Florida football: Josh Pate expresses confidence, optimism for Mertz

Florida football is just a few days away from their season opener against Utah, and Gator fans’ first look at Graham Mertz as UF’s quarterback.

While Graham wasn’t the highest-rated transfer QB and wasn’t at the top of many fans’ wishlists, there’s a lot of reason to be excited about what he can bring to the Gators’ offense.

Josh Pate talked recently about the Gators and expressed reason for confidence, optimism, and patience when it comes to Mertz’s expectations.

There’s no reason to jump the gun and say that Florida’s offense is going to take a massive step back.

Florida football: We’ve seen it happen before

One of Pate’s points about Graham thriving in Gainesville was that quarterbacks who have struggled at one school but transferred to another have looked like completely different players.

"“If you think about it, think about Penix and Nix just on the West Coast…imagine two years ago telling people that Bo Nix and Michael Penix are going to be right there in the thick of the Heisman trophy race. Well they are, they just had to go to other programs to realize their potential.”"

We’ve talked about it all summer. The idea of a QB who is struggling, only to transfer away and thrive is nothing new to college football. It’s almost the norm now.

Josh also referenced that Paul Chryst and the Wisconsin staff told Billy Napier that they misused Mertz in their offense and didn’t get the most out of him.

So if you’re Napier, why wouldn’t you go after the experienced, game-managing QB in need of a new setting? It’s a great fit.

No, Mertz is not going to be in the Heisman race this season. No, he isn’t the playmaker that Anthony Richardson was.

But how about we let him go play a game before assuming he’s going to be the worst QB in the SEC?