I listened to the season preview episode of the Gator Nation Football Podcast earlier this week. If you’re not familiar, hosts Allen Williams and James Di Virgilio do detailed (and therefore fairly long) episodes breaking down the football team. Di Virgilio has a lot of connections within the program and coaches professional flag football, such as it is, so there is a fair amount of good info and sometimes some insider tidbits.
Anyway, both are relatively high on Billy Napier after not being high on Jim McElwain or Dan Mullen upon their hires. During the show, they briefly mentioned that this year feels to them a bit like 2005 when Urban Meyer took over: the leadership is there but the roster just isn’t yet.
That’s fair as far as it goes. It did make me want to actually break down how the roster stands today compared to that season. After all, the ’05 roster was a year away from winning a national title. It did still need some instant help from ’06 signees like Percy Harvin and Tim Tebow, as well as the first-ever graduate transfer in CB Ryan Smith, so it was an incomplete product.
Yet, I think it can be useful to match them up. I’m going to do only the offense because Gator fans care about that side of the ball more and I don’t want this newsletter to be 2,000 words. I also won’t do everyone all the way down, but here are the major contributors at the positions.
Quarterback
2005: Chris Leak, Josh Portis, Gavin Dickey
2022: Anthony Richardson, Jack Miller, Jalen Kitna
I would take the ’22 group in a heartbeat. Richardson has a higher ceiling than Leak, especially since the latter was an awkward fit in the new offense. Miller lacks game experience but is old enough that he could step in right away and not be a complete random number generator. The true freshman Portis and future baseball player Dickey never were that.
Running back
2005: Deshawn Wynn, Markus Manson, Kestahn Moore
2022: Nay’Quan Wright, Montrell Johnson, Lorenzo Lingard, Trevor Etienne
Once again, this year takes it easily. The earlier collection were never more than merely okay. Wright has extra ability as a terrific pass target, and Lingard at least has special speed. Johnson reportedly has solidified a spot in the rotation, and Etienne has impressed. I can’t see any way I’d take 2005 over this.
Wide receiver
2005: Chad Jackson, Dallas Baker, Jemalle Cornelius, Andre Caldwell (mostly injured)
2022: Justin Shorter, Xzavier Henderson, Trent Whittemore, Ricky Pearsall
The older roster just as easily takes this one. Jackson was a true No. 1 receiver in a way that no one on the returning roster has shown himself to be. Maybe Pearsall takes some kind of leap in that way, but not even the most optimistic practice reports have hinted at such.
Besides, I’d also take Baker over any of this year’s guys. You have to get to the third guy in Cornelius to get someone who’s solid and dependable but not a standout as pretty much all of the listed ’22 guys are.
Tight end
2005: Tate Casey, Cornelius Ingram (partial year)
2022: Keon Zipperer, Dante Zanders, Nick Elksnis, Jonathan Odom
If feels a little strange to pick 2005 here since the tight end-light Meyer scheme that season didn’t really use anyone but Casey. Ingram began the year in the quarterback room before switching during the season, so he barely counts too.
And yet, I’d take Casey over anyone UF has this year, and one tight end was enough for that team. Adjusting for context — this year’s team will put two tight ends on the field often, but there weren’t really two quality ones to use in ’05 after Markell Thompson got injured in fall camp — I think I’d give it to 2005. But it’s a weird comparison.
Offensive line
2005: Randy Hand, Steve Rissler, Mike Degory, Lance Butler, Tavares Washington
2022: Richard Gouraige, Ethan White, Kingsley Eguakun, O’Cyrus Torrence, Michael Tarquin
There were some good ones like Degory and Hand on the 2005 line, and this doesn’t even cover some younger guys like Phil Trautwein who would start for future championship teams. But just going by the starters, you have to give the honors to this year’s line. Torrence is making some preseason All-American teams, and at the very least Gouraige and White among the others have a good shot to have pro careers.
We’ve not seen much from Tarquin so far, but the reports from fall camp have him as having really stepped up. It’s quality across the board in both cases, but the peaks of this year are taller than those of the prior year.
Summing it up
Of the five position groupings on offense, the 2022 team leads in three of them and the 2005 team leads in two. You can look over a probably mostly accurate depth chart of the 2005 defense if you’d like to do the other side of the ball for yourself. Eyeballing it myself while cross referencing the roster, I’d take the 2022 starting line/edges and corners while favoring the 2005 line depth, linebackers, and safeties.
It’s closer than I think most would expect due to hindsight bias. We know that the 2005 team was the prelude to a national championship. We don’t know whether the 2022 team will finish the regular season at or above .500.
However it’s about even whether you’d take the major contributors from the 2005 or 2022 position groupings. That’s pretty encouraging. It doesn’t guarantee anything obviously, but it’s easier now to get quality transfers than it was 17 years ago.
The best of the sport now is generally better than back then; just imagine the 2006 Ohio State team that Florida stomped going up against present day Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, or Trevor Lawrence-era Clemson. A score of 41-14 might be the halftime margin.
But still, Florida has been built up quickly off of a comparable foundation as to what it has today.