Expectations for the 2023 Florida Gators are the lowest they’ve been in recent history. Florida’s projected over/under win total of 5.5 games is the program’s lowest preseason figure in over a decade, and likely the lowest or the 21st century. The only SEC team with a lower betting line in 2023 is Vanderbilt at 3.5 wins, according to Draft Kings Sportsbook.
Florida is coming off a 6-6 regular season in Billy Napier’s first year as Head Coach, which fell short of Vegas’ projected 7.5 wins for the 2022 Gators.
“I think every time you get to a preseason, a lot of people kind of, they look at the last season. They kind of try to guess,” Gators’ QB Graham Mertz said on Florida’s expectations this year. “We just really focus on what we can do every single day. I guess that is outside perspective, but we’re really focused on – like I said, we’re really focused on the day to day operations and maximizing what we’ve got.”
Mertz was ranked as the worst starting quarterback in the SEC, according to USA Today.
“Frankly, I don’t really look at it,” Mertz said on the outside noise. “I think there’s – especially in the world today, there’s so many distractions. If you let distractions override your day-to-day process, you lose that little edge in there. I don’t pay attention to it. I know some people do. Everybody finds motivation in different things, and some people, that might be a way to find motivation. But for me, I found my motivation in my team and knowing I need to do my job better for every single guy in there. If I spend time looking at distractions and focusing on that, that does not make me do my job better.”
Running back transfer Cam Carroll shared a similar message.
“Not too much,” Carroll said on if he pays attention to the offseason predictions. “You know, I think the biggest thing is not to worry about the outside noise, but just worrying about each other, making sure we’re all in the right mind space, working to the same goal to be where we want to be no matter what anyone else says. No matter what anyone else believes, what we believe at the end of the day is ultimately our goal.”
While most Gators don’t claim to pay attention to the media and public perspective, teammates Montrell Johnson and Jaydon Hill use the doubt as motivation for the 2023 season.
“We take that to notice, because, like you say, they doubt us. We had a bad season last year, and we use that as motivation,” Johnson said. “We try to learn from our mistakes, and yeah, we feel like the world is against us, so we’re going to try to keep it all in house and get better as we go.”
“We talk about it all the time, us players in the locker room. We see the doubt and all that, and every day that’s kind of how we approach our work, we just come with a chip on our shoulder every day and we just plan to get better,” Hill said.
One common theme between all the Gator football players is the confidence they hold entering the 2023 football season.
“They can’t know what we’ve got in the locker room,” Hill added. “I really feel like we’re going to shock a lot of people. We’ve got a lot of great players in the locker room and a lot of great coaches.”
Defensive end Caleb Banks believes the public is underestimating the Florida Gators.
“Yes I do, but I believe in my teammates and I know what we can do,” Banks said. “I know how we work, how hard we work, so we don’t really like listen to what people outside of the building say.”
“The people outside the building don’t know what he knows [Napier] and I’ll agree on that,” safety RJ Moten said on Florida’s talent. “Everybody will see August 31.”
Florida is set to kick off the 2023 season against the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City on Thursday, August 31st.