That’s the third-biggest boost in the nation among quarterbacks who played regularly both years. Utah State’s Jordan Love made the biggest improvement (39 points), followed by Boston College’s Anthony Brown (31.3 points).

Fourth on the list was Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, who benefited from another new coach known as a quarterback developer: Former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher.

Franks’ completion percentage also rose 3.8 points from his redshirt freshman season to 2018. That increase was tied with Duke’s Daniel Jones for 13th among the 39 quarterbacks who threw enough passes both seasons to land on cfbstats.com and sports-reference.com. That’s solid company for Franks; Jones is one of the top quarterback prospects in this year’s NFL draft.

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Gardner Minshew had the highest jump (13.5 percent) after transferring from East Carolina to Washington State. Love (7.3 percent) had the next best increase.

Franks’ 24 touchdown passes were the most by a UF quarterback since 2008, when Tim Tebow threw 30 in Mullen’s final season as offensive coordinator. Franks’ 24-6 touchdown-interception ratio was No. 17 nationally and also UF’s top mark since Tebow.

The only other state quarterback with enough attempts both years to qualify was UCF’s McKenzie Milton. His passing efficiency fell 18.3 points (to 161), and his completion percentage dropped 7.9 points (to 59.2 percent).