Phase three of Billy Napier’s offseason program, known to the rest of the world as spring practice, concluded last Thursday with the Orange and Blue Game.
As could be expected given all of the newness around the program, there were quite a few things that jumped out during the open portions of practice.
Here are 10 things that we learned during spring camp.
1. Quarterback depth is a major concern.
Anthony Richardson completed 75 percent of his passes in the Orange and Blue Game, accounted for three touchdowns and didn’t turn the ball over. He seems to have made progress as a passer and will be an above average starting quarterback in the SEC at the very least.
However, given the barrage of injuries that he went through last season and his physical style of play, it’s important for the Gators to have somebody behind him that can fill it adequately for a game or two if needed.
Jack Miller is supposed to be that guy, but he looked rough in the spring game. He made a lot of the same mistakes that Emory Jones made last season. He stared down receivers, threw an ugly end-zone interception right in the middle of three defenders and failed to see some open targets. Despite this being his third season of college football, he doesn’t have much experience, and that showed.
Redshirt freshmen Carlos Del Rio-Wilson and Jalen Kitna failed to complete a pass in the game, and Kitna tossed an interception.
Ideally, Richardson will stay healthy, and this will become a moot point. Just in case he doesn’t, though, Miller needs to improve between now and the start of the season.
2. Running back is the best position on the team.
Louisiana transfer Montrell Johnson definitely seems to belong in the SEC, and his physical running style will be a huge asset to the team. He never seems to lose yards or get pushed backward. He seems to always gain one or two more yards than you thought was possible.
Lorenzo Lingard exited the spring No. 1 on the depth chart, though he suffered a hamstring injury in the spring game. Demarkcus Bowman is still a dynamic athlete who can produce a bunch of explosive plays. He just needs to take better care of the ball so that the coaches can trust him more.
That’s a solid trio of backs. Then you add in the expected return of Nay’Quan Wright to full strength in the fall and summer enrollee Trevor Etienne, and this group will have one or two guys collecting dust on the bench that would start at most other programs.
3. The receiver room needs a talent upgrade.
This just doesn’t look like what a Florida Gators receiving room is supposed to look like from a speed and agility standpoint. Fenley Graham is the only one with potentially elite speed, and he experienced some expected growing pains as he transitioned from safety this spring.
There’s nothing wrong with having bigger-bodied receivers like Justin Shorter, Xzavier Henderson, Ja’Quavion Fraziars and Marcus Burke. In fact, you need receivers like that to have a good offense.
But you can’t build your receiving corps entirely around them like the previous coaching staff did when they recruited this bunch. You need somebody who can create separation and turn a 5-yard gain into a 30-yard gain with their ability to make defenders miss in the open field.
Otherwise, you’re just going to be throwing 50-50 balls all day, and that doesn’t seem like a great formula for success.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the coaches hit the transfer portal for a receiver or two over the next couple of months.
4. The tight end position is a jumbled mess.
What are we supposed to make of this position? Nick Elksnis, Gage Wilcox and Jonathan Odom all suffered injuries early in the spring, with Wilcox’s considered career-ending. To give them the depth that they needed in practice, the coaches moved Dante Zanders, Noah Keeter and Griffin McDowell to the position.
Zanders really impressed Napier during the spring, so much so that Napier said that he was “the story of the spring.” He played with the first-string offense in the spring game and was the leading receiver.
So, with Odom and Elksnis expected to be back prior to the season, there are currently eight scholarship tight ends who are expected to be on the roster this fall: Keon Zipperer, Zanders, Elksnis, Odom and McDowell plus incoming freshmen Arlis Boardingham, Tony Livingston and Hayden Hanson. Then you’ve got Keeter, who’s a walk-on that also could factor in this fall.
There’s no way that they go into the season with nine tight ends, right? You’d think that there would have to be two or three transfers just to make the numbers manageable.
If ever there was a scenario where you can have too much depth, this would be it.
5. O’Cyrus Torrence is going to make a ginormous impact on the offensive line (literally and figuratively).
At 6-foot-5 and 335 pounds, he’s one of the Gators’ largest linemen, and he was a two-time All-Sun Belt performer at Louisiana. He started the spring working with the twos, but he quickly established himself as the expected starting right guard.
Torrence was one of the most impressive players on the field during the spring game. He should team with left guard Ethan White and center Kingsley Eguakun to form one of the best groups of interior run-blockers in the SEC.
6. Desmond Watson will have a chance to break out this season.
He started alongside Gervon Dexter at defensive tackle for the Orange team last week. He’s always had the strength and the athleticism to be a difference-maker, but it’s his conditioning that’s been an issue. He’s just so large that it was hard for him to play multiple snaps in a row last year without getting gassed.
He’s still listed at 415 pounds, but the fact that the staff felt comfortable giving him first-team reps is an encouraging sign, and he still has the summer to get himself into even better shape.
If he keeps his conditioning under control, look for a breakout season from big No. 21.
7. The defensive line depth might be better than expected.
This was one of the biggest concerns entering the spring. Strongside end Princely Umanmielen, Dexter, tackle Jalen Lee and JACK linebacker Brenton Cox have experience and have played really well at times. Behind them, though, there’s a serious lack of experience.
If the spring game is an accurate indication, though, the depth might not be as big of an issue. Chris Thomas, Justus Boone and Tyreak Sapp all made some nice plays, albeit against the second-string offensive line. Sapp tied for second on the Blue team with six tackles, with one of them being a tackle-for-loss that forced Bowman to fumble.
Lloyd Summerall and Chief Borders seemed to have a nice spring at the JACK linebacker spot.
They need to keep it up in the fall.
8. Ventrell Miller is all the way back.
While he only practiced a handful of times this spring due to an academic conflict, he didn’t wear a non-contact jersey for any of the practices, and he didn’t seem hindered at all by the left arm that he injured in week two of the 2021 season.
He is the undisputed leader of the defense, and his return to form should provide a major boost to a defense that ranked 85th against the run last year without him for most of the season.
9. Jaydon Hill leads in the battle to start opposite of Jason Marshall.
This was a bit of a surprise. Hill was in line to start last year before tearing his ACL in preseason camp, but Avery Helm played decently well as a redshirt freshman, and Georgia transfer Jalen Kimber might have been a starter on one of the best defenses in recent college football history if not for a shoulder injury.
Kimber played really well in the spring game, but it was Hill who got the start for the Orange team that featured the presumed defensive starters.
Hill has good length and athleticism, which makes him someone that the coaches could also move to nickelback at some point if they want to. If he stays healthy and plays well, he’ll be a key cog in the secondary.
10. This staff places a huge emphasis on small details and fundamentals.
In one practice, running backs coach Jabbar Juluke corrected a walk-on for carrying the ball in the wrong arm while kind of casually walking along the sideline after completing a drill. In another drill, the running backs had to carry two balls at once and touch them to their chin while running through obstacles to work on ball security.
The receivers did plenty of footwork drills, and there was at least one rep where Graham caught the ball with his hands in the wrong position. Even though he caught the ball, receivers coach Keary Colbert corrected him.
The offensive line did a lot of fundamental work. The edge rushers had to execute pass-rush moves in a certain way to receive Mike Peterson’s seal of approval. The defensive backs and linebackers did a bunch of tackling drills.
Basically, this staff notices things and corrects things that the average fan probably wouldn’t even notice. The talent level and depth need to improve pretty much across the board, but the Gators are on their way to becoming a disciplined and fundamentally sound team that doesn’t beat itself.