July 27, 2017
By Christian Page
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Transition has been a common theme during John Franklin III's college career. Franklin signed with Florida State out of high school, transferred to East Mississippi Community College, eventually arriving at Auburn on his final stop.
"It's been a long time coming," Franklin says. "I have had a long journey, but everything happens for a reason. I'm ready to see what God has in store for me."
Franklin's journey didn't end when he signed with the Tigers in 2016. In a way, it had begun all over again. Franklin battled with quarterbacks Jeremy Johnson and Sean White for the starting position but didn't emerge on top, leading to another transition, a position change to receiver.
Having experience at receiver in junior high football, Franklin doesn't seem to be facing an insurmountable learning curve so far.
"[The transition] has been pretty smooth," Franklin says. "I played receiver before high school. Playing receiver is really natural to me."
Getting in and out of his breaks is what Franklin has been working on this offseason.
"[I have been] getting used to a lot of movements that I didn't have to do much while playing quarterback," he says. "I haven't played receiver since before high school, so you can imagine it's been kind of tough, but I'm doing a lot of stuff this offseason and making my transition well worth it."
Franklin credits his quarterbacking experience for making his change to receiver easier.
"It helps me a lot," he says. "I am able to read defenses on the fly. As a quarterback, you can't really just key on one person. You've got to know everybody on the field.
"As far as knowing how a defensive back, I learned all that through the eyes of a quarterback. Things happen on the fly, so being able to process that information quickly then figuring out what I need to do to be correct will help me a lot."
Even though Franklin is adjusting to a new role on offense, he still holds himself to a high standard.
"My personal goal is to be a first round draft pick at the end of the season. I want to be in the Biletnikoff Award [conversation].
"Sure, I have high expectations, but I always set them high," he says. "I know it's achievable because I know what I put into it."
Franklin wants success for himself but values team success more: winning the SEC, beating Auburn's pair November rivals and getting a chance to play for the national championship.
The new receiver feels confident about what the offense will be able to do based on experience.
"That's something you can't coach," he says. "We have a lot of experience coming back on our offense and the defense is going to be amazing again.
"We were really young last year and the young guys now know what it takes," he said. "We got to the Sugar Bowl and, though we didn't have the result we wanted, they saw the work it takes and they know the expectations. Us, the older guys as leaders, are going to hold them up to that expectation and I think that's the biggest thing going for us right now."
Moving from one school to the next and one state to another (Florida to Mississippi to Alabama), Franklin has seen college and life from many angles. He wants his journey and experiences of ups and downs to help mold the minds of the team's newcomers.
"It's a process," he says. "It's a grind when you get to this level. You have to make it fun. You've got to make it your love.
"That's one thing that happened to me," he says. "I fell out of love with the game and it showed. When you fall out of love with something, you don't want to do it anymore. It really took my happiness away. Finding my love for it again has really changed everything around me for the better.
"Really for me, it was just trusting in God. A lot of things happened to me and I didn't know why but now, where I am today, I know why."
Love for football is a key to Franklin's success, but he also relishes in the love of the Auburn Family.
"No matter if you're doing good or bad, that love is still going to be there at the end of the day," he says. "That's not genuine everywhere, but it is here. Loyalty is big."
Franklin will walk at the end of the summer with his bachelor's degree and will begin a master's program in the fall studying fitness, conditioning and performance.
"I want to open up my own training facility back home or partner with my brother," Franklin says. "[I want to] do it for all ages, and have the people that I've met throughout my career run each sport.
"[I want to] get training for kids from 5 years old to high school and let them get trained by people who have been where they are trying to go," he says. "That's my dream after I'm done playing football."
Before his arrival at Auburn, Franklin was featured on Netflix's show Last Chance U. The show profiled the success of East Mississippi Community College's football organization and the players and coaches who helped guide the program to multiple national titles.
The experience on the show gave Franklin a platform to reach out to many athletes in similar situations.
"I'm very grateful for being on that show because of the amount of feedback I get every day from outside the country (Brazil, Germany, Greece, etc.)," he says. "Every day my DMs (direct messages) are flooded with people saying you inspired me. You're the reason I keep going."
Helping others better themselves by drawing from his experience gained through a multitude of transitions is a trait that Franklin carries with him every day.
"Being able to share my story and help somebody else out is what it's all about," he says. "For that, I'm very grateful."