Franklin is vying with holdovers Jeremy Johnson and Sean White for the starting job, but Johnson and White were in non-contact jerseys Saturday.
“We just felt like it was important one more time to see how he can protect the football, just let him make some plays with his feet,” Malzahn told reporters afterward. “It was a good evaluation from that end.”
Malzahn also told reporters that Franklin protected the ball “quite a bit better” than he did in last week’s scrimmage.
“It’s just a matter of him feeling more comfortable,” Malzahn said. “We know quite a bit about the other two guys, and the other two guys have had very good practices the last couple of weeks.