We got far more than we bargained for with Graham Mertz

Graham Mertz (15) will leave UF as the most accurate passer in school history (Gator Bait photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Tuesday morning:

A close friend who I could nickname Midas because everything he touches turns to gold called me Monday evening, thoroughly upset that Graham Mertz’s college football career has come to an end after he tore an ACL Saturday night in Knoxville.

“He’s as impressive a young man as we’ve had in the football program here,” he told me. “It makes me sad that his playing days are over. I could see him being the CEO of some Fortune 500 company someday.”

Or somebody’s head football coach I interjected to which my friend replied without hesitation, “That too. Whatever he wants to do in life I can see him being super successful.”

I can’t disagree with those assessments. Graham Mertz has been everything we could have asked for and then some during his playing days at the University of Florida. We got far more than we ever bargained once he transferred to Florida from Wisconsin. When he first committed to the Gators out of the transfer portal I joked that he was the most famous Mertz since Fred and Ethel. You have to be old enough to remember “I Love Lucy” or else that one goes right over the top. You would be amazed at how many came up to me asking what I was talking about.

Graham Mertz wasn’t the popular choice to succeed Anthony Richardson and probably 95 percent of the people in the media both state and nationwide ridiculed Billy Napier, who insisted he got the quarterback he wanted. Here are some of the quarterbacks everybody else wanted: Sam Hartman (Wake Forest to Notre Dame), Devin Leary (North Carolina State to Kentucky), Walker Howard (LSU to Ole Miss), Luke Altmeyer (Ole Miss to Illinois), DJ Uigalelei (Clemson to Oregon State to Florida State), Payton Thorne (Michigan State to Auburn), Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State to Ole Miss), Tayven Jackson (Tennessee to Indiana), Tanner Mordecai (SMU to Wisconsin), Jeff Sims (Georgia Tech to Nebraska to Arizona State), Emory Jones (Arizona State to Cincinnati) and Brennan Armstrong (Virginia to North Carolina State). All these guys were rated higher than Mertz in the portal.

Mertz was better than all of them even though he played on a 2023 team handicapped by a lousy defense and an equally lousy offensive line. Through the first six games of 2024, he guided the Gators through a tough start to respectability before he was injured after throwing a picture perfect TD pass to Arlis Boardingham that gave the Gators a 10-0 third quarter lead over Tennessee.

In the 16 games he played at Florida, Mertz completed 333 of his 452 pass attempts (73.7 percent) for 3,694 yards (8.2 per attempt) and 26 touchdowns with only five interceptions. I have to wonder what those numbers could have been if (a) the Gators could have blocked for him with any consistency; (b) Mertz had Chimere Dike and Elijhah Badger to complement Ricky Pearsall in 2023; and (c) Florida’s defense had gotten off the field more often to give the offense more opportunities to put points on the scoreboard.

Even with all the things that went wrong, however, Mertz never once wavered in his loyalty to the University of Florida, his coaches and his teammates. This was the consummate teammate which is why you saw teammates almost in tears Saturday night in the fourth quarter when Mertz joined them on the sidelines in street clothes and on crutches, his knee in a brace. They recognized his value not just to the team, but to each of them individually. I can count on one hand the number of Florida football players over the more than 50 years I’ve been writing sports who were as respected by teammates as Graham Mertz.

In front of the media, he was a natural. He answered questions intelligently, articulately  and never offered excuses. He never pointed fingers although if anyone deserved to he did last year when the O-line was a functioning sieve.

His playing days have ended and perhaps any dreams he might have of playing in the NFL. I hope someone will give him a chance because it will give him the opportunity to pursue a lifelong dream. Put him with a team that requires a cerebral quarterback to understand its offense and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he makes the roster. As Shane Matthews proved you can stick around the NFL a long time if you’re smart enough to learn a new offense quickly (Mertz is), know it inside-out and be an asset in the film room.

Meanwhile, Mertz is already plunging himself into getting DJ Lagway ready to be THE MAN the rest of the way. After what we’ve seen of Mertz since he arrived in Gainesville why would we expect anything less?

My first Florida football game was Georgia Tech in 1960 when Ray Graves went for two to win the game instead of going for the tie. Since then my heroes have always been Gators, but I’ve made it a point to reserve my favorite list to a select few. Saturday night I added Graham Mertz to my all-time favorite list. He deserves to be there.

UF BASKETBALL: MEDIA PICKS UF 6TH; GATORS NO. 21 PRESEASON AP POLL

In a sure sign that Todd Golden has the Florida basketball program on the way up, the SEC media predicted the Gators to finish sixth in what should be the most competitive league in the country. Proof of how far both the SEC and the Gators have come – the Associated Press ranked Florida No. 21 in its preseason poll. Nine SEC teams made the AP preseason top 25, by far the most of any league in the country. The Big 12 had six teams in the top 25, the Big Ten four, the Big East three and the ACC two.  

The media selected senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. to its preseason first team All-SEC and sophomore center Alex Condon third team.

