Graham Mertz headlines a group of Gators who are out for Week 2 against Samford.
Florida football goes into Week 2 a bit banged up against the Samford Bulldogs.
The Gators will be without several of their key starters, the most notable being quarterback Graham Mertz who suffered a concussion last week against Miami and was placed in concussion protocol.
Head coach Billy Napier said on Wednesday that Mertz was progressing but it’s just not enough time to be ready for Week 2.
“Graham did not practice today,” Napier said on Wednesday. “He is farther into the protocol, and he’s doing better but he’s not quite — he hasn’t quite passed the final test. He’s doing better, but he’s not quite there yet.”
Five-star freshman DJ Lagway will be taking the place of Mertz and start at quarterback against Samford and will get a chance to show Florida fans his talent.
Napier had plans for Jackson to be a key part of the Gators offense this season.
“Kahleil Jackson needs no motivation,” Napier said about Jackson’s mindset. “He’s self-motivated; he’s a grinder. He’s always been out to prove himself, and he’s done that. He has the respect of myself, our staff, his teammates.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Florida will be without some of their key defenders in the secondary.
Junior cornerback Devin Moore and redshirt-senior safety Asa Turner are out for Week 2. Moore is dealing with a lower-body injury and Turner has a shoulder injury.
Napier said that sophomore Dijon Johnson and redshirt-senior DJ Douglas will see playing time.
“Guys like Didi (Dijon) Johnson, will be in the rotation,” Napier said. “DJ Douglas will get more time. We’ve got some depth there.”
Napier went on to say, “So I mean, I think you just see some of those players that maybe played 12 plays, they’ll play 25 this week. We’ve got confidence in those players. I think it’s an opportunity, and they’ll be ready.”
Florida (0-1) will go up against the Samford Bulldogs (0-1) on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
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Florida redshirt junior Kahleil Jackson had a chance to be one of the team’s breakout receivers in 2024, but a knee injury has him sidelined for the rest of the year.
Florida redshirt junior [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag] will miss the rest of the 2024 season after undergoing knee surgery.
Jackson posted a photo of himself in the hospital after getting out of surgery on Friday, noting everything went well.
It’s unfortunate timing for the fourth-year Florida legacy pass catcher. Head coach Billy Napier spoke highly of Jackson during fall camp, and the expectation was for him to play a significant role in the Gators’ offense.
“Kahleil Jackson needs no motivation,” Napier said. “He’s self-motivated; he’s a grinder. He’s always been out to prove himself, and he’s done that. He has the respect of myself, our staff, his teammates.”
Jackson lined up for nearly 500 snaps last season with Florida. More than half of those snaps came as a receiver on passing plays. His best games came against No. 9 Missouri and at South Carolina. He finished with a career-high 52 receiving yards in each of those games.
Napier listed Jackson as a starter on the depth chart for the 2024 season opener against Miami. He reeled in one catch on three targets with no drops over 13 snaps before leaving the game with an injury. Pro Football Focus gave him a receiving grade of 61.2, which is third among Florida’s wide receivers on Saturday. Eugene “Tre” Wilson III (68.1) and Elijhah Badger (69.5) performed better, while Chimere Dike did slightly worse (59.4).
Speaking of Badger, the Arizona State transfer figures to be the receiver who steps up on the depth chart, as well as Marcus Burke.
“Marcus Burke has had a phenomenal week,” Napier said on Wednesday. “Moved him outside behind Elijhah. He’s had a really good week, and I think as those guys get more experience and have some production, they get more confident.”
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Competition is running wild in Florida’s wide receivers room heading into 2024. Behind the top three, which other receivers will step up?
Next up in Gators Wire’s annual position preview series are the wide receivers, and the 18-man position room might be one of the most interesting at the University of Florida heading into 2024.
The big question is which pass catcher will step into first-round pick Ricky Pearsall‘s shoes as the top option for Graham Mertz. Billy Napier brought in two transfers to fill out the top of the depth chart, but it’s sophomore Eugene Wilson III who has played the most snaps under Napier.
There’s also plenty of room for competition when it comes to the second and third strings. Several young players are looking to get on the field and find their role on the team.
Here’s a look at each of the receivers on Florida’s roster.
Top option: No. 3 Eugene Wilson III (So.)
Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun
Year
GP
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
Long
AVG/G
2023
10
61
583
8.8
6
30
53.8
Wilson is Florida’s top returning receiver on the depth chart and should receive the most targets of anyone in the position room. He broke out in the second half of the season, ending 2023 with a team-high 6.1 receptions per game.
He split time between the slot (200 snaps) and lining up out wide last season (235 snaps). Wilson is a do-everything kind of player and Billy Napier will draw up a few plays to exploit his skill set. There’s quickness and speed here. Wilson has a chance to be one of the SEC’s best, but he’ll have to beat most teams’ top defensive back now that he’s WR1.
Second option: No. 6 Elijhah Badger (R-Sr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Year
GP
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
Long
AVG/G
2020*
1
0
0
0.0
0
0
0.0
2021*
11
7
61
8.7
0
22
5.5
2022*
12
70
866
12.4
7
9
72.2
2023*
11
65
713
11.0
3
17
64.8
Total
35
142
1,640
11.5
10
22
46.9
* = while at ASU
[autotag]Elijhah Badger[/autotag] transferred from Arizona State during the offseason, and he’s quickly moved to the top of Florida’s depth chart. Similar to Wilson, Badger can line up both inside and outside, giving Napier plenty of versatility on offense.
Expect Badger to set up out wide most of the time. Florida needs a deep threat to keep the defense honest on most snaps, and Badger’s been putting together highlight plays.
“He is explosive, he is athletic, he can run after the catch, he has a vertical threat to his game and he’s got play strength and he’s got length,” Napier said. “He’s a 6-1 guy but he’s got great great length.”
Starting Slot: No. 17 Chimere Dike (Sr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Year
GP
REC
YDS
AVG
TD
Long
AVG/G
2020*
7
12
189
15.8
1
0
27.0
2021*
13
19
272
14.3
1
9
20.9
2022*
13
47
689
14.7
6
12
62.6
2023*
11
19
328
17.3
1
30
29.8
Total
44
97
1,478
15.2
9
30
* = while at Wisconsin
Rounding out that group of starting receivers is Wisconsin transfer [autotag]Chimere Dike[/autotag]. Mertz already has a connection with Dike from their time together as Badgers, but now both are in the prime of their college careers.
Dike’s most productive year with Wisconsin came with Mertz at quarterback in 2022, and it’s easy to see why he followed his former teammate after regressing in production last season. There’s a level of familiarity between the two that’s hard to recreate.
“The good thing about football is even in different offenses, a lot of the concepts have carryover, a lot of similar routes are ran. So, there’ll be a new concept (Florida’s) running that it feels exactly like one that we’ve ran on 100 times before, so I’m definitely fortunate to have that. Obviously, he’s continued to get better as a player and I’m excited to be here and be able to work.”
Second String: No. 11 Aidan Mizell (R-Fr.), No. 14 Andy Jean (R-Fr.) and No. 22 Kahleil Jackson (R-Jr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Here’s where the competition begins, according to Napier.
The second and third-string units inside the receivers room should be fluid throughout the season. Napier likes to play guys who are earning snaps, and he’s repeated several times through fall camp that this is one of the most competitive position groups in Gainesville.
Redshirt freshmen [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag] and [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] are the two breakout candidates here. Neither played much last season. Jean only appeared in four games — catching six passes for 97 yards — as injuries kept him sidelined. The good news is he was able to redshirt and retain a year of eligibility.
The same goes for Mizell, who appeared in just two games last season. Mizell missed much of his senior year of high school with an injury, so he was always likely to redshirt last season. A true speedster, Mizell has a chance to become a serious deep threat for Florida. He can burn most cornerbacks and planned to run track at the university at one point.
Then there’s redshirt junior [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag], who reeled in 21 receptions for 251 yards. A former walk-on who was added to the scholarship roster in 2022, Jackson made several highlight-worthy plays last season for Florida. It’s hard to tell if the young guys will pass him by, especially with transfers moving ahead of him on the depth chart, but Jackson should be a frequent face on the offense early on in the year.
Reserves: No. 0 Ja’Quavion Fraziars (Sr.), No. 30 Taylor Spierto (R-Jr.) and Marcus Burke (R-Jr.)
