Is [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] really the answer at Florida?
That’s the question ESPN’s Alex Scarborough asked when tasked with picking the under-the-radar player worth keeping an eye on in 2023. Mertz transferred to UF from Wisconsin over the offseason after three years in the Big 10, and he seems like the betting favorite to start the season off as Florida’s starting quarterback.
Without [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag] (more on him in a bit), Florida’s depth issue at the most important position on the field appears critical. Mertz is one of two quarterbacks on the roster with playing experience, the other being [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag] who started for Florida against Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Miller didn’t seem ready to take over the starting role just yet, so Mertz might be in line to take over for the Gators in 2023.
He’s not entering an easy situation, though. Mertz has two years of eligibility left and didn’t exactly shine at Wisconsin. Gator Nation isn’t exactly jumping to watch another quarterback develop for a year, so there’s pressure for him to make the jump to elite very quickly.
“The former No. 1-ranked quarterback in the 2019 class played in a lot of games at Wisconsin and never quite lived up to the hype,” Scarborough wrote. “While a fresh start could do him a lot of good, he’s not exactly walking into an ideal situation in Gainesville.
The Florida fan base is unsettled after a disappointing debut season for head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag], who struggled to turn [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag]’s talent into touchdowns and wound up finishing 6-7 after a blowout loss to Oregon State.”
If Mertz can do what Richardson couldn’t — lead the team to a decent season — it will go down as one of the better offseason moves in the country, but there’s potential for disaster here too. If Florida doesn’t have a quarterback it can trust, defenses will quickly shift to shutting down the running game to force some passes.
The other Gator adjacent mentioned in ESPN’s 2023 breakdown of the game is Rashada. Andrea Adelson picked the former Gator signee as the freshman to watch this season purely because of the drama surrounding him over the past month. It’s too sexy of a story to not know the end, and some Florida booster could be privately humiliated if Rashada ends up being worth every bit of the reported $13 million deal that fell through.
Florida would be in a much better spot at quarterback if Rashada was on campus right now, but things played out the way they did and there’s nothing to do but move forward.
Is Graham Mertz the answer at Florida?
We’re about to find out.
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