Many media figures around the country may not have known his name heading into the 2019 season, but UF quarterback Kyle Trask’s performance filling in for Feleipe Franks, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the third game, has attracted some attention.
With the 2020 season (hopefully) on the horizon, the Gators’ signal-caller is ranked among the top passers in college football, listed at No. 4 on a watchlist for the 2021 NFL Draft from CBS Sports.
Trask is behind Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and Ohio State’s Justin Fields, both incredibly talented quarterbacks who led their respective schools to playoff appearances in 2019. Fields was also a Heisman finalist along with his teammate Chase Young and LSU’s Joe Burrow, who won the award.
He’s also behind North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, who has gotten some attention this offseason after scoring 42 total touchdowns last season (28 passing and 14 rushing). Lance, who plays in the FCS, may not be a household name, but playing for the powerhouse Bison should allow him ample opportunity to show off his skills, albeit at a lower level than the other passers on this list.
Here’s what CBS’ Ryan Wilson had to say about putting Trask in the No. 4 spot behind Lawrence, Fields and Lance.
“Steady as she goes” might be the best way to describe Trask’s game. He’s not flashy but he’s efficient, and in the NFL the ability to do the right thing from one play to the next is more important than flashing once a series while drives stall out. Before taking over for Feleipe Franks last season, Trask had played in just three games. He played in 12 games in 2019 and completed 66.9 percent of his throws with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Trask’s nickname should be ‘Textbook’ because his footwork in the pocket is consistently on point, and more importantly, he gets the ball out on time, accurately, and he rarely looks confused by what he sees pre-snap. While we’re not expecting him to make a Burrow-like leap in ’20 we wouldn’t be surprised if he continues to improve and Trask finds his way into Round 1 conversations in the spring.
Trask is listed ahead of the No. 5 quarterback, Georgia’s Jamie Newman, who is a graduate transfer from Wake Forest that joined the Bulldogs this spring. He’s also ranked above several notable quarterbacks in the “Other Names to Watch” list, including conference foes in Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond and Mississippi State’s grad transfer K.J. Costello, as well as rival Miami’s D’Eriq King.
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