Nice article by David Wunderlich. Graham Mertz is second to only Kyle Trask among Florida’s post-Tebow quarterbacks | GatorCountry.com
Good article, but, imho, you need a breakdown of where the ball is going to be worth comparing. Can have a ton of yards throwing screens vs across the middle. Not that each isn’t applicable, just very different data points.
No. Trask was cool under pressure in the pocket and didn't take near as many sacks using the good judgement to get rid of a bad pass play and move on to the next play without taking an unnecessary loss. Trask also was more accurate passing all over the field. For Mertz to be second to Trask just shows how far UF has fallen off at the QB position since Tebow. DJ Lagway will be closer to Tebow than any QB UF has had. This kid is going to be special, a better passer and a real run threat to boot. Mertz may get the year to help tutor Lagway the way Tebow was tutored by Leak, but UF's future QB is Lagway.
Yeah, Mertz was deadly around the LOS but struggled with longer passes. Trask threw a f dash dash king dime to the receivers all over the field. It was like watching him play Xbox.
If he has protection he will have a great year and running "graduate level" stuff like Trask. I hope we see Lagway at opportune times. I think that will make Mertz even better.
Hey fox, I always wondered. Did you ever tell the girl in your avatar that her tag was hanging out? It’s really embarrassing. Maybe you could tuck it in for her.
The Mertz to Trask comparison is ridiculous right now but I don't think we need to make it a indictment on Mertz or the Gators. Mertz was flat out good last year. Not serviceable, not "just do enough to keep it competitive." We scored 30+ points in 5 of the last 6 games he played. He was #4 in the country in completion percentage. My point is, if we can get 2 more receivers, and OL can take a step back to be more like 2022 line, then he can have a season that solidly puts him in 2nd behind trask and tebow since 2007.
When Mertz came in, it was very clear that the biggest knock against him was the INT ratio. He worked hard to change that, but, I think that also lead to him holding onto the ball too long on a lot of occasions, putting us behind the sticks too often. That being said, he worked hard, brought experience, showed himself as a very good leader, and performed well enough (certainly better than almost everyone expected). I can't imagine where we would have been last year without him. He will be a good mentor for DJ, who I agree is definitely the future and reason for hope.
My hope is UF wins enough games to get CBN off the wins hot seat. He has a few warts, but I like him and hope he gets a 4th year to get UF back to where UF belongs. I'm tired of UF playing HC turnover. JMHO, a little patience can go a long way. In that frame of mind, I hope Graham has a terrific final season with UF and turns into an NFL draft pick. Go Gators!
I didn't read Wunderlich as saying that Mertz was "close" to Tebow as you put it, or that he was going to be more like Tebow than Lagway will be. I did read him to say that in the post-Tebow years, Mertz is second only to Trask in his production, and he is clearly correct in that regard. Mertz doesn't get near the credit he deserves for his performance last season, given the porous line he was forced to cope with, and his first year in the system,
People seem to forget the OL for Trask was not good either. I mean who is worse, George or Delance? Trask had fantastic pocket presence to move enough to buy that little bit more time to make the throw.
Mertz didn’t have the offensive line or the play makers that Trask had. Trask did have a better deep ball but Mertz throws better on the run.
Both qb's are true blue Gators, giving everything they have and yes are the two best qbs since Tebow.
Not yet, but then again, he does not have pits, Tony, Grimes, Jefferson, and he is not able to throw it up the field much. We get a transfer portal guy or two Billy opens up the offense a bit and allows him to throw up the field and possibly. Don’t get me wrong. I love Mertz, but he doesn’t have all the offensive threats that Kyle did, and The system is not nearly as good as Kyle’s waa.
He’s not Trask, but I’m glad we have him. Tough as nails, plays hard every down, protects the ball, makes the throws he’s expected to make.