Florida football took the stage at SEC Media Days today and gave us some insight into the program and what the team will look like this fall.
Billy Napier took the stage first and gave a sort of State of the Union and talked about how the coaches and players are making the transition from year one to year two.
After their head coach went, Ricky Pearsall got the spotlight and fielded questions from reporters about the schedule, the quarterbacks, and coach Napier himself.
Here’s what Ricky had to say.
Florida football: A player’s perspective
Ricky talked for about half an hour, so I’m not going to give you everything he said. But there were a couple of highlights and interesting things that stood out to me.
First, he was specifically asked about LSU and going to play in Death Valley. His answer was a reflection of the mindset that Napier is instilling in his players.
They’ll look at the Tigers as a “faceless opponent” and “prepare for them like it’s any other game.”
When talking about the culture of the team, Ricky said:
"We try to stick to what’s going on in the locker room, control what we can control…We’re in the process of setting our own standard as a team"
This was in response to talks about the expectations around UF, and the winning history that they’re trying to get back to.
Now for the big topic for the star wideout, the QBs.
Q: Ricky how tough is it when you have multiple quarterbacks that you wanna settle on? Is it tough on a receiver when you’re catching passes from two or three different guys and not one main guy?
Ricky: I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily difficult, but there is timing that goes into it between a quarterback and a receiver so I’ll say maybe there’s times where the timing is a little bit different, but you gotta know your quarterback as well as the quarterback has to know his receiver at the end of the day.
Q: How have you seen Graham Mertz grow as a passer this off-season?
Ricky: Yeah I’ve seen him take tremendous strides, I mean obviously he’s an older guy, he’s really experienced, so just continuing to develop that relationship with him, you know, he’s one of my brothers now, I see him every single day in the facility, as soon as he walked on campus we were all impressed by him, and we had no choice but to respect him. He’s a super smart and intelligent guy and has a good head on his shoulders.
Overall, we can tell that Florida football is in good shape to continue its rebuild and come back as strong as ever. Pearsall showed us that their mentality is in the right spot, they’re ignoring the noise, and the program has everything it needs to be great.