Trask is the kind of guy Mullen has thrived in developing
Was Friday a stepping stone for the redshirt sophomore?
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One practice doesn’t make a star, but collectively and over many practices, with precision drilling and coaching, a star can be made.
Dan Mullen and his staff over the years at Mississippi State have turned two and three star athletes into high NFL Draft picks. Maybe he had to do that more often at MSU than he will at Florida, but a guy like
Kyle Trask could very well be the beneficiary of the overall techniques employed by Mullen to get it done. Trask made big head way in Friday’s scrimmage and it makes you wonder.
In Mullen’s 2011 MSU recruiting class alone, he had three guys rated two-stars or less that had big time college careers and eventually were high draft picks and now making it big in the NFL.
Linebacker
Preston Smith was a second round pick of the Washington Redskins in 2015 and he is now roaming the midfield of the Washington defense.
Benardrick McKinney was a two-star prospect coming out of high school. He worked and studied his way at Mississippi State into a second round draft pick of the Houston Texans. McKinney was All-Pro in his second year with the Texans.
Of course we know of
Dak Prescott. The three-star quarterback from Haughton, Louisiana had an outstanding career with the Bulldogs and although his style of play wasn’t a sure thing in the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys made him a fourth round pick in 2016 because he was able to showcase his abilities. Prescott was the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2016 and made the Pro Bowl in that rookie campaign.
This was just one recruiting class for Mullen and company at MSU. There are other examples that dot the different classes he had and it all comes back to training and studying the game.
Enter
Kyle Trask. He was the ‘other’ guy in the Gators 2016 recruiting class with four-star quarterback
Feleipe Franks. Trask was a three-star prospect from Manville, Texas and his commitment drew criticism from some because he wasn’t the starter for his high school team in Manville behind a four-star dual threat guy that went to Baylor to run a fast paced offense.
He earned his scholarship at Florida when he came to camp and threw for the coaching staff and he made the trip from Texas twice to do that. They saw that he had every throw, which we have heard from the current staff as well.
Now he is in a different type of system, one that requires running the ball a bit more than they are accustomed. While the coaching staff has been consistent in saying they aren’t going to try to force the quarterback to run the system, they also have said that the quarterback has to be willing to run the ball to a certain extent.
But it is much more than that for Trask. He has to fight the weight of being the ‘other guy’. If Friday’s scrimmage was any sign of how he is fighting, then we are going to have a nice competition this spring for the lead signal caller duties.
“I think I came out here with the mind-set of just stay locked in and focus on time and try to execute at a high level,” Trask said directly after the scrimmage in which he was a solid 12-18 for 182 yards, 3 TD’s and an interception on.
Sounds like he’s doing the things that the other Mullen pupils did to get to the level they are at now in the NFL.
There is going to be a learning curve and players are going to take to that curve differently. So far this spring, Trask has been just soaking it in and doing what he can. He’s had moments over the first few weeks of spring ball that were positive, but it would be hard pressed to say that he was the clear cut leader in any one practice.
Friday was different, but he says the spring has been about staying the course and staying healthy.
“From the past injuries, I’m just trying to make it a big part of my routine to get in the training room, just stay healthy,” he said. “Also make sure I get the plays down. New playbook, new system, new coach, everything. Just come in every day and have a good routine. Make sure I’ve got everything down.”
It’s hard to get a read on Trask’s confidence level. It would make sense if the confidence wasn’t there because of the things he has gone through, but you can’t be a quarterback in the SEC and not be confident. Having said that, he felt pretty good about his performance Friday.
“I feel like I did a good job,” he said. “My goal was just to execute at a high level, and I feel like I did a decent job of that. My focus now is just to take this, and just continue to try and develop myself. I still think I’ve got a ways to go if I really wanna be an elite quarterback. Just really gotta keep doing my routine, keep getting better and better every week.”
He’s also modest enough to admit when he messes up.
“The two touchdowns, doing what I gotta do, making the right read,” he said when asked to talk about the positives and negatives. “Interception, they got me. I made the wrong read on the interception, didn’t see him. So it is what it is, gotta have a short memory, next play.”
He was responsible for or on the field for quite a few big plays and a lot of those came after halftime of the scrimmage. It seemed a bit contagious once the big plays started coming.
“Big plays give confidence not to you but also the whole offense, coaching staff,” Trask said. “They feel comfortable to run deep plays like that again.”
And the confidence has to come from him. He knows it and to that, he has to know the offense inside and out. That is how he can get better.
“I would say just getting more confident with plays,” he said will make him better. “Just getting in the playbook more, and just getting more familiar with the plays, more experience. That way, it’s second nature.”
There is still a ways to go this spring. In no way has the battle been settled at quarterback. But listening to Trask, you don’t get the sense that he feels too confident in possibly being that guy.
“In the end, I feel like I’m doing a good job, doing all I can do,” he said. “In the end, it’s up to Coach Mullen and his staff.”
“If they give me a shot, that’s just something for the coaches. But right now, I’m just working as hard as I can to just get better every day.”
If he has more practices like Friday, that confidence will come around. He's got the right kind of staff to possibly make him a future star.
