Jaden Rashada is an EE, so we currently have Miller, Mertz, Brown, and Rashada for the Spring on scholarship; and that may be it or we will be having more names to add. I am going to begin this post in a lively fashion. We better hope Rashada emerges quickly as the front runner or next year will be questionable in my mind!
Anyone care to predict just how productive Rashada will be, or will Miller or Mertz surprise us! Anyone else have a hard time getting excited about most of the qb room?
I will say, one of Miller, Mertz will be behind center when we start the year. Both of these guys have played DI football and know the speed of the game. Rashada has been going against high school defenses. Faster CB’s, safeties blitzing and grown a%# lineman wanting to break you down. I thought Kitna threw a nice pass and would’ve done a better job all round in the passing game than Ant. he should have had a little more time on the field when Ant got down on himself, which caused some surprise losses. Rashada I am sure is pretty good and over time hopefully better than Emory, who knows if he can hit the open man consistently, find the right read and run our offense to perfection. Let’s get him up to speed and give him a chance to succeed!
Mertz will be the starting QB in Game 1, hopefully Rashada can takeover the starting job by mid-season.
Agreed. I’m very happy to have Rashada, but it’s not ideal to be starting a true freshmen in the SEC. Rashada looks to have a lot of potential, but I didn’t see him go through a bunch of progressions in his film. He also seems to throw a very loopy ball, which I don’t think will work so well here. I am still optimistic about the future with him and Lagway, but next year might be another rocky one.
There is no way in hell Rashada is starting game one. My guess is Napier is going Mertz. I just hope BN understands that he doesn’t need to force feed Mertz down Gator Nation’s throat. When it is time to replace the kid, go ahead and do it, you don’t need to try and make something work that clearly isn’t.
We will find out soon enough. Is Rashada an athlete who plays qb (Richardson) or a quarterback who is an athlete (Burrow)
At least BN has some options. I think Miller or Mertz starts the season behind center and when/if Rashada gets a shot, depends on how quickly he grasps things. Don’t know if Max Brown is part of the equation at this point. I like our coach, but my biggest disappointment with him was his reluctance to pull AR for a series or two or three or…..when he was playing poorly. It might have salvaged the Kentucky game and put us in a better position to win a couple more. We will never know.
Your last sentence says it all, but CBN needs to exercise his authority when QB’s are struggling, let someone come in and try to get things moving.
Rashada will not be starting this year unless Mertz does enough to be benched. If Mertz starts the entire year then he will also start in 2024
First, I truly believe this spring will be THE place to determine who is going to start at the beginning. All four candidates will be competing for the job. The only way I see either Rashada or Brown winning it in the spring will be a combination of Miller and Mertz looking pretty ineffective and Napier needing more of a dual-threat at QB again this season (probably THE reason why AR was never benched in contested games). So, it will be one of the two middling and more mature QBs with the hope that the light bulb goes on with one of the two freshmen later in the season. No one can say which one. Methinks we are going to struggle early in the season.
I would expect either Miller or Mertz to start the season. Miller didn't get much help from the OL or WRs in the bowl game so it's too soon to make that call.
There are plenty of true freshman QB's who have started at the D1 level and done well. Caleb Williams, Jake Fromm, Matt Barkley, Robert Griffin III, Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy, Max Duggan. It's rare, but if the kid is good enough and/or his competition isn't that good, it could happen. Given that Rashada will be on campus in a couple of weeks, he has plenty of time to learn the playbook, study film, workout with his receivers and go through spring practice and summer drills. Jaden Rashada - Scouting Profile Hayes: Already in must-win mode, Billy Napier better hope Jaden Rashada is ready from Day 1
I think it will be a Mertz v Brown battle through the summer for the starting job against Utah. I think that Rashada does not see the field that first week. Rashada starts getting minutes in the week two game and more playing time as the season goes on.
Rashada needs to prepare himself for the opportunity that’s in front of him. Even if he doesn’t start he needs to be ready to enter the game at any moment. He and Lagway are the future for the Gators. If Rashada doesn’t start over the next 2 years we’d be disappointed, especially if it was because he wasn’t ready. However that happens all the time. This is just my thinking.
