As one of the 16 on the 2021 Reese’s Senior Bowl watch list, Gators quarterback Kyle Trask has become a nationally recognized name entering his redshirt senior season in Gainesville.

While he still has plenty of room to grow, and more film to showcase, Yahoo! Sports’ Eric Edholm put together a top-16 rankings list that places Trask as the second-best quarterback to be in the running to be invited to the event that typically takes places in January.  

In his rankings, Edholm takes a look at some of the factors that led to Trask being ranked as highly as he is, over quarterbacks such as Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond (No. 3), Mississippi State’s K.J. Costello (No. 4) and former Gators quarterback, now with Arkansas, Feleipe Franks (No. 6). Here is what Edholm had to say about the Gators’ QB: 

Trask actually backed up D’Eriq King for two years in high school and had to wait his turn at Florida to get a chance, replacing Feleipe Franks as a junior last season. But when Trask got under center, he exceeded all expectations and showed some real intrigue as a leader and thrower.

Is he this year’s Joe Burrow? That feels like a stretch right now. But Trask is a big-framed, tough-minded QB with some nice athletic traits and requisite arm talent. What he needs most now is experience.

His mental skill seems uncannily sharp for someone who has played so (relatively) little football since early in his high school career, so we have to assume that his growth potential is fairly sizable. Trask is a player who appears on the verge of a big season, as he flirted with greatness at times last year but couldn’t quite reach the mountaintop.

We’re fans of his upside. Keep a close eye on this late bloomer, please, because he easily could pass Ehlinger and the rest of the senior crop if he gets the chance to start a full season.

Without much experience playing in games with Florida, Trask entered the game against Kentucky in 2019, taking the reigns from Franks after he suffered a season-ending injury. While he was an unknown at that point in time, Trask quickly became a fan favorite and finished with 2941 yards passing while completing 237 out of 354 (66.9%) of his passes for 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Entering 2020, Trask is still not yet fully entrenched as the team’s full-time starting quarterback, but he certainly has a leg up on redshirt sophomore QB Emory Jones. The year will be pivotal, not only for Trask’s NFL prospects but for the Gators’ season as a whole.

RELATED: Gators HC Mullen on Emory Jones: ‘We Have a Lot of Confidence In Him’

In speaking with reporters on Thursday, Gators head coach Dan Mullen said he’s already noticed a renewed confidence in his quarterback. Now, not necessarily facing an uphill battle for the starting QB position, he’s been there before, he’s won big games.

“There’s a confidence that comes with, ‘I’ve been out there, I’ve led the team in big-game situations, I’ve led the team to big victories and played in all of these different arenas so far,’ Mullen said. “So I think when you look at Kyle that way, I think that breeds a lot of confidence in him being not just a leader on the field, but you also add his confidence and comfort within our offense, in our scheme and what we’re doing.

“I think it allows you to spend a lot more time being a great leader and being vocal, holding other guys to certain standards and raising the play of the guys around you, which is what you want to do as a quarterback.”

While last season Trask didn’t have much of an opportunity to improve while learning on the fly, this season he’s had an opportunity – albeit mostly away from the facility -, to work on some of the finer details of being a college quarterback. Entering his second season as the team’s starting quarterback, Mullen is ready to put even more on his plate.

“We’ll end up putting a lot more on him this year: checking within the game plan of him getting us into specific plays,” said Mullen. “But I think your comfort within the offense allows you … we give you a lot more freedom at that point because he’s put in the time and he has experience. You have a lot more freedom to do different things.”