Hearing a television announcer discuss the Heisman Trophy possibilities for Florida quarterback Kyle Trask a few weeks ago, my 16-year-old daughter Julia Caroline offered the following observation: “Wonder if anyone ever thinks that if Felipe Franks hadn’t gotten hurt last year against Kentucky, no one might ever have heard of Kyle Trask?”
To carry that to an extreme for Tennessee fans, if Trask had not played so well last year down the stretch, Franks might not have transferred to Arkansas for this season, where he led a second-half comeback against the Vols, much as he led Florida to a last-second victory over UT in the Swamp in 2017.
But my daughter’s question regarding the impact one player’s injury may have had on another’s career could be applied to at least two more Heisman contenders from Alabama – quarterback Mac Jones and wide receiver DeVonta Smith, regarded by many as the favorite to win the little bronze statue that annually goes to the player perceived as the college game’s best that season.
For Jones, there was the chance, at least for a brief time last season, that the man he replaced at quarterback for the last few games of the 2019 season – Tua Tagovailoa – might return for this season to prove he wasn’t as injury-prone as he sometimes seemed through an otherwise spectacular college career.
Had that happened, Jones would have seen a lot of mop-up duty this fall instead of tossing 32 TDs to just four interceptions, including five touchdown passes against Florida in last weekend’s Southeastern Conference title game win.