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
Next up are the reserves, who are likely to fit into that third-string role with some flexibility to move both ways on the depth chart.
[autotag]Ja’Quavion Fraziars[/autotag] and [autotag]Marcus Burke[/autotag] are the two tallest receivers on the team. The Gators have more speed than size at receiver, so both can earn snaps out wide if they prove useful.
Fraziars has hauled in 15 receptions for 143 yards and three touchdowns over four years at Florida, and Burke is at 12 catches for 201 yards over three seasons. A good year for both would be doubling that production, but that’s far from guaranteed.
Then, there’s Taylor Spierto, another walk-on who earned a scholarship last year. He’s most a special teams guy, but he did catch two balls for 17 yards last year.
These three are the rare remnants from the Dan Mullen era in the position room, but they wouldn’t be in Gainesville if they weren’t bought in on Napier. Hopefully, he’ll give them chances to shine, knowing that all three are likely to move on after this season.
Freshmen: No. 4 TJ Abrams (Fr.) and No. 10 Tank Hawkins
Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun
[autotag]TJ Abrams[/autotag] and [autotag]Tank Hawkins[/autotag] are both true freshmen, but they could end up ahead of the three reserves on the depth chart by season’s end.
Hawkins is the one standing out early. He scored twice during Florida’s first scrimmage and he has verified track speed.
“(Hawkins) got here in January. He’s had a great offseason,” Napier said. “He’s definitely playing faster. His skill level is improving. He’s getting comfortable. Like we’ve talked about before, we kind of have those top three and then you got this group that’s competing. He’s in that group.”
Abrams has a “running back build”, according to Napier, but he’s firmly in the group of receivers competing for a spot in the rotation this year.
In truth, both of these guys probably belong above the reserves on our list, but age over beauty and all that, right?
Walk-Ons
Believe it or not, Florida has seven walk-on receivers on its roster this season.
The oldest of the bunch are redshirt sophomores Alex Gonzalez and Zak Sedaros. Gonzalez joined the team as a preferred walk-on in the summer of 2022 after an in-state prep career at Lehigh Senior near Fort Myers. Sedaros also joined the Gators in the summer of 2022, but without the “preferred” tag. He is also a member of the track and field team at Florida.
Next up are the redshirt freshmen, Jaden Edgecomb, Brian Green Jr. and Jackson Wade. Both Green and Wade joined the program as preferred walk-ons last summer and redshirted after making zero appearances. Wade played high school ball at North Paulding in Georgia, and Green comes from Orange Park near the Jacksonville area.
Edgecomb was selected by Billy Napier for the Louis Oliver Outstanding non-Scholarship Player Award from the Black Student-Athlete Community.
There isn’t much hope for playing time for the four listed above, but the final two walk-ons in Florida’s receiver room are all new to the program so there’s very little chance they see the field this season.
David Schmidt is a local kid from Newberry High. He was an all-state receiver his junior year and a special teams MVP in 2023. The reason for so many walk-ons is to provide depth at multiple positions during practice. Schmidt fills that role nicely.
DeBraun Hampton played high school ball with [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag], so there’s always a chance he blossoms over the next few years.
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It just means more for legacy recruits, and Billy Napier says Florida wide receiver Kahleil Jackson has set him self up for a career year.
Redshirt junior receiver [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag] figures to be a position-room leader at the University of Florida as he enters his second season as a scholarship player.
Jackson passed on an offer to Jackson State in 2020 to walk on at UF. The third-generation legacy paid his dues, endured a coaching change and finally earned a scholarship from Billy Napier in the spring of 2023.
“Kahleil Jackson needs no motivation,” Napier said on Wednesday “He’s self-motivated, he’s a grinder. He’s always been out to prove himself, and he’s done that. He has the respect of myself, our staff, his teammates.”
Jackson made nine starts last season and should be a consistent contributor in Gainesville again this year. He’s one of three receivers on the roster who is 6-foot-3-inches or taller, but a pair of transfers might block him out of the official starter role. He’s looking to improve on a career-high 251 yards and one touchdown last season.
While Jackson has improved on the field over the years, it’s the off-the-field growth that Napier thinks has done him the most good.
“I’m most proud of Khaleil Jackson’s growth as a human being, person. His ability to connect with his teammates … There’s 3 or 4 guys at the table, and this guy’s smiling. He’s having conversation. He’s being more vocal on the field. Just a different guy, you know?
