Florida Football: Gators need to keep feeding Tre Wilson the ball

As the season winds down for Florida football and Billy Napier’s bunch has its backs against the wall, not all is lost for the Gators as they head into their final three games. Lost in the disappointment of the Gators falling to Arkansas was that the offense did put up points against a decent Razorback defense.

And as Florida gets ready to take on a vulnerable defense this week at LSU, Napier needs to feed his most explosive playmaker if he hopes to win a potential shootout on Saturday.

Florida Football: Feed me more

Florida scored 33 points in regulation against Arkansas. That’s more than what Ole Miss, Alabama, and Mississippi State scored and would have been the same as LSU and Texas A&M if not for the botched extra point.

Unfortunately, the defense for Florida football is in shambles with injuries. So even if LSU QB Jayden Daniels doesn’t play on Saturday after the hit he took against Alabama (though indications are leaning towards him playing), the Gators’ defense could still be on roller skates in Baton Rouge.

With this in mind, if Florida is going to win a shootout in Death Valley, it needs to be willing to use its most potent ammo as often as possible.

After an offseason of hype, Tre Wilson has lived up to the billing during his freshman campaign with the Gators. But the cycle that has played out the last two weeks is that Wilson explodes to get Florida in the endzone, only to be MIA for a few series before Napier remembers, “Oh right, we have that Wilson guy that nobody can tackle.”

His 399 yards after the catch are the 12th most in the country. He averages 9.1 yards after the catch per catch, the sixth most in the country among receivers with at least 50 targets.

Pro Football Focus has him graded out as the 11th-best wide receiver in the country, And while he does have the second-most targets on the team behind Ricky Pearsall, it feels like it still isn’t enough.

Wilson has been targeted 50 times this season and has 44 catches.

Against Arkansas, he had ten targets for eight catches and 90 yards, 60 of which were after the catch.

On five of the six drives that the Gators punted on, Wilson didn’t have a touch during the drive.

Wilson touched the ball on five of the six drives where the Gators did not punt (not counting the two drives that were one play).

Florida might have to score 42 points to knock off LSU. And while there are some decent options to touch the ball on offense, Wilson needs to be the focal point on every drive if the Gators are to get even close to that number.