GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida returned to the practice field for the first day of fall camp under first-year coach Dan Mullen on Friday and all eyes were on the quarterbacks.

Swamp247 noted in our evaluation of the open periods of practice that redshirt sophomore Kyle Trask was the most accurate of the quarterbacks early on, and it was Trask who turned in the most impressive play of the day for Mullen.

"The best play today I saw was probably Trask," Mullen said. "They doubled an out cut, and he checked it down for 6 yards. That’s the best play we saw."

That may sound a bit alarming off the cuff, but it shouldn't be once you understand the context. Mullen preached repeatedly on Thursday at the team's media day that the thing he was most looking for out of the quarterbacks was the smarts to take the throws that are there and "make the non-spectacular plays."

When Mullen praised Trask for the checkdown he might have gotten some confused looks from his players, by the sound of it.

"They were kind of like shocked," Mullen said. "'Didn’t you see that bomb I threw into double coverage and we scored a touchdown?' No. I said 'that’s not the best play.'"

"That (checkdown is) starting to show a grasp, the little things of managing every aspect of the game. That’s the mental side of things I really want them to pick up."

And while the media was only privy to the first seven periods of practice -- a typical practice lasts somewhere between 23-26 periods -- Trask was certainly sharp. He has routinely been the most accurate of the quarterbacks since he arrived on campus, though fellow redshirt sophomore Feleipe Franks has improved his accuracy considerably and was also sharp in work open to the media on Friday.

For those who think this is a real battle in the fall, Mullen certainly seemed to share that sentiment.

"One of the things that I do like that Kyle does is he's very conscious about trying to do what we ask him to do," Mullen said. "He's got great size within the pocket. There's a benefit to size at the quarterback position; a lot of people like it because it's just easier to see with things. He does a great job of staying tall in the pocket and seeing what's going on to be able to distribute the ball."

Trask also has one of the strongest arms on the team. In the work open to the media on Friday, he and Franks both routinely hit the downfield shots in the routes-on-air portion of practice, while freshman Emory Jones struggled a bit.

"He's got a bunch of arm talent in that he can make throws at different angles on different levels and be accurate with it," Mullen said of Trask. "The one great thing that he showed, too, is he's not Michael Vick back there running around. But he's a very willing runner and he runs physical as a big guy. He’s more than capable of doing everything we need him to do to be really successful at it.

"Those are the things that he brings to the table. As a runner, sometimes you look and say, 'OK, is he a great runner? No.' I’ve always said you have to be a willing runner. The one thing he does is he’s willing and he’s physical about his style of running."

Mullen thought all three of the quarterbacks looked pretty good in their first outing, though, noting that Jones did well.

What he wants to see is them just continuing to make the routine plays that extend drives and build confidence for the unit.

"I want to see you consistently make the unspectacular play," Mullen said. "That doesn’t always compute for young people. That’s the whole deal.

"They don't have to make a big play to win the job. Whoever is the most consistent guy is going to."