GAINESVILLE, Fla.– For the first time since 2020, the Florida Gators return their starting quarterback heading into a new season, and there’s a buzz surrounding the room as a whole.
Graham Mertz, one of college football’s most veteran quarterbacks, and recently most efficient, returns for a second year in Gainesville for his sixth and final year of collegiate eligibility.
“It’s a big deal for the Florida Gators that Graham Mertz is back to play quarterback,” said UF head coach Billy Napier following the Gators’ first spring practice on Wednesday.
However, Mertz’s return, and the excitement that came with it, wasn’t always a guarantee.
A career year in 2023, with 2,903 passing yards and 20 touchdowns against only three interceptions, all while completing nearly 73% of his passes, set Mertz up with an opportunity to be picked in the 2024 NFL Draft.
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However, Florida’s five consecutive losses to end the campaign, four of which Mertz started, combined with a season-ending collarbone injury meant unfinished business in Mertz’s eyes, and he announced his plans to return to Gainesville days after the Gators’ loss to Florida State.
“You play this game your whole life, your dream is to go to the NFL. For me, when you have that option in front of you, you are really weighing both sides to it,” Mertz said on Wednesday. “Like, obviously, I was coming off a collarbone [injury]. My big thing was I felt like we left a lot out there this year, and I want to finish my career the right way.”
As he returns from his season-ending injury for a final season, and with a year in Napier’s offensive system under his belt, Mertz’s main focus is to help the team improve upon its 5-7 finish last season and avoid its fourth-straight losing season, something that hasn’t happened since the late 1930s.
“For me as a quarterback, it’s timing, anticipation. You look at our practices, we have these compete periods, it’s winning every compete period, talking a little crap to the defense, but winning every compete period,” he said. “And really just raising that level of competition, and accountability, consistency, all that stuff within the offense.”
