25 Cheers for 25 years: A Hail Mary Full of Grace

Tyrie Cleveland #89 of the Florida Gators hauls in 63-yaerd touchdown at the end of the game to defeat the Tennessee Volunteers 26-20 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 16, 2017 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images)

As the late-afternoon sun dipped behind the Swamp on September 16, 2017, everything felt like it was headed toward overtime. Florida and Tennessee were tied at 20, the Gators were on their own 37-yard line, and there was 9 seconds left.

Most fans were bracing for another 15 minutes of nerves.

What they got instead was one of the most unforgettable finishes in the history of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

Feleipe Franks was still a mystery to most Gator fans. He was big, had a huge arm, but this was only his second career start.

The offense had been all over the place, and earlier in the quarter, Franks had thrown a brutal interception that almost cost Florida the game. Tennessee capitalized and tied the game with a field goal. That’s what made what happened next so shocking — it wasn’t just the throw, it was who threw it, when, and how.

The final play wasn’t supposed to be a deep shot. Florida called a relatively safe play — “Train Right Open, Big Bend In” — which was designed to set up a long field goal. But Franks didn’t want to dink and dunk. He saw something. More specifically, he saw Tyrie Cleveland.

Cleveland was Florida’s speedster, a sophomore who’d shown flashes but hadn’t broken through yet. As they lined up, he looked at his quarterback and said four simple words: “Give me a chance.”

Franks nodded, and that was it.

The play began with Franks rolling right, buying time as the Tennessee pass rush closed in. He looked downfield and let it fly — not a lob, but a missile that traveled more than 60 yards through the Gainesville sky.

Cleveland had a step. He looked up, adjusted his route, and tracked the ball. As he crossed into the end zone, he reached out, cradled the ball, and hit the turf just as two defenders closed in.

Touchdown. No time left. Florida wins.

The Swamp went from nervous to nuclear in seconds.

Teammates swarmed Cleveland, crushing him under the weight of the entire team. It was a walk-off Hail Mary in a rivalry game — it doesn’t get better than that.

“Oh, I knew I had it,” Cleveland said afterward. “I made it my business to come down with it.”

For Coach Jim McElwain, the win was a desperately needed shot of energy after a rocky start to the season that had already been disrupted by Hurricane Irma.

“We’ve been through some things,” he said postgame, “but they just keep going. It obviously wasn’t pretty… but our guys figured out a way to win.”

The game was messy and the offense was inconsistent. The fourth quarter alone saw blown leads, turnovers, and missed chances. But all of that faded behind one perfect play. Franks had a rough day, but ended up with the throw of a lifetime.

“I think everybody found out that Feleipe can throw the ball a long ways,” McElwain joked.

In the days and weeks that followed, the replay aired on loop. Franks rolling out, launching that missile, Cleveland racing past defenders and landing in the end zone as the crowd erupted. And while the 2017 season didn’t end with any titles — McElwain parted ways with the program later that year — that moment became one of the few bright spots.

What made it even crazier? The touchdown was 63 yards — the exact same distance as Antonio Callaway’s miracle against Tennessee two years earlier. Another last-minute stunner, another Vols heartbreak, another Gators memory sealed forever.

As Brad Nessler said on CBS’s broadcast, it was a hail mary that was full of grace for the Gators.