Breakout Freshmen and Portal

I don't disagree however the same could be said for most SEC squads.

I don't expect UF to be a double digit winner. I'm hoping UF gets to 7 just to keep the heat off Napier while he recruits and builds this thing up.

 

random stranger with unknown football scouting credentials says our qb will be good…15-0 here we come! Lol

 

I got the same feedback from a diehard Wisconsin fan. He said that he could be inconsistent, but that he was by far the best QB they have had in a long time.

 

12-team playoffs maybe. This team will surprise a lot of people. I like what I’m hearing in the locker room as far as team chemistry and togetherness goes. Also like hearing players talk about how they are flying around a lot faster this year than last.

 

Word out of Gainesville is talent and athleticism is significantly better.

I hope so.

 

We did alright with Trask, Pitts and Toney and no run game to speak of. I just meant with our offense, which is not a sophisticated passing offense, unless you have a mobile QB, the run game better be very effective if we are going to win a lot of games.

 

Napier has never had an elite passer so I’m waiting to make that judgement. Mullen used Trask like he’s never used any other qb. Before Trask, no one would have seen that playcalling coming from him. Let’s wait to see what Napier does with an elite passer before making judgements on what he may or may not be.

 

Of course. We can post ourselves to death with this or that, but at the end of the day, the record is what the record is and the play and coaching is the play and coaching.

Everyone has opinions and speaking only for myself, here are mine.

UF's choice of coach was of course controversial because some believe UF should only hire proven commodities from strong programs. While nor privy to any insider information, it seemed to me UF did research this and made a decent decision on CBN.

Count me in the crowd that believe its the height of hubris to suggest CBN is in "Over his Head" / move on, considering what he walked into.

I just think it's tough to cherry pick after 1 season, especially where we are with recruiting under this staff.

I do understand it's an industry that demands immediate results.

Personally, barring a crazy collapse, <4,
or disintegrating locker room, I won't be holding CBN accountable for record until 24.

 

Napier has been stashing some reciever talent, I hope to see it this season, but with two monster running backs and a HUGE offensive line, I agree that UFs success W-L
wise, will very much correlate to success toting the rock.

 

Yes, 100%.

If you don't have good QB play, you aren't going anywhere. You need at least competent game management and making the easy throws. We would not have been nearly as bad the last two seasons if our QBs played better. For EJ, I don't think the ceiling was there. For AR, he had it all there, but he was just inconsistent week in and week out for whatever reason.

 

Lol... I totally agree with you on that description... but some of our talking heads here in our media are not much better... especially these rating services.

 

But we have to have balance to keep defenses honest. We can’t run effectively with 8 mean in the box every play.

 

Well it does depend on how mean they are

 

Well stated. Thanks for saving me the time.

 

Yep, agree about Mertz... I've posted this a couple times already, I'm a Gator/Badger fan. I know Mr. Mertz quite well.

Wisconsin's passing game has been the worst designed passing attack in college football for a number of years. My cousin called it vanilla without the vanilla flavoring. Mertz was definitely a victim of that offense.

His O&B game showed a lot of good stuff after the 1st quarter. I don't understand the Mertz criticism, by a portion of Gator nation, from that game. Yeah, he was off in Q1, no doubt. He was pretty good after that, though. He had an excellent Q2 with three excellent drives. A TO ruined one drive, penalties and a missed FG messed up the 2nd drive and he got a TD on the 3rd drive. He was under crazy pressure in the 2nd half. He did what he could do with that.

Give Mertz a full squad on offense, he'll do well.

For the UW stuff, Russel Wilson was at UW his Sr. year; he was outstanding. Unfortunately, UWs defense was down that year, but they still had an excellent season. They had other good QB's since then, too. The offense just went to crap the last few years. It's gonna be a lot of fun watching them run the air raid with competent offensive coaches!

 

And... HS SRs and FR were playing C and guard. And, the defense played the most aggressive blitz scheme I've ever seen in a spring game.

But, for some, Mertz was the issue- smh

 

Excellent stuff!

I'll add a FR and transfer, both OL:

FR Knijeah Harris.

&

Portal Kiyaunta Goodwin


Harris is already close to being physically mature enough to play well.

Goodwin would have been one of the two highest recruits in CBN first two classes if Goodwin came to UF out of HS in 2022. After maybe some conditioning and maturity issues at UK. He's bought into CBNs system and discipline at UF, and he's now in shape. He very well could be the best OT on the team by the end of the year.

 

Great stuff, Donzo. You should post more...

 

Thanks my man!

If I post more than a few times a month I get into it with the negative nellies too much.

Today I stopped by to post in Diamond Gators to congratulate the team on hell of a season. But alas, the team committed the mortal sin of coming up one game short of a championship. If I joined in the second guessing and power whining, I might have gotten myself banned for awhile-

 

Yeah… I’m cautiously optimistic about Mertz. I’m not going to go off one scrimmage game to judge him. Admittedly, it wasn’t the most encouraging debut, but we have look at it in the proper context. It’s one-hand touch football, and not realistic. I am not going to assume anything bad about Mertz until after Utah. I’m going into the season with the expectation that he will be a good QB, with upside to be very good to great.