Florida football position power rankings for 2023
By Will Thomas
![Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier gestures alongside Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz (15), Florida Gators running back Montrell Johnson Jr. (2), and Florida Gators running back Trevor Etienne (7) during fall football practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, August 5, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F480a5b26fd88c46cc6584e625d49514ed8d5ea53369dc6ed817b549db865e63c.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier gestures alongside Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz (15), Florida Gators running back Montrell Johnson Jr. (2), and Florida Gators running back Trevor Etienne (7) during fall football practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, August 5, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]")
Florida football position power rankings: No. 9, QB
Next up on the list we have quarterback, and I have them down at nine not because I have little faith in them, but because they just won’t be the feature of the offense.
Similar to the tight ends, the QBs, mainly Graham Mertz, won’t be asked to do a whole ton. They’ll be handing the ball off to Etienne and Johnson most of the time, and the passing game won’t be deep shots and bombs down the field.
Mertz, and whoever else gets snaps in games, will be tasked as game managers rather than game wreckers. Short passes, limit mistakes, that’s it.
That small level of responsibility is why I have a good bit of faith in Mertz. Again, the room isn’t ranked this low because I think they’ll play poorly.
There’s no reason to believe that with a strong group of talent around him, and all the eyes looking elsewhere, Mertz can’t have the best year of his career.
At Wisconsin, he was a top-3 QB recruit with a lot of pressure and expectations that he didn’t live up to. Now with the Gators that pressure is off of him, and I think it will correlate to a much better season for him.
Perhaps the biggest thing that could affect Mertz’s performance is if the offensive line struggles and puts the offense in bad positions.
But that’s a conversation for a later slide