All these years later, Kerwin Bell still remembers the roar of the crowd and the sight of defending national champion Miami unnerving him just a bit.

It's a feeling he expects Feleipe Franks to have at one point or another Saturday.

More than three decades before Franks was named the starter for No. 17 Florida's season opener against No. 11 Michigan, Bell was the redshirt freshman trying to remain composed during his first career start and give his team an opportunity to win.

"If you're really focused in, it takes away from the size of the stadium and who you're playing," the 52-year-old Bell, now the football coach at Valdosta State, told the Times-Union in a telephone interview this week. "It's like you were out on the side of I-75 playing football where nobody cares. You try to get to that point where you don't even see the crowd and don't even hear the crowd because you're so focused."

Other quarterbacks have started and played for UF as freshmen, but the similarities between Bell in 1984 and Franks in 2017 are uncanny: Redshirt freshmen leading their teams into neutral-site games against top opponents.

For Franks, a four-star prospect coming out of high school who won a three-man race over redshirt junior Luke Del Rio and graduate transfer Malik Zaire, his introduction to college football will come in front of about 100,000 fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Bell took a different, and wholly unexpected, path to stardom. He was a non-scholarship walk-on who was originally buried on the depth chart but worked his way up. He was thrust into the spotlight when starter Dale Dorminey suffered a devastating knee injury in practice the Tuesday before Florida's season opener at Tampa Stadium.

"I played in front of about 3,000 people [usually] and here we played in Tampa Stadium with 80-something thousand probably (actual attendance: 72,813), against a big rival who was the defending national champion," recalled Bell, who went on to coach at Jacksonville University from 2007-15.

"You just have to keep it real simple and take it one play at a time. When that play comes in, just do your job. Make it simple. Focus in on your pre-snap reads and your post-snap reads."

Considering how unexpected it was for Bell to even be playing, his debut was wildly successful.

He completed 15 of 30 passes for 159 yards and fired a go-ahead, 5-yard touchdown pass to Frankie Neal with 41 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

However, Miami's Bernie Kosar responded with a touchdown drive of his own, and a desperate heave by Bell was intercepted and returned for a touchdown on the final play of the game. The Hurricanes won 32-20.

"The big thing for me was something good happened in my first game," said Bell, who led the Gators to a 9-1-1 record that year. "I was playing like a freshman, really, the first three quarters, but we were staying in the game. I had a good team around me and they started to believe in me after that [fourth quarter] drive."

Franks will be making his debut without starting running back Jordan Scarlett and top receiver Antonio Callaway, both of whom are indefinitely suspended. Florida has 10 players suspended for the game.

But a fortified offensive line should hold up in protection, and Franks still has plenty of weapons to showcase his big arm and decent mobility against a Wolverines defense that lost top playmakers Taco Charlton and Jabrill Peppers. Linebacker Mike McCray is the only returning starter on Michigan's defense.

Franks, who is listed at 6-foot-5 and 227 pounds, was the expected starter coming out of spring practice and can solidify his hold on the job with a strong showing.

"He's going to have some jitters," UF coach Jim McElwain said of Franks on Thursday, adding that Zaire will play in certain packages as well. "But the way he carries himself, he doesn't get jitters."

Bell had jitters and believes Franks will, too. So will most of Franks' teammates. That's just how it works when it comes to these type of games.

What's important, Bell said, is that Franks calm himself and be ready to deliver when his team needs a big play or game-winning drive. That's what he tried to remind himself back in '84.

"This is going to be a big one here for Feleipe," Bell said. "He has a chance to show he can help win a football game. That brings credibility to you as a freshman, and people will really kind of rally around you. That helps you be the player everyone wants you to be."

Phillip Heilman: (904) 359-4063