Three players for Florida we would like to get more snaps against Mississippi State
![Florida Gators wide receiver Aidan Mizell (11) is lifted in the air by Florida Gators offensive lineman Austin Barber (58) after his touchdown pass to make it 24-7 over Samford at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 7, 2024 against the Samford Bulldogs. The Florida Gators won 45-7 over the Bulldogs. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_3115,h_1752,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2F213%2F01j8a4acbc4b049jq0b4.jpg "Florida Gators wide receiver Aidan Mizell (11) is lifted in the air by Florida Gators offensive lineman Austin Barber (58) after his touchdown pass to make it 24-7 over Samford at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 7, 2024 against the Samford Bulldogs. The Florida Gators won 45-7 over the Bulldogs. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]")
Among the frustrations Florida Football fans had while watching the Gators get steamrolled by Texas A&M were the players Billy Napier insisted were on the field throughout the contest. Beyond the quarterback controversy with Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway, there were other positions where some head-scratching was employed throughout the game.
With that in mind, these are three players for the Gators we would like to see get increased snaps against Mississippi State today.
Aidan Mizell
One of the head-scratchers we highlighted yesterday was the fact that
Taylor Spierto had 29 snaps against the Aggies. He is a great story, going from a walk-on to getting snaps with the Gators, but great stories don't win football games.
Even more confusing is the fact that Spierto had just seven snaps against Samford, while Aidan Mizell had 12 and connected on a long touchdown from Lagway.
Mizell did get 23 snaps against A&M, but with Tre Wilson out we want to see him slide into the 3rd wide receiver and have at least 30 snaps today.
LJ McCray
Against FBS competition, Florida is 119th in the country in sack percentage (sacks divided by total passing attempts). Against A&M, Florida had a grand total of six hurries, three of which came from Shemar James and one from Jason Marshall.
Translation: Guys are not getting home to even bother the quarterback.
More confounding is the insistence to keep trotting George Gumbs out on the field, who struggled hard to maintain the edge against A&M.
Meanwhile five-star LJ McCray was relegated to eight snaps, even though he has looked solid with the limited snaps he has received. At some point if the guys Napier is rotating are not working, he has to keep trying until he finds someone who does.
Bryce Thornton
As we also noted yesterday, safety play for Florida has been poor this season. Part of it is due to the alignment they are being told to use, with Florida frequently playing 15 yards off the line of scrimmage and backpedaling, leaving the middle of the field wide open.
But tactics alone can't hid the poor play DJ Douglas had on Saturday against A&M.
Bryce Thornton wasn't amazing last year, but he did get plenty of experience, and the hope was that he could take a step up. He had 20 snaps last Saturday, and even if he doesn't see an uptick directly, Napier can not play Douglas for 59 snaps again in Starkville and expect it to go well.
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