“When we first got here, that was an area that he specifically talked to me about wanting to improve. So, Khaleil, he’s in a prime position to have a good year here for the Gators.”
Tradition makes a difference
Legacy commitments can shy away from their family history at times, but it’s something Florida’s staff seems to be able to tap in with its players.
Napier took over the program at a low point and immediately made moves to restore the Florida Gators name. Ditching players who understand the big picture wasn’t part of that plan.
“The more kids that we have on our team that have a true feel for the history and tradition of this place, that really understand that we’re a part of families that — I mean, Khaleil Jackson, think about how he grew up and all the things that he observed and the stories he’s been told — and for him to wear 22 and for him to have Jackson on the back, I mean, we need more of that, right?
“We might be hitting it just right. We’ve got quite a few legacies that are coming down the pipe here.”
Florida also has Myles Graham, the son of Earnest Graham, on the roster, and Vernell Brown III recently committed to the program.
“Just in general, there’s always an added value to a player that has knowledge and passion for the place; has a true understanding. Because some of this generation, they don’t remember, you know, they have no affiliation with that. So, I think guys like Kahleil, it means a little bit more to a guy like that.”
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Billy Napier hinted at it a few months ago, and now it seems that wide receiver Kahleil Jackson is indeed being put on scholarship.
Billy Napier talked about putting redshirt sophomore [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag] on a scholarship during his spring speaking tour, and now it’s a reality.
According to Swamp247, the Gators are putting Jackson on scholarship for the 2023 season, moving Florida one spot shy of reaching the 85-man limit. A third-generation Gator, Jackson switched from quarterback to wide receiver when he arrived in 2020.
He didn’t see action until his redshirt freshman year when he made appearances on special teams against South Carolina and Florida Atlantic. In 2022, Jackson made his first catches at the college level, hauling in two passes for 43 yards.
Jackson has a chance to break out in 2023, and Napier clearly believes in him. At least, enough to give him a scholarship. Caleb Douglas, Ja’Quavion Fraziars and Ricky Pearsall are the only returners alongside him, but the freshman class is loaded with speedy receivers also looking for a shot.
Regardless of what happens, Jackson’s story is inspiring for other preferred walk-ons that are hoping to get a taste.
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The Gators might be thin at wide receiver this weekend when South Carolina comes to the Swamp.
The Florida Gators are still dealing with injuries, particularly at the wide receiver position, according to the Week 11 depth chart update released Wednesday evening.
The team’s leading receiver, [autotag]Justin Shorter[/autotag], is still listed as questionable after missing the Texas A&M game, and backup [autotag]Ja’Quavion Fraziars[/autotag] is out with an upper-body injury. Fraziars made his first-career start against the Aggies last week, so Florida will be down to it’s reserve options on Saturday.
Shorter is still listed as the starter, but freshman [autotag]Caleb Douglas[/autotag] is set to make his first career start if he can’t go. Behind him and [autotag]Xavier Henderson[/autotag] will be Marcus Burke and [autotag]Daejon Reynolds[/autotag] with [autotag]Kahleil Jackson[/autotag] as another option. [autotag]Ricky Pearsall[/autotag] is the starter in the slot.
The wide receiver room isn’t the only position group to deal with injuries. Starting left guard [autotag]Ethan White[/autotag] was added to the injury report and is listed as questionable with an upper-body injury. White is still listed as the starter, but that decision will be made as kickoff approaches.
Freshman kicker [autotag]Trey Smack[/autotag], who has exclusively served as Florida’s kickoff man this season, is out for a second straight week after missing the Texas A&M game. [autotag]Travis Freeman [/autotag]will back up [autotag]Adam Mihalek[/autotag] for all kicking duties.
At linebacker, [autotag]Diwun Black[/autotag] is back on the depth chart and off the injury report. He’s listed as a third-team option behind [autotag]Amari Burney[/autotag] and [autotag]Shemar James[/autotag].
Tight end Keon Zipperer will miss a second-straight game, and that’s all for the depth chart update this week. [autotag]Devin Moore[/autotag], [autotag]Arlis Boardingham[/autotag] and [autotag]Nick Elksnis[/autotag] are all out as well.
