Florida football: Anthony Richardson is a better draft prospect than Will Levis

Florida football has had its ups and downs this year, as has its QB, Anthony Richardson. Despite some of these bumps in the road, Richardson is still pretty high up on most draft boards, thanks to his freakish athleticism and a strong arm.

He isn’t the only QB getting lots of draft hype, as guys like CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, and Hendon Hooker are getting lots of attention. There is one guy however who has no business being projected ahead of AR.

Kentucky quarterback Will Levis.

Mel Kiper released an updated big board this morning, and Levis was in the top five. Why? We don’t know.

He had Levis as the 4th prospect overall, and 2nd out of QBs.

https://twitter.com/JimMWeber/status/1588214581742239748?s=20&t=2TkEtpW7RsHG95AFE1sr8Q

Why Hooker isn’t ahead of Bryce Young doesn’t make sense either, but that’s not what we’re focusing on.

There isn’t much reason to have Levis ahead of Richardson. Unless all that Kiper was looking at was head-to-head matchups, where Levis did get the better of AR.

Let’s look at the numbers and see if we can figure out why in the world Levis is above Richardson.

Levis has thrown for 13 TDs compared to AR’s seven. Richardson has run for six touchdowns compared to Levis’s two. Levis has eight interceptions compared to AR’s seven. And Levis has a QBR of 59.7, while Anthony’s is up at 64.9.

To put a little more context into their numbers, let’s look at their one common opponent, Tennessee.

When Florida went to go visit Knoxville, College Gameday was there and the Vols were beginning their magical run that they’re on this year. To be fair, the environment that Levis went into wasn’t friendly either, with a night game in a blackout.

Regardless of the environment, this Tennessee pass defense is bad. They rank 127th in the nation, even after what they did to Levis.

Levis threw for 98 yards on a 59% completion rate and threw three picks. In the Wildcats’ biggest game of the year where they needed Levis to pull through. He couldn’t.

When the Gators went up to Rocky Top, they were coming off of a loss to Kentucky and a close win against USF. They needed a big win to turn the season around, and AR almost got it for them. He went for 453 yards and two touchdowns with one INT. He also ran for two touchdowns.

That’s how you show up for your team in a road environment. You don’t just collapse like Levis did and how to get bailed out.

Richardson is also the more valuable commodity thanks to his legs. When Levis doesn’t have it going in the air, he’s dead in the water. If AR can’t get the passing game going, it’s almost like he becomes even more dangerous.

He has 414 rushing yards on the season, including 100+ yard games against Utah and LSU. Levis has -71 yards on the ground which does include sacks against him and only has two games where he’s in the positive. One game with 3, and one with 7. Nice.

If you’re a one-dimensional QB, you have to be consistently great in the air to earn a top 5 draft pick. Levis isn’t. Richardson is.

Not to mention that as far as we know, Richardson takes his coffee without a shot of mayo.

Keep up with Florida football at Hail Florida Hail.