John Franklin III announces he'll transfer to Florida Atlantic

AUBURN — It turns out John Franklin III was serious about not getting to touch the football enough at Auburn.

So serious in fact, that the fifth-year senior and recent AU graduate has informed the coaching staff of his intention to transfer.

“John Franklin came to me expressing his desire for the chance to play more and get closer to home,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said in a university statement to the media Tuesday afternoon. “He has made the decision to play elsewhere this season as a graduate transfer. John has been an outstanding young man during his time here and leaves Auburn with a degree. We wish John nothing but the best and thank him for his time at Auburn.”

SEC Country was the first to report Tuesday that Franklin is considering playing this season at Florida Atlantic under new head coach Lane Kiffin. Later Tuesday afternoon, Franklin officially announced on Instagram that he'd decided to join FAU as an immediately eligible graduate transfer. 

It will be his fourth program in a five-year college career with previous stops at Florida State, East Mississippi Community College and Auburn.

Franklin arrived at Auburn in January 2016 with hopes of winning the starting quarterback job but lost that battle in preseason camp to Sean White. As the backup last season, Franklin accounted for 634 total yards (430 rushing, 204 passing) and three touchdowns but only started one game (vs. Vanderbilt on Nov. 5) in place of an injured White. After less than a half vs. Vanderbilt, White was forced to come off the bench and lead Auburn to a come-from-behind home victory.

The Tigers moved Franklin to wide receiver this spring.

Franklin, in his first media appearance since suffering a nerve injury to his right forearm in a 35-19 loss to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl, said this month that playing receiver would allow him to get more opportunities with the ball.

“My whole thing was just like, as long as I'm getting the ball, that's all that matters,” Franklin said on Aug. 5. “I think I've proven that when I have it good things will come up from it.”

However, during the open media viewing sessions of preseason practices this month, Franklin was no higher than the second-team slot position. He was a longshot to win one of the two kickoff return spots in Auburn’s return game.

“Luckily for me, God blessed me with the ability to really do multiple things and I think that's going to work out in my favor here and at the next level,”Franklin said. “With my skill set, why limit myself?”

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At Florida State, Franklin backed up Jameis Winston and Sean Maguire as a freshman in 2014, but he left the Seminoles after they wanted to move him to another position. At East Mississippi, he was the star of the Netflix documentary "Last Chance U."

This summer, on the day he graduated from Auburn with a degree in public administration, Franklin said another transfer wasn't appealing for several reasons.

“Transferring is a tough process and to be bouncing around from school to school, that’s the last thing I wanted to do, to be honest,” Franklin said.

Ten days after graduating, Franklin informed the coaching staff that his intention was to transfer and execute the option he said was “the last thing I wanted to do."