re: James Franklin named Team Captain

Hunter, from my perspective, there's a number of things that give me concern about Franklin, much of which has already been said. First, he had a good sophmore year, but much of his offense came from the run. Even when he threw the ball, I think the fear of the run opened up lanes. Not only can Franklin not run against SEC defenses, but the staff has acknowledged that they're not going to do so for fear of injury to the QB. So I'm not sold on him being able to flourish at QB without that strong run option.

Second, his outward demeanor doesn't instill confidence in me, but that's not important I suppose if it instills confidence in his teammates which it apparently does as they voted him captain. He seems to be robotic, very little expression and doesn't seem to be vocal. All of this makes him come off as not being competitive, though he may be very competitive internally. Personally, I'd like to see some of that outwardly displayed by a leader of the team.

Third, I'm not impressed with the balls he throws. It may be coaching(which IMO is a problem then) but he stands extremely straight legged and flat footed in the pocket. Maybe there is a new way of thinking these days, but I had always been taught, no matter what sport, you can't do anything straight legged and flat footed.

Who would be a better option? I don't know. Many fans clamor for Mauk and at least I think the things I've mentioned you wouldn't find with Mauk. Personally, I've become a Printz fan based on the very little I've seen and read, but he's a true freshman. If Mauk had one more year on him, I suspect he would had gotten the nod, but him being a redshirt freshman, I suspect, at least in Pinkel's eyes, Franklin's experience gives the team the best opportunity to win. Regardless of who it is, I'll be pulling for them to succeed once game one gets here. I'm not going to root for Franklin to fail just to say "I told you so.".