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Florida Football: Graham Mertz would be a massive whiff for Billy Napier

By Benjamin Henderson

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz (5) is sacked by Illinois defensive lineman Keith Randolph Jr. (88) during the fourth quarter of their game Saturday, October 1, 2022 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. Illinois beat Wisconsin 34-10.MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINELMjs Uwgrid01 13 Jpg Uwgrid01
Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz (5) is sacked by Illinois defensive lineman Keith Randolph Jr. (88) during the fourth quarter of their game Saturday, October 1, 2022 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis. Illinois beat Wisconsin 34-10.MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINELMjs Uwgrid01 13 Jpg Uwgrid01 /
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We’ve been so consumed with recruiting news and transfer portal news that we barely picked our heads up to watch Florida football lay a dud in the Las Vegas Bowl. The blowout didn’t feel like it mattered because Billy Napier was working hard in the transfer portal to land the next QB for the Gators for 2023.

The carousel looks like it is finally coming to a stop and the prize Florida is going to wind up with is whelming, to say the least.

Florida Football: Crack in the armor

Billy Napier, WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!?!?

No seriously, what happened?

How did we go from the possibility of Sam Hartman, Devin Leary, or Grayson McCall to Graham Mertz?

As the news broke last night that the Wisconsin QB was about to become the new QB of Florida football, we all wanted to know from Wisconsin fans what type of player we were getting.

Here is a glowing endorsement from Reddit user Midwest-HVYIND-Guy:

"He’s a poor man’s Will Levis. He would be best served as Gator Bait. Keep your Blood Pressure monitor handy on Saturdays"

Lovely.

The reason Dan Mullen was run out of town wasn’t because of his play-calling or his micro-level decisions, it was his macro decisions like keeping Todd Grantham, not giving Dameon Pierce the ball, or giving up on recruiting that cost him.

We here at Hail Florida Hail have been mostly supportive of Billy Napier and acknowledge the long-term foundation he is trying to build. Generally, his macro-level decisions have been good, such as playing Trevor Etienne over Nay’Quan Wright or the dismissal of Brenton Cox because of locker-room issues.

But there have also been some notable recent misses on the recruiting trail, his overall in-game management has a lot of question marks behind it, and there have yet to be any staff shakeups despite there being clear areas of weakness (glancing over at the Game Changer Coordinator and/or Patrick Toney).

And while we also dismiss the Las Vegas Bowl as a game that doesn’t matter because Florida football was missing half its roster, the half of the roster that did play are the guys that will be playing in 2023 for the Gators.

That’s why landing a big-name QB out of the portal was going to be vital for Napier. Yet Sam Hartman is probably going to the NFL, Devin Leary is off to be the next actual Will Levis in Kentucky, and it turns out Grayson McCall attends a school whose academics are worthless and has credits that won’t transfer to UF.

So, we are left with Graham Mertz. He did a great job padding his stats against Northwestern, Illinois State, and New Mexico State. He also threw for under 100 yards against Ohio State, Maryland, and Nebraska. He had the 17th most interceptions in the country, his completion percentage wasn’t in the top 100, he offers nothing in the running game, and his QBR was 82nd in the country.

Jack Miller had a chance to be him. He wasn’t.

Graham Mertz is not him either.

Buckle up Gator fans, because if Jaden Rashada isn’t him (assuming he doesn’t flip to Oregon), it’s going to be a long season for Florida football.

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