Thoughts of the Day: Is a fresh start all Graham Mertz needed?

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

The pre-game jitters disappeared for Graham Mertz back in grade school. Now 32 starts at quarterback into his college football career, the combination of experience and hard work have made nerves and anxiety a thing of the past. He’s comfortable in his own skin, confident and relaxed. Some of the young kids on the Florida roster might be feeling the butterflies about now as the Gators bear down on the 2023 season opener Thursday night against 14th-ranked Utah, but it will be just another day at the office for Mertz.

“I mean, this sport, when you genuinely love it, like obviously right before the game you are going to have that, ‘Oop! The game is about to start’ …that anticipation,” Mertz said Monday evening. “But I really haven’t had those butterflies or jitters before a game since probably second or third grade. I love this game. I love the emotion that goes into it. I wouldn’t say it doesn’t lead you to be anxious. It’s more of an excitement for the game to start. That’s what gets into me right before a game.”

Mertz comes across neither too cool nor too cocky. It’s evident from his basic demeanor that he’s simply confident and comfortable. His 32 previous starts were at Wisconsin where he owned the locker room. He owns the Florida locker room, but he did that by rolling up his sleeves and setting an example of hard work from the first day he arrived on campus out of the transfer portal.

His unparalleled work ethic worked all the kinks out of transitioning to a new offense in which he’s working primarily out of the shotgun after three years of mostly working under center at Wisconsin. After a spring in which there were accuracy issues and he seemed quite hesitant, countless hours of throwing to teammates in the last four months have ironed out the problems while building real chemistry between QB and receivers.

“That’s why you work all winter, spring, summer,” Mertz said. “That’s where you really build that. It’s not a thing you want to force right during fall camp. I’m really excited about the steps we’ve taken as a unit on that front. I think we all know, whether it’s just talking after a certain play based off a look, sitting down watching film and seeing a certain coverage, knowing where that weakness in that coverage is and attacking it and just really just getting on the same page. It comes back to just spending time in the offseason on actually running routes, throwing the ball, and then also communicating on the looks you see. The minor tweaks, the minor adjustments based on coverages and really understanding the whole picture. I mean, it’s been a great process.”

At Wisconsin, Mertz never seemed to live up to the potential he showed in high school when he was one of the nation’s most highly sought after quarterbacks. From the moment he transferred to Florida, Mertz has been the poster child for media skepticism. He’s ranked No. 13 among the 14 starting QBs in the SEC by the media, which doubts that he can turn his career around.

But what if the national media is wrong? What if it turns out that Mertz was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time at Wisconsin? What if all he needed was a fresh start in a brand new offense where there is no lack of speed at the skill positions?

We get our first glimpse Thursday night. There are no guarantees that Mertz is any better than he was at Wisconsin, but if he has command of the offense and the accuracy problems are indeed a thing of the past, then Florida is going to surprise a lot of people this fall.

Sometimes it just takes a change of scenery …

When it comes to quarterbacks, perhaps there is something to that old saying about how the grass is greener somewhere else. Graham Mertz will be testing that theory this year at Florida. Here are how a few other quarterbacks fared after leaving for a new place.

In three previous seasons at Auburn, Bo Nix was an enigma. Good Bo Nix did things like lead an improbable comeback win over Oregon in 2019. That same season Bad Bo Nix stunk it up at Florida as Auburn went down in flames in a nationally televised 3:30 game on CBS. The numbers for three seasons at Auburn were 7,251 passing yards for 39 touchdowns with 16 picks. The 6.9 yards per pass attempt was well below average. He also ran for 869 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was a fine scrambler but too often held the ball too long and was sacked. When he transferred to Oregon, Auburn people thought the Ducks were suckers, but look what happened when there was a change of scenery. Good Bo Nix showed up and took the Pac-12 by storm, throwing for 3,593 yards and 29 touchdowns while running for 510 more and 14 TDs. He averaged a very healthy 8.8 yards per pass attempt.

It's not that Jayden Daniels was a poor quarterback at Arizona State. Far from it. He threw for 6,025 yards and 32 touchdowns with 13 picks in three seasons while running for 1,288 yards and 13 touchdowns. But, Arizona State was going nowhere so Daniels transferred to LSU where he led the Tigers to the SEC West championship in 2022. Last season Daniels threw for 2,913 yards with 17 TDPs and only three picks. He ran for 885 yards and 11 touchdowns. Daniels was so good last year that he’s on the short list for Heisman candidates in 2023.

Part of the problem for Michael Penix at Indiana was he couldn’t stay healthy but after four years in Bloomington, he needed a change of scenery in the worst way. In the five games Penix played in 2021, he averaged only 5.8 yards per attempt while throwing four TDPs and seven picks. At Indiana, Penix played in 21 games, threw for 4,197 yards (7.3 per attempt, below average) with 29 TDPs and 15 interceptions. A conservative non-runner, Penix ran for 165 yards and six touchdowns in four seasons at Indiana. Then came the transfer to Washington last year. The former Tampa prep star blossomed, throwing for 4,641 yards (healthy 8.4 per attempt) and 31 touchdowns. He ran for four more touchdowns.

