Feleipe Franks still has that extra edge to him

If there was any question about whether quarterback Feleipe Franks has maintained the aggressive edge that seemed to turn him into a different player late last season, you can probably rest easy at this point.

Tempers flared in Saturday morning's practice in large part because Franks wanted to get physical throughout the practice.

It began when he took a carry in an early 11-on-11 period in practice up the middle. Two defenders stepped in to put arms around him at the second level, just touching him to get the play blown dead. Franks was having none of it, lowering his shoulder into both and blowing through them as he was taken to the ground.

He popped right up, grabbed the ball in his hand and stretched it out, hanging it in the air for a second before dropping it tauntingly to signal a first down.

That was just the start.

Later in the 11-on-11 period, Franks lined up with the second-team offensive line and one of the first snaps resulted in defensive end Zachary Carter beating freshman guard Ethan White inside for an easy sack on Franks.

Carter simply wrapped up Franks in a light bear hug, keeping him on his feet like he was supposed to in thud tempo. Franks didn't take too kindly to the contact, shoving Carter away.

The redshirt sophomore defensive end playfully tapped Franks back on the helmet, which only further infuriated Franks. Franks took the football and beamed it at Carter's helmet, causing a handful of defensive linemen to charge in and defend Carter as the offensive line went to defend Franks. The group was quickly split up by coaches.

A play or two later, Franks took a run off the left side and got somewhat free on the sideline in front of the fans. As safety Shawn Davis stepped in to make the stop, Franks aggressively lowered his shoulder and plowed through him. Coaches quickly blew the whistle to stop things and send it into the next practice period.

The defense seemed to take umbrage at the initiation of contact from Franks repeatedly, which puts them at a disadvantage because they're not supposed to hit the quarterbacks.

The unit as a whole seemed to follow through hits the rest of the practice on non-quarterbacks, taking it out on receivers and running backs with a couple nice shots to the body on various occasions.

Regardless, it's clear that Franks is still playing angry, and we're not sure that's a bad thing in the least.