Mertz is quietly becoming one of the top QBs in the nation. Florida junior quarterback Graham Mertz on Tuesday afternoon was named to the The Davey O’Brien QB Class of 2023, which serves as the quarterfinal round for the award given to the nation's top quarterback. Semifinalists for the honor will be announced on Tuesday, November 14. There's no denying Mertz's success so far this season, especially when placed against the backdrop of modest expectations set out for him well before it began. https://247sports.com/college/flori...y-obrien-award-billy-napier-gators-219268892/
That and he needs a better sense of when to get rid of the ball. We need more short pass plays? More safety valves quick outs? More quick slants? On that one play where our running back missed the blitzing LB, if that same back keeps running past the line of scrimmage he would have been wide open for a dump off pass over the LB's head... with an open field to run on. I don;t know how that play is designed, but the back has to be able to Chip Block the LB then get open in the space where the LB vacated from. That is a sound use of a blocker... receiver all from the same running back.
I hope our head coach and 2 offensive line coaches put together a better O-line to protect him and establish a run game against quality opponents.
I'll settle for quicker pass plays... because the O-line is what it is during this football season. OR... we can use a 6th O-lineman... many college teams have used this in the past, including the Gators in certain games. Using this set piece, we can run a 10 personnel... but, instead of 4 receivers and a back we have 3 receivers and a back... with of course the added O-lineman/6th lineman.
Had two receivers on that play that if they had looked at the qb vs running deep were wide arse open. Maybe Ricky and Boarders? Our hot routes or quick tosses to players moving north south could use some work.
He's what I would call a max-out NIL type college player... in future limbo-NFL status, after exhausting all of his college eligibility. So... he should get as much NIL in college while he can, IMHO.
There’s no reason why he can’t be Burrow 2.0. Of course, that’s a tall order for our offense and team, but as a QB in his second year with the system and experience with his teammates, he could be much more comfortable.
We need to expand our offensive potential for that to happen. We don't run enough schemes to make him as versatile as he can be. We don't run the 10 personnel... nor the 00 personnel. We have yet to try the 22 personnel and the 22 with an added O-lineman in place of the sole receiver in that personnel set. We could add an extra 6th O-lineman right now to help him out some in games. But we also need to explore far more quick plays that are passes past the line of scrimmage. The quick slant is rare... and that play should be more common, IMHO. The coaches need to help Mertz in different ways... And there are still schemes and personnel sets that we have yet to explore.
Give him an extra second and he's not getting sacked, always hitting the open man, and we get more points. Running game improves. Defense improves.
17 total TD now, only 2 turnovers. And behind one of the worst lines in CFB. There really is reason for hope if UF can develop some guys and hit the portal hard at OL
Somehow liking this post on Twitter helps Mertz with points. Probably everyone but me already understands it but I'm sure someone can straighten me out. LOL!
