JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Dan Mullen threw No. 7 Georgia a pretty significant wrinkle when he put true freshman quarterback Emory Jones into the game late in the first quarter.

Jones had played just one game all season, in the team's season opener against Charleston Southern.

On his first four snaps of the game, Jones took off on quarterback runs, picking up gains of 5, 6 and 8 yards. Unfortunately, there as a costly botched option on third-and-one in there that resulted in a 7-yard loss.

Still, the freshman's debut seemed to catch the Bulldogs somewhat off-guard. And Jones eventually launched his first career pass in the fourth quarter, dropping a beautiful pass over Van Jefferson's shoulder into the right corner of the end zone. The pass fell incomplete as Georgia defender Tyson Campbell grabbed Jefferson, giving the Gators a first down via a defensive pass interference penalty.

Mullen explained after the game that Jones has been playing well in practice and the Gators thought he could add something to the gameplan against the Bulldogs.

"There are some things, you look and there are some opportunities on some quarterback runs," Mullen said. "He's a pretty dynamic player. We want to give the opportunity to get on the field and try to take advantage of some of that look, right?"

With Feleipe Franks struggling on the afternoon, going just 13-21 passing for 105 yards and one touchdown with one interception and also losing a fumble, many Florida fans immediately wondered if Jones could potentially begin to push for the starting job.

Jones finished with four carries for 12 yards in the game but looked electric in Mullen's system. But the first-year coach has no plans to supplant Franks or even use Jones much more extensively this season.

It was simply a package he ran to try to catch Georgia off-guard and use some of Jones' natural ability.

"I thought he threw a pretty good deep ball in that situation right there to put it on him," Mullen said. "We'll see as the season goes on. The plan moving forward will probably be to redshirt him still, so we'll see how the rest of the season plays out. You never know."

Still, Mullen came away encouraged by Jones' performance in a tough neutral-site environment in a huge game.

That bodes well for Jones' future in the system down the road.

"I guess the talk all week is one of the freshman quarterbacks is going to be in the game a lot," Mullen said. It was true, it was just ours. His numbers were better than their freshman quarterback (Justin Fields') numbers, so I'm proud of him."

Jones was a late addition to Florida's 2018 signing class when Mullen was able to pull him away from Ohio State. He was a four-star prospect, rated as the No. 85 overall player nationally and the No. 5 dual-threat quarterback in the country.