Highly renowned publication The Athletic released its weekly rankings of the eight new starting quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference. Florida Gators quarterback [autotag]Graham Mertz[/autotag] has two games under his belt and the reviews are in, but the experts are showing low confidence in the Wisconsin transfer.
The Florida pass thrower was ranked No. 7.
Mertz played well against visiting McNeese State in week two but was slaughtered in the backfield when the Gators took a trip to Salt Lake City to play the No. 12 Utah Utes.
The redshirt junior has completed 73.6% of his passes for 526 yards with two touchdowns to show for it. His lone interception against the Utes was a tipped pass off the hands of wide receiver Ricky Pearsall.
The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker wrote this about Mertz.
“The book on Mertz, who threw 29 touchdowns and 21 interceptions the last two seasons at Wisconsin, was pretty clear: heat him up and watch him melt. He was eighth in the Big Ten last year and 13th in 2021 in pass efficiency when pressured.”
“While Mertz has only been pressured on 13 dropbacks so far this season, he’s taken five sacks, attempted only seven passes, completed just two and thrown an interception in those situations. He has the SEC’s worst passer rating against pressure, which we could maybe dismiss as a small sample size if the same problem didn’t plague him with the Badgers.”
Tucker finds some positive light for Mertz because of the quarterback’s accuracy when throwing for more than 15 yards. Mertz has the second-best passer rating in the SEC on long throws, going 7-for-12 with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Tennessee Volunteers quarterback and week two Florida opponent Joe Milton is ranked at No. 2 ahead of the week three matchup. The Athletic is high on Milton due to his ability to be a dual-threat QB. Milton has four touchdowns through the air and three rushing and has thrown for 429 yards.
Tennessee and Florida will face off at The Swamp on Saturday at 7 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.