Rapid Reaction to Florida's Orange & Blue Game
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Gators wrapped up spring camp on Saturday with their annual Orange & Blue Game. The Blue team defeated the Orange, 19-17, on a game-winning field goal by kicker Trey Smack.
The top two quarterbacks for Florida had strong days, with returning starter Graham Mertz throwing for 243 yards and a touchdown and true freshman DJ Lagway finished with 173 yards and two TDs.
The top receiver on the day was sophomore Eugene Wilson III, who had a 60-yard touchdown and caught eight passes for 128 yards. Marcus Burke also made three catches for 63 yards and fellow redshirt junior WR Kahleil Jackson had a 50-yard reception.
On the ground, true freshman running back Jadan Baugh led all ball carriers with 12 rushes for 77 yards, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. Redshirt junior RB Ja’Kobi Jackson also rushed for 60 yards on just five carries.
Each quarterbacks threw an interception, with sophomore defensive back Sharif Denson picking off Mertz and redshirt senior linebacker Mannie Nunnery jumping in front of a pass by Lagway.
UF had three defenders tie for a team-high six tackles: inside linebackers Pup Howard and RJ Moten, both of whom started with the first-team defense, and EDGE Quincy Ivory.
In the video above, Gators Online gives our rapid reaction to Florida’s spring game and some of our top takeaways from Saturday.
Billy Napier on Gators spring game
“I think we had about 48,000 out there today. Maybe a few more. Very thankful for that. What a day for football, man. It was about as good as it gets. I’m going to tell you; I think for the most part it was pretty clean. I think there’s a lot of balance in the game and a ton of situation work, in particular right there at the end. I’m proud of our team. I told them that on the field.
“You think about we’re at the halfway point through the offseason. I think we’ve made a ton of progress. This group in particular, I think the leadership, the accountability, the self-discipline, and we’ve got a team. We’ve got a group that gets along with each other and has worked hard. And we got out of here injury-free today for the most part, and we’ll be able to take a break and kind of restart here in the middle of May. It’s been a good day’s working.”
![Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier celebrates with Florida Gators wide receiver Aidan Mizell (11) after a touchdown during the first half at the Orange and Blue spring football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, April 13, 2024. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://on3static.com/cdn-cgi/image/height=215,width=393,quality=90,fit=cover,gravity=0.5x0.5/uploads/dev/assets/cms/2024/04/13155133/Untitled-design-65-2.png)
