Kyle Trask Receiving The Payoff For His Patience

It was the Spring of 2017 and Doug Nussmeier, the offensive coordinator at Florida, was sitting in his office with a visitor.

Inevitably the discussion turned to the quarterback position. Nussmeier went through the candidates and when he got to redshirt freshman Kyle Trask, who had yet to play a down for the Gators, Nussmeier said this:

“We took him because he looked good in a couple of our camps,” he said. “If he can ever get on the field we think he could be pretty good. He just always seems to do the right thing.”

Fast forward three and a half years and here is where Kyle Trask is today:

Last Saturday against No. 5 Georgia in Jacksonville, Trask played the best game of his career, completing 30 of 43 passes for a regular-season school record 474 yards and four touchdowns. Florida beat Georgia 44-28 and Trask became the first quarterback in SEC history to throw four touchdown passes in five consecutive games.

And he did it against the No. 1—albeit banged up—defense in the SEC.

In the process Trask has quite firmly put himself into the Heisman Trophy discussion with Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields and others.

Through five games Trask has completed 68.7 percent of his passes for 1,815 yards and 22 touchdowns. You know who else had 22 touchdown passes through five games last season? That would be LSU’s Joe Burrow, the 2019 Heisman Trophy winner.

“Kyle has turned into a beautiful passer,” said Steve Spurrier, Florida’s Hall of Fame coach and the 1966 Heisman Trophy winner. “He finds guys who are a little bit open and puts the ball right on the money. He is having a Joe Burrow kind of year.”

Trask’s journey to this point is a most unlikely one, given the landscape of transfers in college football. His story is now well known. He did not start a game at quarterback at Manvel (Tex.) High School because he played behind D’Eriq King, one of the top recruits in this country and now the starting quarterback at Miami.

Recruiters loved seeing him in practice but they couldn’t get over the fact that he almost never played with the game on the line.

Florida was the only FBS offer he had. The other offers were from Houston Baptist, with a student body of 2,311 that plays in the Southland Conference, and Lamar, which resumed its football program in 2010 after a 21-year hiatus.

But Florida signed Trask thinking, at worst, that he could be a reliable backup quarterback who could finish a game.

He did not play a down in 2016 and 2017. He played in four games in 2018 as a backup to Feleipe Franks. But then he suffered a broken foot in practice.

Franks continued as the starter in 2019 but in the third game against Kentucky, suffered a broken leg and was lost for the season. Trask came into the game with the Gators trailing 21-10. He rallied Florida to a 29-21 victory and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, after his first three years at Florida he had played in only four games and had several major injuries.

But he didn’t leave.

“I wasn’t 100 percent sure about anything at that point,” Trask said by phone on Monday. “But I was getting close to my degree and wanted to finish that up. So I decided to stick around and see if I could get better and eventually get my opportunity.”

And for that he has earned the respect of a lot of people in the college football community.

“He’s one of the most selfless players I’ve ever seen playing at this level,” said former UCLA, Colorado, and Washington head coach Rick Neuheisel, now an analyst with CBS. “In today’s day and age the motto is ‘if I’m not startin’ then I’m departin. But Kyle stayed and this is his reward.”

Trask also realized that his best option was to stay and learn under Florida head coach, Dan Mullen, the quarterback whisperer.

“You have to credit Mullen for the scheme he has put together to take advantage of what Trask does well,” said Neuheisel. “With the talent they have around Trask, Florida is giving people some matchup nightmares.”

Trask has now started 15 games for Florida, winning 12. There were two losses last season to No. 6 Georgia (24-17) and LSU (42-28), the eventual national champion. This season Trask’s only loss was to No. 5 Texas A&M (5-1) in College Station 41-38.

Florida has five regular season games left: Saturday vs. Arkansas (3-3), Nov. 21 at Vanderbilt (0-5), Nov. 28 vs. Kentucky, Dec. 5 at Tennessee and, in a game that was rescheduled from Oct. 17, the Gators host LSU on Dec. 12. Florida will be favored in all five games. Because of the COVID-19 virus, the dates of all those games are subject to change.

Assuming the Gators take care of business, they will likely find No. 1 Alabama waiting in the SEC championship game in Atlanta on Dec. 19. A spot in the College Football Playoff would be at stake. So could the Heisman Trophy.

And through it all, Trask never considered leaving. The next six weeks, if he can stay healthy, is the payoff for his patience.

“We have the power in our hands now,” said Trask. “Everything we want is right in front of us.”

THE IMPROPABLE JOURNEY OF KYLE TRASK

2015—Despite never starting a game at Manvel (Tex.) High School, junior Kyle Trask receives a scholarship offer from Florida. He commits to the Gators on July 26.

2016—Did not see game action and redshirted.

2017—Suffered knee and foot injuries in preseason and did not see action.

2018—Serves as a backup to Feleipe Franks and plays in four games. Came off the bench to replace Franks and played well in a 38-17 loss to Missouri. There is speculation that Trask could start or play extensively in the next game against South Carolina. But Trask suffered a broken foot in practice on the Wednesday before the game and was lost for the season.

2019—Serves as a backup until the third game against Kentucky when Franks was lost for the season with a broken leg. Florida trailed 21-10 when Trask enters the game. He rallied the Gators to a 29-21 victory. Trask went on to throw for 2,941 yards and 25 touchdowns as Florida finished with an 11-2 record.

2020—On Nov. 7 set a Florida regular-season record, completing 30 of 43 passes for 474 yards and four touchdowns in a 44-21 win over No. 5 Georgia. Trask became the first quarterback in SEC history to throw four touchdown passes or more in five consecutive games.