RealGM

Seeing a lot of discussion on the definition of a hail mary after Feleipe Franks hit Tyrie Cleveland in the closing seconds to give Florida a 26-20 win over Tennessee on Saturday . For those who missed it, here is the play in question:



Now, the dictionary definition of hail mary is:

a long forward pass in football thrown into or near the end zone in a last-ditch attempt to score as time runs out —often used figuratively

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Hail%20Mary

By this definition, it does appear that this was a hail mary. But my understood definition of hail mary always includes a degree of uncertainty as to who your target is -- just throw it into a crowd and hope that someone wearing your jersey comes down with it. That did not happen here. Franks saw an open man, threw a bomb, and hit him perfectly in stride into the end zone.

So I leave it to you good people: was this a hail mary?

It's hard to call a pass a Hail Mary when the receiver gets behind the db's and beats them into the endzone. It just looked like a long completed pass play. Whatever.

well tennessee sure didn't have the defense out there for a hail mary