Getting Tre Wilson deeper crucial to unlocking the Florida Gator offense in 2024

One of the hallmarks of Florida Football's offense in 2023 was the insistence on short passes. Part of it was out of necessity, and part of it became a comfort zone for Billy Napier.

But if the Gators look to take a leap forward in 2024, it is going to need to find ways to get one of their rising stars downfield more often than they did in 2023.

Florida Football: Go Long

In 2022, Anthony Richardson's average depth of target was 11.5 yards per passing attempt, the sixth-highest average in the country among quarterbacks who took at least 300 dropbacks.

In 2023, Graham Mertz's average depth of target was 6.7 yards, the second-lowest number in the country among the 94 quarterbacks who took at least 300 dropbacks.

Emblematic of Mertz's lack of downfield attempts was Florida's usage of Tre Wilson. He had a solid freshman campaign with 544 yards receiving, but a deeper look at his numbers reveals just how little Napier sent him down the field.

Of the 153 wide receivers with at least 70 targets in 2023, Wilson's average depth of target of 2.8 yards (in other words, Wilson was 2.8 yards off the line of scrimmage when targeted) was the least in the country. And while Wilson had the 18th most average yards after the catch, his overall yards per reception was the third least in the country.

Based on what we are seeing early in training camp, it is not like Wilson is incapable of making contested catches down the field, even though he was only credited with two contested catches in 2023. During practice this week, he was seen leaping over Sharif Denson to make a catch in the endzone.

Getting Wilson downfield this season more often is going to be critical to unlocking Florida's offense. While Chimere Dike is emerging as a likely option in the slot and had a similar depth of target in 2022 when he played with Graham Mertz at Wisconsin that Ricky Pearsall had in 2023, Dike's reception rate was 23% lower than what Pearsall had (62% vs 85%).

If Wilson is relegated to a role similar to what we saw in 2023, Florida's offense will quickly become similar, with a less effective version of Pearsall acting as the downfield threat.

But if Florida finds ways to get Wilson deeper and the offensive line holds up, we might just get a dynamic offense in 2024 capable of beating teams multiple ways.