https://247sports.com/college/flori...raham-mertz-dj-lagway-clay-millen--232311242/ With Graham Mertz returning as UF's starting quarterback, along with a highly touted freshman in DJ Lagway, the Gators are clearly in a desirable place when it comes to arguably the most important position on the field.
7. FLORIDA GATORS Graham Mertz enters his sixth season overall and second under center for Florida. Last year, the former Wisconsin quarterback’s 1.4% turnover-worthy play rate was the third-best mark in the country and his 77.9 passing grade was a career high. Expectations are high for his backup, true freshman DJ Lagway, who was the top quarterback recruit in the 2024 class. The third-stringer will be Clay Millen, who started for Colorado State in 2022. His 7.3% big-time throw rate that year ranked eighth among all signal-callers in college football.
This is better than Josh Pate's 'SEC QB only' rating a week or two back. Interesting that LSU is nowhere in the Top 10 in PFF's rankings. Josh Pate's SEC Quarterback Ratings Entering 2024 (Late Kick Cut) SEC Quarterback Room Rating (per Josh Pate) 9.50 - Texas (Ewers, Manning, Owens) 9.25 - Georgia (Beck, Stockton, Rashada, Puglisi) 9.00 - LSU (Nussmeier, Swann, Collins) 8.50 - GATORS (Mertz, Lagway, Millen) 8.50 - Alabama (Milroe, Simpson, Lonergan, Mack) 8.50 - Tennessee (Iamaleava, Moore, Merklinger) 8.25 - Ole Miss (Dart, Howard, Simmons) 7.50 - Oklahoma (Arnold, Thompson, Hawkins) 7.25 - Missouri (Cook, Glover, Blood Jr) 7.00 - Texas A&M (Weigman, Henderson, Reed) 6.50 - South Carolina (Sellers, Ashford, Beville) 6.50 - Kentucky (Vandagriff, Allen, Boley) 6.50 - Arkansas (Green, Singleton, Jackson) 5.50 - Auburn (Thorne, Brown, Geriner) 5.00 - Miss Stake (Shapen, Parson) 4.50 - Vanderbilt (Pavia, Johnson, Berlowitz)
He's rating Nussmeier all on hype. Iamaleava also. Maybe one or both will light it up. But now it's hype.
Unfortunately, ESPN just released their list of all 134 QB's...and Mertz & Co. are nowhere near the top. TIER 5a: The Transfer Market II: Endgame (eight players) Florida's Graham Mertz, D.J. Lagway Georgia Tech's Haynes King, Zach Pyron Virginia Tech's Kyron Drones, Collin Schlee Oklahoma State's Alan Bowman, Garret Rangel
TIER 1: Cream of a questionable crop (nine players) Alabama's Jalen Milroe, Ty Simpson Georgia's Carson Beck, Jaden Rashada, Gunner Stockton Oregon's Dillon Gabriel, Dante Moore Texas's Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning TIER 2: It's Tier 1 with an asterisk (six players) Arizona's Noah Fifita Colorado's Shedeur Sanders Kansas's Jalon Daniels Miami's Cam Ward Utah's Cam Rising, Sam Huard TIER 3: Checking the upside meter (nine players) Memphis' Seth Henigan, Cade Cunningham Missouri's Brady Cook, Drew Pyne Ohio State's Will Howard, Devin Brown, Julian Sayin Ole Miss's Jaxson Dart, Walker Howard TIER 4: The young and the restless (nine players) Kansas State's Avery Johnson Nebraska's Dylan Raiola, Heinrich Haarberg Oklahoma's Jackson Arnold, Casey Thompson Tennessee's Nico Iamaleava, Gaston Moore USC's Miller Moss, Jayden Maiava
TIER 5b: The Transfer Market: Origins (seven players) Florida State's DJ Uiagalelei, Brock Glenn NC State's Grayson McCall Notre Dame's Riley Leonard, Steve Angeli Syracuse's Kyle McCord, Carlos Del Rio-Wilson TIER 8: Shoes to fill (15 players) Kentucky's Brock Vandagriff, Beau Allen, Gavin Wimsatt LSU's Garrett Nussmeier, AJ Swann, Rickie Collins Michigan's Alex Orji, Jayden Denegal, Jack Tuttle Maryland's Billy Edwards, MJ Morris, Cameron Edge North Carolina's Conner Harrell, Max Johnson, Jacolby Criswell
If there is one thing that Dillon Gabriel's 6 year career to stardom in Tier 1 status has taught us is that his first year in a new system is by far the worst one. Good luck Oregon Ducks on your one year rental.
