Paul Finebaum: Emory Jones, emergence of Anthony Richardson makes Florida 'bountiful' at QB

Head coach Dan Mullen led his No. 13 Florida Gators to a 35-14 victory in their season opener against FAU, but in the process created a bit of a quarterback controversy:

Emory Jones, Florida’s starting quarterback, was outplayed by redshirt freshman Anthony Richardson, and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum questions whether it’s a positive for the Gators moving forward.

“I sat in a meeting,” Finebaum said on a weekly radio appearance on WJOX in Birmingham, “and heard Tim Tebow talk about [Richardson] for an hour on Friday afternoon. And Tebow had to do it somewhat carefully, since he was really talking about himself about 16 years ago. … Whether it’s a good problem for Dan Mullen to have or not, I don’t know. But they are bountiful at that position.”

Jones waited four years for his chance to be Florida’s starting quarterback, making it a complicated situation, as Finebaum alluded to. Formerly a four-star recruit, Jones, a redshirt junior, was forced to sit behind two different quarterbacks in his time with the Gators, first serving as the backup to Feleipe Franks, then holding a similar role behind Kyle Trask, who has since been drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In his first-career start, Jones completed 17 of 27 pass attempts for 113 passing yards, one passing touchdown and two interceptions. Richardson, who came on late in Saturday’s contest, only completed 3 of 8 passes for 40 yards — but his seven-carry, 160-yard, one-touchdown rushing performance left fans eager to see more. That, according to Finebaum, is what begs the question of “whether it’s a good problem” for Mullen.

‘The plan was to play both’

Mullen, however, wouldn’t think much of Finebaum’s response; he reassured the media after Saturday’s game that the plan was to play both Jones and Richardson all along.

“I think the plan was to play both of them,” Mullen said after the game. “Anthony had that series in the first half and had a couple other series in the second half. I thought he did a good job. He missed a couple reads, but I thought it was good for him to get that experience as a starter for his first game out there. But both of them have the ability to make explosive plays and the nice thing is that I’m pretty confident with both the quarterbacks.”

Richardson showed his explosiveness in the Gators’ 14-point fourth quarter. Particularly, on Florida’s last scoring drive, when he ran for a 73-yard touchdown on a play-action fake. He also displayed immense playmaking abilities, even when the pocket collapses; he pulled of two highlight-reel runs, one that saw Richardson stiff-arm an FAU defender, and another that saw Richardson hurdle a defender en route to a first down.

Not only did Mullen intend to play both signal callers against FAU, but even after the conclusion of the game, he shot down the possibility of Richardson starting in the immediate future, reaffirming his trust in Jones.

“Obviously, Emory is our starter as we get the experience, we roll the guys through,” Mullen said. “We did that tonight and it was good to see them both make some really explosive plays.”