Vanderbilt coach James Franklin has captured the fancy of Commodore fans with his enthusiasm and winning approach. He is a media darling, always good for a quote or two.
Now SEC fans will get a chance to meet the other James Franklin, the 6-foot-2, 228-pound junior quarterback for the Missouri Tigers, and that introduction might not be quite so pleasant for the rest of the conference.
Franklin will lead Missouri against Georgia on Saturday as the Tigers jump head first into Southeastern Conference play by hosting one of the SEC East favorites. The Missouri quarterback is one of the most versatile signal-callers in the SEC because he can hurt you with his leadership, his feet and his arm.
In 2011, his first year as a starter, Franklin threw for 2,865 yards and 21 touchdowns and ran for 981 yards and a team-leading 15 touchdowns. His 36 combined touchdowns were the third best in Missouri history. He capped the season by leading Missouri to a 41-24 win over North Carolina in the Independence Bowl by running for 142 yards and two touchdowns and throwing for 132 yards and a touchdown.
“He is just such a dynamic guy running and throwing that you have to respect both,” North Carolina interim coach Everett Withers said after Franklin was named Offensive MVP of the bowl game.
Now it is Georgia’s turn to deal with Franklin and it will have to be in front of a highly-charged Missouri crowd that is excited about the Tigers’ first SEC game. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel believes his quarterback is ready for the challenge after a strong showing in the opening game against SE Louisiana in which Franklin threw for 131 yards and a touchdown and added 39 more yards on the ground in just two-and-a-half quarters.
“I thought James did a good job,’ Pinkel said after Missouri destroyed SE Louisiana 62-10. “I thought he did some good things, he got an intentional grounding, but he did what we told him to do try and get rid of the football and we have to block better and give him more time, but I thought he did some good things.”
The Georgia game will be a nice matchup at quarterback between Franklin and Georgia’s Aaron Murray, one of the most experienced, and best, quarterbacks in the SEC.
“He is very impressive,” Pinkel said of the Georgia quarterback, “how he handles their offense; fundamentally he is good; he makes good decisions; he makes good throws; he drives the team at the end of the half and the fourth quarter. He has some talented wide receivers and tight ends around him and he is a real good player.”
Coaches will tell you there is no substitute for experience, which is even better when you are surrounded by a lot of talent — and Murray definitely has talent around him.
“The game just slows down so much,” Pinkel said. “The speed of the game slows down because you have so much experience. You can see things; you can come up with secondary reads and different things you get away with if you have an experienced quarterback.
“With a quarterback who is just now starting you will give him just basic reads, but a quarterback that has a lot of experience you can give him options. One coverage you go here, one coverage you go there, this coverage you look down the middle, and it just makes him much more multiple and therefore somebody as talented as him can do a lot of damage because he can see the field so well. And anytime you have an experience quarterback that has talent, they present a lot of problems and he does a good job.”
Murray might have more experience, but Franklin grew up a lot toward the end of his sophomore season. Pinkel expects that to carry over into this season.
“I think he grew up a little bit more at the end of the year,” he said. “You know, his ability to be able to throw the football accurately down field, I think he improved much as the season went on last year. I’ll be real disappointed if he doesn’t have a real good year in a great league.”
The one thing Pinkel wants to see more out of Franklin this season is cutting runs short when he needs to avoid big hits.
“I told him it doesn’t matter what league you’re in,” Pinkel said. “We told him at the end of the year, fourth-and-one, third-and-one, I want you to compete, go get it. Other than that, you learn to go down; you learn not to take the big hit.”
The Georgia defense will be ready to lay some pretty big hits on Franklin and the rest of the Tigers.
“It’s the first SEC game, first SEC home game, so I think that it is going to go down in history,” Pinkel said. “They are always going to point at it and talk about it, look at it and how it came out, but then we are also playing a great football team.
“We are not just playing this average team from the SEC,” Pinkel said. “There are not many average teams anyway, so we understand that we are playing a great football team, a well-coached team. So I think a combination of all obviously makes it very, very big. Hopefully there are a lot of big games to come and we will see how that sorts out.”
Georgia-Missouri Injury report: Georgia’s cornerback/wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell, offensive tackles John Theus and Watts Dantzler did some scout team work this week and Mark Richt is hoping they will all three make the trip to Missouri. “Malcolm is doing pretty good, I’m encouraged from what I saw, but I’m not certain he’s full speed, but we’ve got a couple more days to go.”
As for Missouri, Pinkel mentioned some players who have some injury concerns, “(Offensive lineman) Jack Meiners is questionable with a sprained knee, but we will know more as the week goes on. Linebacker Will Ebner is questionable right now with a stinger.”