Who can forget Joe Burrow? Buried on the depth chart at Ohio State, he transferred to LSU in 2018, then led the Tigers to an unbeaten national championship season while winning the Heisman Trophy. Three years at Ohio State produced 287 yards and two touchdown passes. Two seasons at LSU produced 8,565 yards (hefty 9.5 per attempt) and 76 touchdowns with only 11 picks. Burrow threw 60 touchdown passes in 2019 when the Tigers went 15-0.

Before there was Joe Burrow winning a Heisman, Baker Mayfield (2017) and Kyler Murray (2018) won Heismans at Oklahoma after transferring. Mayfield began his collegiate career at Texas Tech as a walk-on. Murray began his career at Texas A&M.

UF volleyball: Gators score straight set win over No. 2 Stanford

The 8th-ranked Gators scored the biggest upset of the still young volleyball season Tuesday night with a straight set (25-19, 29-27, 25-23) win over No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto. Freshman Kennedy Martin led the Gators with 16 kills, four blocks and four digs, while setter Alexis Stucky had four kills, 34 assists and 12 digs.

The Gators (3-0) will play their first home match of the season Sunday when they play host to 5th-ranked Minnesota.

SEC football

Alabama: On the Matt Barrie Show, Paul Finebaum ripped Nick Saban for not releasing a depth chart. “Don’t bully people ‘cause you can,” Finebaum said. “Saban has made a career at Alabama and maybe elsewhere of bullying those who are weaker than him and don’t have the ability, and that’s just not a good look.”

Arkansas: KJ Jefferson has thrown for 5,804 yards and 48 touchdowns in his career. He needs 1,962 yards and 16 touchdown passes to become the all-time leader in Arkansas history.

Auburn: Quarterback Payton Thorne, defensive lineman Elijah McAllister, offensive lineman Kam Stutts and tight end Luke Deak have been voted team captains.

Georgia: Former Georgia tight end Arik Gilbert, who transferred to Nebraska, was arrested and charged with burglary in Lincoln after attempting to abscond with $1,600 of vape materials from a Lincoln smoke shop.

Kentucky: Walk-on wide receiver Cole Lanter has been awarded a scholarship.

LSU: Linebacker Harold Perkins has been moved to inside linebacker from outside pass rush specialist, where he had 8.5 sacks as a true freshman last year. “He’s going to be moving all around,” LSU HBC Brian Kelly said. “He’s not just going to be at inside linebacker.”

Mississippi State: Southeastern Louisiana will make $550,000 for its Saturday paycheck game with the Bulldogs, while October 7 non-conference opponent Western Michigan will take home a $1 million paycheck for visiting Starkville.

Missouri: Out Thursday in the season opener against South Dakota are linebacker Chad Bailey, running back Michael Cox, wide receiver Peanut Houston and offensive lineman Bence Polgar.

Ole Miss: Still no announcement whether the starting quarterback will be incumbent Jaxson Dart or Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders.

South Carolina: Standing up for quarterback Spencer Rattler, who isn’t highly regarded by the national media, HBC Shane Beamer said, “Frankly, it’s pretty disappointing just to see maybe the lack of respect on the outside, but again, we worry about what we can control and I’m excited for Spencer. Rattler threw 18 touchdown passes last year after transferring to South Carolina from Oklahoma.

Tennessee: The Vols remain a solid 28 point favorite for their season opener with Virginia in Nashville.

Texas A&M: Former walk-on Sam Matthews, a graduate student linebacker, has been selected 12th man for 2023. Matthews’ number will be changed from 29 to 12.

Vanderbilt: Defensive lineman Darren Agu and linebacker/safety Jeffrey Ugo are both questionable for Saturday’s game with Alabama A&M.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: A few predictions for the 2023 college football season that don’t include the Florida Gators.

1. Georgia will not win the national championship: The Bulldogs have so much talent and compared to most of the teams in the SEC, a cakewalk of a schedule but they will stumble along the way and won’t three-peat.

2. Michigan will win the national championship: Jim Harbaugh already has as good a roster as there is in college football and now he has the NCAA for motivation. What we’re already seeing is a defiant Harbaugh whose attitude toward the NCAA is making it an us against the world year for Michigan.

3. Southern Cal will crash and burn more than once: The Trojans have the Heisman Trophy quarterback and enough moving parts on offense to overwhelm most of the teams on their schedule, but the defense is still second rate. Southern Cal will lose at least two of the five games with Notre Dame, Utah, Washington, Oregon and UCLA.

4. Sam Hartman will emerge as the Heisman frontrunner: He’s in for a monster of a season and by midseason, he will have Heisman-like numbers and the Notre Dame hype machine cranking up the volume. Notre Dame hasn’t had a national champ or a Heisman winner since 1988 when Timmy Brown took home the hardware. The Irish won’t win the national title, but Hartman might take home the trophy.

5. Florida State will either be a contender or pretender by September 30: The Seminoles play LSU in Orlando Sunday night. On September 30, they play Clemson in Death Valley. Win those two and FSU is an instant contender to make the College Football Playoff. Lose one of the two and there's still hope. Lose both and the Seminoles can forget about it.