For the first time since 2020, the Florida Gators’ starting quarterback returns for the upcoming season, and there is a buzz in the locker room. Graham Mertz, one of college football’s most experienced and, recently, most effective quarterbacks, returns to Gainesville for his sixth and final year of eligibility.
“It’s a big deal for the Florida Gators that Graham Mertz is returning to play quarterback,” said UF head coach Billy Napier after the team’s first spring practice on Wednesday. However, Mertz’s return, and the excitement that accompanied it, were not always certain. A great year in 2023, with 2,903 passing yards and 20 touchdowns to only three interceptions, all while completing over 73% of his passes, put Mertz in line to be selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
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’ve been playing this game your entire life, and your dream is to make it to the NFL. For me, when you have that decision in front of you, you really weigh all sides,” Mertz said on Wednesday. “Obviously, I was coming off a collarbone injury. My main concern was that I thought we left a lot on the table this year, and I want to finish my career properly.” 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 goal is to help the team improve on its 5-7 finish last season and avoid its fourth consecutive losing season, which hasn’t happened since the late 1930s.
“As a quarterback, I rely on timing and anticipation. When you look at our practices, we have these compete periods, and it’s about winning every compete period, even if it means saying a little crap to the defense,” he explained. “And really just raising that level of competition, and accountability, consistency, all that stuff within the offense.”
