Graham Mertz played for both teams and combined to throw for 244 yards and touchdown in his pseudo UF debut.
Quarterback Questions Remain
Friday, April 14, 2023 | Football, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It's a popular saying when it comes to quarterbacks. The one about them getting too much credit and too much blame. Billy Napier has been known to throw that adage out there and did again Thursday night after an Orange & Blue Spring Game that was anything but a quarterback clinic.
The 42,000 fans that left Spurrier/Florida Field after watching Orange placekicker Trey Smack nail a 46-yard field goal as time expired for a 10-7 victory probably weren't heaping a bunch of credit in the direction of Graham Mertz or Jack Miller III, the UF duo that spent the last five weeks in a 15-practice spring QB duel. Neither distinguished himself, but neither did many of the players around them.
"Not as a clean as you would like but I think defensively probably had a lot to do with that," Napier said about the Gators' all-around offensive performance. "I think the pocket was a little muddy, that's one thing I would say."
Before honing further in on the quarterbacks (and assigning too much blame), consider that praise directed at the Florida defense. The Gators are coming off a 6-7 season when they had a quarterback, Anthony Richardson, expected to be taken in the top 10 of the NFL Draft. Richardson's season, of course, was uneven, but the Gators' defense was not. No, Florida was consistently poor on that side of the ball in finishing 103rd overall in the nation, giving up a staggering 415.8 yards per game and allowing opponents to convert 49.7 percent of their third-down opportunities. Getting off the field was a problem last season, as well as it was the season before.
Maybe what happened Thursday is a sign that UF is gaining some ground there.
UF coach Billy Napiercongratulates quarterback Jack Miller III(10) for being named one of the team's Most Improve Players during halftime award ceremonies.
The Gators' defense, now led by co-coordinators Sean Spencer and Austin Armstrong, was the story of the game. The Blue gave up 198 total yards, including just 48 on the ground. The Orange allowed 307 and only 54 rushing. The two units totaled nine sacks, with each forcing one turnover, and never let the quarterbacks get into any kind of a rhythm. There were 14 tackles for loss.
"I think the defense did a good job. They showed tonight, the new DC showed they're a legit defense," Miller said of Armstrong, who was defensive coordinator at Southern Miss the last two seasons. "We see it every day in practice, so we weren't really surprised."
Still, Napier would have liked to have seen a little more from his offense. The Orange got a couple big runs from tailbacks Trevor Etienne and Montrell Johnson Jr. There were a couple long pass competitions that were finished with excellent concentration by senior Ricky Pearsall and sophomore Marcus Burke.
But there were also 12 offensive drives (out of 22) that lasted four plays or less, as well as now fewer than four horrendous shotgun snaps from center that resulted in huge losses and killed drives. Fun-N-Gun it was not.
"Offensively, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more," Napier said. "But I think, based off of what we've observed in practice, our team is a much better football team at this point in time."
Maybe overall, but the offense definitely will be a work in progress.
"I'm definitely not satisfied with it," said Mertz, the redshirt junior.
Mertz and Miller, the third-year sophomore, played for both teams. Mertz completed 18 of 29 passes for 244 yards and one touchdown, a 10-yard dart to Kahleil Jackson that tied the game at 7-all just before halftime. Miller hit 10 of his 19 throws for 144 yards, with a 16-yard touchdown to Burke that opened the scoring earlier in the second.
Wide receiver Marcus Burke (88) celebrates his 16-yard touchdown reception, courtesy of throw from Jack Miller, in the second quarter.
After that, there wasn't much. The Orange team punted five times, fumbled once and was turned away on downs once. The Blue failed on back-to-back fourth downs to start the game and punted on seven of its final nine possessions, with a fumble mixed in.
"Couldn't get the ball rolling," Mertz said. "And then when something big would happen we kind of got set back a little bit. It comes down to execution."
Time will tell if Mertz or Miller (or maybe redshirt freshman Max Brown, who went one of five for 15 yards) will be charged with executing the Florida offense when the real snaps come. The QB competition will go into the summer. It may also get more crowded. Soon.
Yes, Napier confirmed in his post-game remarks that adding a quarterback via the transfer portal was not just a possibility, but all but a certainty.
"Yeah, I think that process is underway, to some degree," he said. "I think we'll know more pretty soon."
That should make things interesting. Meanwhile, in the bigger picture, we won't really know much more until fall practice begins in August and the Gators open the 2023 season at Utah on Sept. 1.
By then we'll know who to blame. Or preferably, to give credit.
