Florida Football: Princely Umanmielen is the key to stopping Kentucky

As Florida football looks to turn the page on UNC Charlotte and has Kentucky square in its sights, the Gator defense is going to be going up against a Kentucky offense that has a number of similar qualities to that of the Gator offense.

And while the Gator offense has its fair share of problems, there is a glaring weakness with Kentucky that one man can derail if he has a great game.

Florida Football: Fresh Prince

Kentucky has had the benefit of playing an incredibly soft opening four-game slate. The Wildcats have beaten Ball State, Eastern Kentucky, Akron, and Vanderbilt, and it is important to remember that when considering what they have done on offense.

The Wildcats are led this season by NC State transfer Devin Leary, a one-time hopeful transfer portal target for the Gators.

It is safe to say that Leary hasn’t lit the world on fire in Lexington through four games. He has leaned on an effective running game that is currently 11th in yards per rushing attempt. His individual passing numbers are hard to evaluate as Kentucky is 84th in the country in completion percentage but 24th in yards per passing attempt.

Despite being fourth nationally in completion percentage, Florida is 38th in yards per passing attempt.

Like Florida, Leary is at his best when he works shorter routes in the middle of the field.

But unlike Florida, Leary’s accuracy when throwing over 10 yards takes a massive dip, and he is currently only completing 42% of passes when throwing over 10 yards.

Mertz, meanwhile, is completing passes over ten yards at a 68% clip.

The difference is that Kentucky has also taken 22 more downfield passing attempts than Florida, and this is where Princely Umanmielen comes into play.

When Leary has a clean pocket, his completion rate is 65%, and his yards per attempt is a healthy 9.2.

When Leary is under pressure, that completion rate dips to 37%, and his yards per attempt is 6.9.

Mertz still maintains a completion rate of 55% with a yards-per-attempt average of 8.6 when under pressure.

And in case you didn’t know, Umanmielen is pretty good at putting QBs under pressure. Right now, he is tied for 16th in the country in total QB pressures and is top ten in the country in total QB hits.

The good news for Florida is that it’s not just Umanmielen who is capable of getting to the QB. Pro Football Focus has the Gator pass rush as a whole graded out as the 9th best in the country.

So when you put it all together, Kentucky is going to take their shots downfield. And if given a clean pocket, Leary has shown he can hit a throw or two if given time.

But when trying to go long and with pressure in his face, he has not shown the ability to consistently beat Group of 5 secondaries, let alone a top-rated unit like Florida football has.