One of the biggest blows to Florida football’s 2023 campaign was the loss of starting quarterback [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] to an injury in the second half of the Gators’ loss to the Missouri Tigers.
While it was somewhat fortunate that it happened in the penultimate game of the fall schedule, the redshirt junior was the heart and soul of the offense. Sitting out what might have been a winnable game against the Florida State Seminoles in Week 13 may have just added salt to the wound.
X-rays confirmed that Mertz suffered a non-displaced fractured left collarbone that night in Columbia, Missouri, which has a positive prognosis as far as his recovery is concerned. Given that he avoided surgery, his horizon for clearance is now somewhere in the six-week range, suggesting that he will be healthy enough for spring practices barring any setbacks.
“There’s always a general timeline for collarbones,” Mertz told Swamp247. “I think for me, I’m more focused on just my day-to-day, how I’m feeling and how the recovery is coming along. But everything is on schedule and I’m feeling great. So, it should be just a normal timeline.”
The incumbent starting quarterback also sees the longitudinal path to recovery as well.
“The big thing is, if you take care of your body – a broken bone, it’s inevitable. At some point, it’s going to happen when you play a sport. The guys that were older than me at Wisconsin, they took care of their bodies. They showed you how to recover, how to prep for a game,” he added.
“That’s one thing that really helped in my development: how to stay available. That’s one thing. You get dinged up every week, but you gotta prioritize your body.”
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