Yes, Urban Meyer and a young Dang Mullen did that with a generational QB who turned out to be as good as his recruiting rank. You're also talking about Tebow in his later years as a starting QB with experience. Urban and Mullen were gunslingers. I do not expect as much from Napier as our play caller and a true FR DJ Lagway. But it sounds great and would be wonderful if Napier upsets miami with a creative and ballsy offense.
I don’t see a need necessarily for creative and ballsy, if we just play sound football with max effort and minimize killer mistakes like turnovers. We can win games without a bunch of razzle dazzle. Just get your head on straight and go out there and carry out your assignments. I’ll take mundane if we’re moving the chains and scoring in the red zone
Agreed. And if we have a defense. I am bumfuzzled by all of the criticism of Napier and his offense, when it has been our miserable defense that has cost us the last two seasons, not our offense.
That Boise - OK bowl game will always go down as one of the most entertaining football games I’ve ever watched
2023 Scoring offense ranked 57th, not terrible. Scoring defense 75th. I looked to see how many ppg not scored against us to move our Scoring D to 57th and it's 27.58 to 25.5, only 2 ppg. I would have thought more. If our Scoring D was in the 50s last season we might might might have won three more games. Agreed Defense was worse than offense last season, but Napier IS the face of our offense. People gonna be people. I could see our Defense improving this season by a full TD per game, maybe more? That would put us inside the top 40(or would have last season) in scoring D and should secure a few extra wins if offense and STs has it together. Is improving by a full TD over last season too optimistic? That would put our Scoring D inside the top 50.
I would love to see UF use the Philadelphia Eagle short yarded package. There ain't nothing fancy about that. Just line up and drive. That thing is unstoppable.
Lots of other teams have tried it without similar success. It’s definitely stoppable when you don’t have that line and that qb.
I'm eager to see Lagway progress and eventually take the reigns. Gator ground game will work much better when the qb is a genuine run threat and when he is proficient at throwing the ball deep. In the meantime, I hope Mertz can do better in deep and intermediate game and coach's give him the opportunity to shine as much as he can downfield. My fear is that Mertz and our playcaller(s) will remind us too often of their limitations.
Many of the best qbs of all time were no threat to run. It’s just not necessary but is a quick fix for lacking in other areas. I just hope our oline gets it together for a legit running game and Mertz and Lagway can run a balanced offense and they have the time to use the entire field. No qb can be proficient downfield always avoiding pressure.
DJ is a diamond in the rough. He's game smart on the high school level which is not the same as the SEC. He'll get there sooner than later.
Never heard a 5 star qb ranked number one at his position and top 5 overall called a diamond in the rough.
Let’s just say he’s not nfl ready and will benefit from not being forced to play as a true freshman. He probably could if need be though. Good thing we have Mertz.