PROSPECT SUMMARY – FELEIPE FRANKS

Starting out his career at Florida, Feleipe Franks transferred to Arkansas during his final season. Before transferring, he recorded 698 passing yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions, completing 76.1% of his passes prior to a season-ending ankle injury in 2019. Quickly welcomed at Arkansas, Franks revitalized himself and infused energy into a program fresh off of a 2-10 season. Franks unlocked new levels in his game that didn’t seem to be apparent during his time in Gainesville. At 6-foot-6, he’s a tall passer that has average traits all around. He has an average arm that's helped him take advantage of the short-to-intermediate areas that are centered around run-pass options and half-field reads. Franks has enough mobility to get himself out of harm's way and to also be a threat as a designed runner. Still a huge project, he projects as a player that still needs a lot of time in order to potentially reach the final stages of his development.

Ideal Role: Developmental No. 3 or long-term practice squad QB.

Scheme Fit: Erhardt-Perkins offensive system that incorporates some designed QB runs.

FILM EVALUATION

Written by Jordan Reid

Games watched: Georgia (2020), Auburn (2020), LSU (2020), Mississippi State (2020), Alabama (2020), Ole Miss (2020), and Florida (2020)

Best Game Studied: Auburn (2020)

Worst Game Studied: Alabama (2020), Georgia (2020)

Accuracy: His completion percentage has steadily climbed on a year-to-year basis, not including the 2019 season when suffered a season-ending ankle injury after three games. Franks played in a more pass-happy offense during his only season at Arkansas and he proved to unlock another level in his development. In Kendal Briles’ up-tempo offense that incorporates many 10- (four WRs) and 11-personnel (three WRs and one TE) sets, the wide open nature of the offense made reads a bit more clear for Franks, and he also was able to display some deep touch down the field.

Decision Making: Involved in a lot of half-field reads and run-pass option throws, that helped clean up a lot of the decision-making errors that were seen in years past. Franks proved to be a more decisive decision-maker and read keys were more apparent to him as the offense prioritized half-field concepts as well as isolation routes. With ball placement issues in certain spots, he showed to have a better understanding of where to place the ball as well. Prior to his stint at Arkansas, Franks was often timid and hesitant with what he saw in front of him. This resulted in unnecessary sacks and inexplicable forced throws that resulted in turnovers. Those mistakes were reduced mightily in 2020.

Poise: Consistency has always been the biggest battle that Franks has continued to fight. He tends to struggle against the bigger-named teams in conference play while looking much more in control against lower-tier opponents.

Progressions: The incorporation of lots of quick perimeter throws combined with run-pass options helped simplify things for Franks at Arkansas. Franks' biggest challenges come with seeing safeties. Getting locked in on targets and becoming oblivious to roaming safeties is something frequently seen in many of the games that he’s played. While he attempts to display proper eye discipline by looking off coverage, it’s simply eye service of where he still fails to see what’s happening on the back end once he resets his vision back to the area that he wants to throw the ball to.

Release: Possessing a clean over the top release, the ball comes out with some life when given time. He also can operate from different platforms, as he was routinely asked to throw the ball in rollout situations and off of mesh fakes combined with run-pass option reads. He can pull the ball out quickly and reset his feet prior to throwing to balls to designed targets. Franks’ release struggles come when the pocket squeezes down on him and he’s unable to set his lower half into throws.

Pocket Manipulation: Not much of a creator inside of the pocket as he tends to get happy feet and it’s noticeable when his mental clock expires. Looking for avenues to escape in all areas of the pocket, Franks is consistent with keeping his eyes down the field in hopes of being able to throw the ball first prior to turning into strictly a runner.

Arm Strength: An average arm overall, Franks isn’t a prospect that will seek to push the ball down the field often. Instead, he likes to take advantage of vacated coverage spots based on scheme. Perimeter screens, pop passes, and run-pass options were concepts that Franks operated the cleanest during his final season. When testing defenses down the field, he has high arcing throws that can come down at random points. While his touch on deep throws improved last season, there’s still plenty of room for growth with estimating where targets are going to end up.

Mobility: More so during his only year at Arkansas, Franks was more frequently involved as a runner. Used often on designed runs, he is a slightly above average mover that can be used on zone-read concepts and as a pull reader on power read. Franks also has enough mobility to escape vertically inside of the pocket and also around the edges when defenders fail to keep contain. While he won’t scamper for long gains, he has enough speed to take advantage of small voids that defenses leave available.

Leadership: Labeled as a high character player everywhere that he’s been, he was a supreme leader while at Florida. Franks also quickly won over the locker room at Arkansas and was later named a team captain prior to the season opener against Georgia.

Mechanics: Franks has an overall smooth operation when things go as planned and on schedule. He displays a balanced base and firm platform that enables him to get the ball out on time or when asked to on concepts.