Talking season is almost over as the Gators are now three days away from their week one matchup against the Miami Hurricanes. After continuing to struggle defensively last season, Florida will need to be much improved on that side of the ball for the Gators to have a chance in this football game, but what should we expect from Graham Mertz on Saturday?
In last year’s season-opener against the Utah Utes, Florida’s offensive line struggled, allowing a total of five sacks and seven tackles for loss. Despite those struggles, Mertz still managed to pass for 333 yards and a touchdown on 31 completions.
“He had a couple really impressive practices before we took a break Sunday. I thought he was really sharp Friday, Saturday, all throughout practice. You can sense, he came back for a reason. He’s excited about this opportunity,” Billy Napier said on Mertz’ preparation for Miami.
With everything becoming second-nature for the Gators’ signal-caller in year two of Billy Napier’s system, it’s rare to see veteran defenders like Jason Marshall get their hands on the ball anymore.
“I can’t catch a pick from him now,” Jason Marshall said.
The chemistry between Mertz and his receivers is light years ahead of where it was at this point last season. With the Gators returning their quarterback and several other key pieces on offense, the experience level in year three should have this offense better prepared heading into week one.
“I think especially you think about a first game of the season, you have a general idea of what the team’s going to do,” Mertz said. “Everybody does work in the off-season, prep different things, tweak things. To be able to have that in our toolbox from last year, knowing how to react to things during games, prep for that, I think that’s going to be big. We all know what happened last year and everything that went into it. It was a lot of situational football, small decisions, little tweaks, protections, just getting the protection check. I want to go out there and put a complete offensive, well-executed game together.”
Not only does Miami return a total of seven defensive linemen including the reigning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year in Rueben Bain, but they also return senior linebacker Francisco Mauigoa, who led the ACC last season with 18 tackles for loss.
“They got guys up front. Their linebackers are really solid. Everything kind of runs through the linebacker. He’s a great player. He was 51 last year, he’ll be 1 this year. Still don’t know his name,” Mertz said on Mauigoa. “I think the thing with them is they’re very talented and they trust their guys. It will be a fun defense to play.”
The Gators have heard the outside noise all offseason, but Merts tunes it out. He’s more interested in proving his teammates right than the outsiders.
“I think some people are motivated by external things and stuff like that, but I’ve never been that kind of person. I’m motivated by my people, everybody in this building,” Mertz said on the outside talk. “We’re here to prove each other right. We know what we put on tape last year, our reputation was we were 5-7. That doesn’t mean anything going into this year. It’s up to us to make the choice of how do we want to write our story.”
In two years under Billy Napier, the Gators hold a 9-4 record inside Swamp. If the Gators want to continue their winning streak of 33 straight home-opening wins, execution in critical moments must improve on Saturday.
“Coach has talked a lot about, We go out and execute, that place is going to be rocking. If we don’t execute, it’s not going to be rocking. I think being able to simplify it in your mind,” Mertz said on execution. “I got a job I got to go do. My team is depending on me to go do it. That will lead to all the emotion and excitement and the result we want.”
Against Arkansas and Florida State at home last season, the Gators lost both games in the fourth quarter due to poor execution on both sides of the ball.
Heading into this weekend’s matchup, the Gators come in as +120 underdogs while having a 57.3% chance to win compared to Miami at 42.7%, according to ESPN.