The Florida Gators are 3/4ths of the way through the 2022 college football season. Florida holds a record of 5-4 with three games left on their schedule.
Gator Country provides you with a Florida Football Mailbag, answering all your Gator football questions.
Johnagator: With Scott being released from USF, do you think there might be a chance of him coming on as an advisor at UF? CBN has worked with him in the past and he would add some new twists to the offense.
NM: I do think there’s a chance but that’s entirely speculation at this point. Napier thinks highly of Jeff Scott, and I think he would consider bringing him on board in some capacity.
Thekentuckygator: If you had to assign a percentage at this early juncture to us actually getting Lagway, what would these two be?
Lagway’s interest in us %
Us actually landing him %
NM: I’m not going to put a percentage on it but what I can tell you is Lagway’s interest level in Florida is really high and the staff is sitting in a very good spot for him. Napier has made Lagway a priority.
Gator30339: What are the chances that Bateman moves on to a DC job after the season? Asking for a fellow GC poster…
NM: Very unlikely at this time.
Snowprint80: Are we going to win this weekend and what will the score be?
NM: The Florida Gators will win this weekend against South Carolina. I’ll go 35-24 Florida.
Singles: In your opinion why is AR not being a true running option QB? His strength is his athleticism and it seems that he is very hesitant to take off and run. When he does he has a chance to do something special every time. Is Coach Napier telling him to stay more in the pocket or is it an injury thing? I just think AR should have 4-5 plays a game where we are utilizing his athleticism.
NM: I think it’s a combination of a few things. Richardson hasn’t shown the ability to stay healthy; he comes up limping what seems like 4-5 times a game. I think this plays a factor in why we haven’t seen as many designed QB runs. I think the 2nd note and likely the biggest factor is Richardson’s QB awareness. Many of the play calls Napier runs gives an option for Richardson to keep the ball and run; we just haven’t seen him do that much this year. Richardson did it early in the TAMU game and it opened up the offense, keeping the Aggie edge defenders honest. I would like to see more designed QB runs in this Gators’ offense.
Johnagator: How did Odom grade out? He had quite a few snaps this game. A procedure penalty got him some publicity last game too.
NM: Jonathan Odom’s week ten PFF grade was 53.4, the 3rd worst on the offense. His grade was higher than Dante Zanders’ grade of 40.7, the worst in week ten. Odom was best in pass block, with a grade of 69.7. His passing grade of 47.7 weighed his score down.
14serenoa: I liked the snap count report. It tells part of the dynamics story. What are those positions where we need good portal/juco players for 2023?
NM: I expect Florida to take many transfer players from several different positions. There will be an emphasis on TE, LB, DT, and likely WR. I think the only position Florida is good with not taking any transfers is RB.
Jcmiller910: Nick, on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the play-calling of Napier? Where do you see some improvement needed and what has been his greatest strength in his play-calling? Same exact 3 questions for DC Patrick Toney on defensive play-calling?? Why have we seen Kamari Wilson play less and less the past two weeks? Anything to make of him clearing his social media platforms of UF stuff? Last question! Do you think Richardson will have a strong finish to this season? If so is he gone after this year either portal or draft? Ok! One more!! What’s the chances of Dexter sticking around another year? Thanks buddy! Go Gators!!
NM: I’ll give Billy Napier’s play calling a 7 out of 10, with 5 being an average play caller. I don’t think Napier has been perfect this season, but he’s done more than enough to win almost every game on their schedule. Let me give you some numbers. Florida’s offensive grade via PFF is 84.6, which ranks 12th in the FBS. Florida ranks 2nd to last in the SEC in drives per game and last in plays per game. Florida ranks 7th in the SEC in points per game despite their defense limiting them in this category. Florida’s offense ranks 4th in points per play and 6th in points per drive in the SEC. All of this is in Billy Napier’s first year with inconsistent QB play. Napier’s play calling strengths in year one is playing to the strengths of the team, the offensive line and running game. Napier isn’t putting Richardson in dangerous situations like we saw during the first half of the season. There are a few areas I would like to see improvement. The first one being more Richardson designed QB runs like I previously stated. I would like to see less three and outs from Florida’s offense. Florida ranks 9th in the SEC in three and out percentage, that’s far too high when you have an inconsistent defense that you can’t trust. The last area I want to see improvement is the two-minute drill. Florida hasn’t been able to figure out how to move quickly and score with just a few minutes left on the clock.
I don’t believe the majority of the defensive struggles should be blamed on Patrick Toney. This defense gave up 52 points to Samford a year ago. However, I can at the very least understand where some of you are coming from with this one because the defense just isn’t producing. There just isn’t NFL talent on that side of the football for the Gators. Napier isn’t going to move away from PT anytime soon, he will get his time.
Kamari Wilson played more snaps a week ago than he did two weeks ago. Wilson is a rotational safety on this team but will likely get his chance to shine next season.
I do think Richardson will finish the season strong. He’s doing a good job of taking care of the football and is playing some of his best football right now. I’m not going to comment on what Richardson is going to do because I don’t know. However, I think he could use another year in college.
I like Dexter’s chances of sticking around another year, especially with NIL looming.