With Tre Wilson out, wide receiver usage for Florida Football to be focal point

For the second straight week, Florida Football is going to be without wide receiver Tre Wilson. He was a game-time decision prior to the Texas A&M game, but has already been ruled out of this Saturday's matchup against Mississippi State following a "surgical procedure" on his knee this week. Head coach Billy Napier confirmed on Wednesday that Wilson sustained the injury during the Samford game.

With Wilson out, Napier will have to go back into the well for wide receiver snaps. And based on what we saw last week, Wilson's absence doesn't automatically mean who we think is going to play will actually play.

Florida Football: Next Man Up

Prior to last Saturday's contest, former walk-on Taylor Spierto had taken 18 total snaps on offense and had two catches during his time with Florida. The seven snaps he took against Samford were the most he had ever taken in a single game.

When Wilson showed up on the injury report last week, and it was clear he was 50/50 heading into last Saturday, most assumed Aidan Mizell, Tank Hawkins, or Marcus Burke would get the uptick in snaps left behind from Wilson.

Let's take a gander of what the snap distribution was on Saturday for the wide receivers:

• Chimere Dike - 44
• Elijhah Badger - 36
• Taylor Spierto - 29
• Aidan Mizell - 23
• Marcus Burke - 19
• Tank Hawkins - 15

The man who had 18 career offensive snaps prior to Saturday wound up with 29 offensive snaps against Texas A&M.

Now, before we rush to judgment, let's look at what Spierto's stat line was:

One target, zero catches.

His one target was when he fell down on DJ Lagway's interception.

Oh.

When asked on Wednesday what Spierto has done to earn those snaps, Napier had the following to say:

"He just makes plays every day. That's what he did. He's done is -- players would call him Dirty 30. That's his nickname. All he does is get open. He makes plays. He's been a good special teams player.

He's well respected among the team. He's bigger, faster, and more skilled than you would anticipate. He just does his job. So ultimately got a couple guys banged up and he's been very consistent and productive in practice. Not a day goes by he doesn't just make one of those catches, the other day he caught a one handed slant about eight inches from the ground."

This is not a slight against Spierto, because for him to grind from a zero-star walk-on to even be in a position to get snaps at an SEC program is a great story.

Great stories don't win football games, though.

And so, as a wise man once said:

"Attacking an amateur athlete for doing everything right. And then you want to write articles about guys that don't do things right and downgrade them-- the ones who do make plays.

Are you kidding me? Where are we at in society today? Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40! I'm not-- I'm not a kid. Write something about me, or our coaches."

Billy Napier is 45, so we are just going to ask some questions here directed to him.

If Spierto has been as productive in practice as Napier wants us to believe, why wouldn't he have had more snaps against Samford?

Mizell and Hawkins had touchdowns against Samford, so what happened last week that kept their snaps flat?

Hawkins is listed as questionable this week, but what explicitly does Mizell need to showcase to see more snaps?

Playing Hawkins or Mizell more is not a magic potion that magically turns Florida's season around, but it feels emblematic of a theme that has taken hold in 2024. Napier keeps attaching himself to feel-good stories or projects, then seems dumbfounded when those projects don't produce.

Fool me once; shame on me.

Fool me 30 times; update your LinkedIn.