Gators Youngest team-2023 gators vs 2020 Noles

No, these numbers are not accurate.

The roster as a whole is young. We have 21 true freshmen and 9 RS freshmen...so 30 out of 81 (we're at 81 scholly's).

However, my preferred definition of "young" is the snapcount vs UK, UT and USC. Here is the snap count for the USC game:

Florida’s snap count report vs South Carolina | GatorCountry.com

So, our roster is young, but the snaps are mostly going to players that are 3+ years in the program....And those guys have a decent amount of snaps under their belt.

Also, there are some lingering covid-related classification quirks. Mertz is a 5th year JR, for example. During any time other than covid era, he'd be a SR. Similarly, Banks is 3 years removed from HS, but he's listed as a RS freshman since he gets another year for covid. Doubtful he makes it to his 6th year SR season - those are rare.

There are a not lot of these quirks remaining - but enough to mention.

In my opinion, we are far from "old", but we are not as young as some suggest either.

 

All accurate but it seems like we only have a lot of experience at QB, RB and 1 WR. In listening to the game on Saturday I think at one point they said we had 8 freshmen on D on the field. And most of the game seemed like the entire secondary was freshmen. IF they don't jump into the portal they should be salty next year with some more bulk and experience.

 

Regardless of the numbers on the roster, the two deep is comprised of very few upperclassmen. Of our starting twentytwo, twelve are freshmen and sophomores. Only four seniors, and of those, only one starts. That's almost 60% starters being freshmen and sophomores. I think when it's pointed out that we have the youngest team what is really being said is we are playing the youngest team.

 

Our OL has tons of snaps, and the primary DL players are plenty experienced too (the freshmen are getting solid snaps as backups, which is awesome). Also, look at the snap count for the CB's - plenty of experience there.

Safety snaps are literally all going to 2 freshmen and 1 true sophomore...so we're definitely young and inexperienced there. That's the only position group where we're truly relying on a freshmen, and thankfully Castell is a stud.

 

You left out tight end where both starters are freshmen.

 

Depth chart for game against Carolina:
Offense: 21 freshmen and sophomores 6 juniors and seniors
Defense: 22 freshmen and sophomores 11 juniors and seniors
We have more freshmen and sophomores on each side of the line of scrimmage than we have total numbers of juniors and seniors on the depth chart. That speaks volumes about how young this team truly is.

 

Good call - overlooked those.

 

Do it by snap count and it tells a different picture. The 2nd string CB doesn't matter on the depth chart if he get's zero snaps, like occurred vs SoCarolina.

In this example, Marshall, Hill and Kimber played all snaps at CB...no one else.

Just my take.

 

Yes, I use the same source, but you also counted the walk-ons which skews the numbers. We have 81 players on scholly now....

 

Here's the breakdown for USCe. I consolidated redshirts into their respective years.

 

Accurate or not those numbers for FSU aren’t the reason they are undefeated. They went to the portal and got guys because no one they recruit can play football

 

While that's true, how many snaps did the juniors and seniors that aren't in the depth chart get? The players you mentioned may not have the snap counts Saturday, but if they were needed, do you think they would've gotten on the field or the juniors and seniors that weren't even on the depth chart? Also, there were others on the depth chart who didn't play such as Moten and Nunnery who are juniors, and by your logic it didn't matter that they were on the depth chart because they didn't get any snaps.

 

What I find most impressive is that there is almost no discernable difference in performance between the vets and the Fr & Sophs. A fan with no knowledge of who is who and what year they are would be hard pressed to point out the Fr and So that are contributing. In some areas the young players look more like the veterans, TE as mentioned above has been significantly more productive since switching from Zanders and Odom to Arlis and Hansen. Safety, true freshmen Castell and Thornton have been better than either Mitchell or Moten IMO.

I would argue areas of the team with the most experience, caveat of a lot of it is transfers, are the ones struggling the most right now, OL and DL. Often fan bases clamor for putting in the highly recruited young guys when there are struggles and usually that is a bad idea. This year for UF it might actually be the right move and I wouldn't mind at all seeing the future even more down the stretch.

 

If you are referring to the defensive numbers only adding up to 76%, I thought the same thing.