SEC media predicted order of finish: 1. Alabama; 2. Auburn; 3. Tennessee; 4. Arkansas; 5. Texas A&M; 6. FLORIDA; 7. Texas; 8. Kentucky; 9. Ole Miss; 10. Mississippi State; 11. South Carolina; 12. Georgia; 13. Missouri; 14. LSU; 15. Oklahoma; 16. Vanderbilt

Preseason 1st team All-SEC: Mark Sears, Alabama; Johni Broome, Auburn; Walter Clayton Jr., FLORIDA; Zakai Ziegler, Tennessee; Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M

Preseason 2nd team All-SEC: Grant Nelson, Alabama; Jonas Aidoo, Arkansas; Johnell Davis, Arkansas; Matthew Murrell, Ole Miss; Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State

Preseason 3rd team All-SEC: Chad Baker-Mazara, Auburn; Alex Condon, FLORIDA; Jaxson Robinson, Kentucky; Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina; Tramon Mark, Texas

Associated Press preseason top 25: 1. Kansas; 2. Alabama; 3. UConn; 4. Houston; 5. Iowa State; 6. Gonzaga; 7. Duke; 8. Baylor; 9. North Carolina; 10. Arizona; 11. Auburn; 12. Tennessee; 13. Texas A&M; 14. Purdue; 15. Creighton; 16. Arkansas; 17. Indiana; 18. Marquette; 19. Texas; 20. Cincinnati; 21. FLORIDA; 22. UCLA; 23. Kentucky; 24. Ole Miss; 25.  Rutgers

COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY: WEEK SIX 

On Life Support

Billy Napier, Florida: The Gators should have beaten Tennessee, but like so many coulda and shoulda games in the Napier era, they lost. A win over Kentucky Saturday might shoo away the buzzards circling the Heavener Center.     

Stan Drayton, Temple: The winner of Saturday’s game with Tulsa can avoid a reverse run of the American Athletic Conference table. If you bet on bottom feeders, put your money on Tulsa.

Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech:  Lousy Tech got a win last week to move to 2-3. If the stars and planets align Sonny could win six games. Will that save his job?  

Joe Moorhead, Akron:  The Zips are 1-6. The good news is they can beat Kent State in five weeks.  

Will Hall, Southern Miss:  Did you know that from 1947-63 Southern Miss was the 6th-winningest team in all of college football? Neither does anyone on this year’s team. There is a really good chance the Eagles finish on a 10-game losing streak.

Mike Bloomgren, Rice:  The Owls are 2-4 riding the crest of a 1-game win streak. They probably lose the next four. They probably don’t fire Bloomgren if he can get to 4-8 because firing at Rice is such a tacky thing. 

Mike Neu, Ball State: The Cardinals actually won a game. Big news there. They play at Vanderbilt Saturday. Back to their losing ways.  

Dave Aranda, Baylor: Maybe the Baptists who run Baylor would hold an all-night prayer vigil to send scurrying the demons that have taken hold of the football program.

Endangered Species List

Hugh Freeze, Auburn: Until Mr. Yella Wood throws his hands in the air and says he’s had enough, Hugh’s got a job. If he doesn’t start winning, Mr. Yella Wood might decide to pull the plug.  

Mike Houston, East Carolina: The Pirates are going to get hosed by Army this week up in West Point, but they’ll have three very winnable games in a row after that to guarantee bowl eligibility. Will that be enough?

Clay Helton, Georgia Southern: The Eagles are 4-2 after a come-from-behind win over Marshall. With the exception of this week’s game with James Madison, there are five winnable games on the schedule. Clay’s inching his way off the Endangered Species List.    

Jim McElwain, Central Michigan: Old Yeller got his troops to rally for 17 points in the fourth quarter. They still lost. The Chips are 3-3. Four of the last six are losable.

Don Brown, UMass: The Minutemen lost to Missouri. How did they ever convince an SEC team to come play in a 17,000-seat stadium? They would have made money on the road.

Mike Norvell, Florida State: The Seminoles still stink after barely outlasting open date. They get Duke and Miami, both on the road, next two weeks. The only winnable game remaining on the schedule is D1AA Charleston Southern.

Trent Dilfer, UAB: The Blazers are 1-5 and they have a legit shot at a 1-11 record. This is just his second year. It might take a miracle to get a third year.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Three weeks ago, the Kentucky Wildcats (3-3, 1-3 SEC) shut down the vaunted Ole Miss offense in Oxford to score a 20-17 upset over the high-powered Rebels. In holding Ole Miss to a season-low 353 yard, the only time they’ve been held to fewer than 425 yards all year, Kentucky sacked Jackson Dart four times. Ole Miss couldn’t run the ball (29 carries, 92 yards) because it couldn’t move nose tackle Deone Walker, a 6-6, 350-pounder who requires a double and often a triple-team every single snap.

Defense is Kentucky’s calling card. The Wildcats are third in the SEC and fourth in the nation in total defense (251.5 yards per game), ninth against the run (89.33) and 13th against the pass (162.2). This is what awaits Florida freshman quarterback DJ Lagway when the Gators (3-3, 1-2 SEC) host Kentucky Saturday night at The Swamp (7:45 p.m., SEC Network).

No team has run for more than 145 yards and Ole Miss is the only team to have passed for more than 200 against the UK defense. Of course, they were saying similar things about the Tennessee defense yet the Gators gained 361 yards including 138 on the ground. Except for some questionable play calls that left points on the field, the Gators could have easily put up 400 yards and close to 30 points on the Volunteers.  

Will the Gators be able to run the ball against the Wildcats? That will be critical for Lagway. If he doesn’t at least have the threat of a running game, Kentucky can run a picket fence of a zone that will negate any deep threats in the passing game. Lagway throws the deep ball as well as anyone, but he will have to have protection and the threat of a run to have adequate time.

As of Monday night, the Gators were favored by one point.