Since Billy Napier was hired on Nov. 28, much of the discussion surrounding the Gators has been about the future. With the splash that Napier made on early national signing day and the seemingly never-ending staff that he’s putting together, fans have reason to believe that brighter days might be on the horizon.
However, it’s almost time to stop dwelling on the future and start thinking about what the 2022 season might entail for the Gators. They’ll begin spring practice on Tuesday.
In today’s final edition of our spring preview series, we’ll break down the most important position – quarterback.
The Returnees
Carlos Del Rio-Wilson, Emory Jones, Jalen Kitna and Anthony Richardson
Richardson enters the spring as the favorite to win the starting job, at least among the fans. The jaw-dropping plays that he made in the first few games of the 2021 season were the biggest highlights from a season that went downhill quickly, and they provide optimism that a bright future might be in store for Richardson under more ideal circumstances.
His physical gifts are obvious. If you were to build the ideal quarterback for the modern game in a factory, he would look a lot like Richardson. He’s 6-foot-4, which gives him the ability to see over the line of scrimmage and scan the field for open receivers. He has a strong enough arm to make every throw. He possesses both excellent speed and uncommon strength, which allows him to either run past defenders or through them depending on the situation.
However, there is much more to playing quarterback than just the physical aspects. John Brantley, Jeff Driskel and Feleipe Franks also looked the part at Florida over the last 12 years, but they all failed to differing degrees.
Richardson needs to vastly improve at the mental part of playing quarterback. Early in the season, when he was merely a change-of-pace option to Jones, he was able to thrive while operating simple plays that limited the number of decisions that he had to make and allowed his enormous athleticism to take over. When they made him the starter and forced him to go through multiple progressions, he looked lost and confused.
He’s going to have to do a much better job of making quick and accurate decisions this offseason to unlock his full potential.
Most importantly, he needs to get healthy and stay healthy. He’s expected to participate in spring practice following a meniscus surgery in December, but he might be somewhat limited in what he’s allowed to do.
Jones’ role with the team is unclear. He initially announced plans to transfer in early December but changed his mind and opted to stay. There were then reports that he planned to finish his degree at UF and then transfer after the spring, but, based on Napier’s comments over the past couple of months, it sounds like Jones is going to stick around and battle to keep his starting job for at least the spring.
Given his struggles with decision-making and accuracy last season, he figures to be a longshot to win the job this time around, but he shouldn’t be completely counted out.
Del Rio-Wilson and Kitna both didn’t play in any games last season and redshirted. Their prospects for playing time don’t seem great this season, either.
The Newcomer
Jack Miller
Miller was a four-star quarterback in the 2020 class who played in six games during two seasons at Ohio State.
He broke the Arizona high school records for passing yards in a season (3,653), touchdowns in a season (53) and career touchdown passes (115), and the state of Arizona has produced some really good quarterbacks in recent years.
Miller is more of a pocket-passer, but he did rush for 831 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman in high school, so he does have enough mobility to pick up some yards on scrambles.
He has all of the credentials that you could ask for in a quarterback transfer.
Breakout Watch
Jack Miller
No, he’s not the next Joe Burrow, even though they both wore No. 9 with the Buckeyes, are built similarly and transferred to SEC programs. Burrow did special things at LSU that might never be duplicated.
And that’s OK. The Gators don’t need Miller to become the No. 1 overall draft pick and a Heisman Trophy winner, though it would certainly be great if he did that. They just need him to be a really good quarterback.
He doesn’t have the upside that Richardson has, but he’s probably the most polished passer on the roster right now. Napier didn’t run his quarterbacks a ton at Louisiana, so that might not be as big of a deal as it was under the previous coaching staff.
With a strong spring, Miller can make this competition very interesting heading into the summer.
Three Questions
1. Can Richardson stay healthy?
Richardson got hurt in so many different ways last season that Gators fans probably want to wrap him in bubble wrap until it’s time to play a game.
He strained his hamstring while sprinting for an 80-yard touchdown against South Florida. He suffered a concussion in the second half against Georgia. Just as he was recovering from that blow to the head, he injured his knee while dancing in the hotel the night before the South Carolina game. After the regular season finale against Florida State, he opted to have the surgery to repair a meniscus injury that had bothered him since high school.
Fortunately, it’s usually pretty easy for quarterbacks to stay healthy in the spring. He’ll be wearing a non-contact jersey, and scrambles will be blown dead before he has a chance to get up to maximum speed and pull something.
2. Where does Jones fit in?
It feels odd to say that the guy who started 12 of 13 games at quarterback last season is a forgotten man, but it kind of feels that way with Jones. He’s still with the program, but nobody is really talking about the possibility of him hanging onto his starting job.
Will Jones receive first-team reps this spring, and, if so, will he make the most of them?
3. Will Del-Rio Wilson and Kitna take a step forward?
Barring something completely unforeseen, they’ll be competing for third place on the depth chart at best. Still, this is an important spring for them.
Napier didn’t choose them; he inherited them. They’ve got Max Brown arriving on campus over the summer, and they’re going to continue adding quarterbacks in future recruiting classes. This is Del Rio-Wilson and Kitna’s time to prove that they deserve to be part of the future that Napier is building with this program.
Plus, the addition of Brown will give them six scholarship quarterbacks. There’s no way that they’re going to carry that many into the season, is there? It kind of feels like Del Rio-Wilson and Kitna are getting ready to stage a loser-leaves-town competition.