FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas football’s Feleipe Franks has been named to the 2020 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List.
The award is presented annually to the top senior and upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with their class by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Selection Committee. Candidates are chosen based on player performance on and off the field.
Franks, entering his first year as a Razorback, transferred to Arkansas after a three-year playing career at SEC foe Florida. In 2019, he started all three games he played in, throwing for 698 yards and five touchdowns, while also rushing for 68 yards and a score. He racked up 254 yards and two TDs against Miami in the season opener, followed by 270 yards and two touchdowns on 25-of-27 passing against Tennessee-Martin, followed by a 12-for-17, 174-yard showing in the conference opener at Kentucky.
He started all 13 games as a redshirt-sophomore in 2018, throwing for 2,457 yards and 24 touchdowns, while also rushing for 350 yards on 110 careers, tying for a team-high seven rushing scores. He helped lead the Gators to a 10-3 record while becoming the first Gator quarterback since John Brantley in 2010 to start every game throughout the entire season.
Franks’ redshirt-freshman season featured eight starts and 11 games played, throwing for 1,438 yards and nine touchdowns. He was the first redshirt-freshman QB to start a season opener for Florida since 1988. Franks also turned down a 31st round selection in the 2019 MLB Amateur Draft by the Boston Red Sox as a pitcher to continue with his collegiate football career.
The namesake of the Golden Arm Award has a storied history. Johnny Unitas was an 18-year veteran of the NFL, who played his collegiate career at the University of Louisville before joining the Baltimore Colts in 1958. His career passing figures include 2,830 pass completions for 40,239 yards, 290 touchdowns and throwing a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games.
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