Billy Napier shares what area quarterbacks need to improve on during competition

In his first season at Florida, Billy Napier inherited a talented quarterback in Anthony Richardson. In his second season, he will need to completely rebuild the quarterback room, giving Napier a chance to mold that room in his own image.

Now, Napier has shared what area the Florida quarterbacks need to improve on most during the competition.

“I thought we really did a lot of good things,” Billy Napier said. “I think the big thing is there is some situational football that we can learn from and we turned the ball over a handful of times that I think we can clean up.”

Florida brought in former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz to compete for the starting job in 2023. Then, there is Jack Miller III, who started for Florida in the Las Vegas Bowl. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Max Brown has a lot of potential.

“But, overall, just situational football, game management, understanding, being on the same page as a play caller, or understanding where you’re at, DND [down and distance] feel zone, what’s the thought process, are all things that you would hope comes from a scrimmage.

Billy Napier has a good idea of what he wants at the quarterback position. After all, he was a quarterback during his playing days at Furman and has been a quarterback coach at four different stops as an assistant coach.

Billy Napier has been impressed with Graham Mertz

One Florida quarterback has already jumped out to Billy Napier — Graham Mertz. That’s in no small part due to his experience.

“I’ve been impressed with Graham. I think Graham’s made a great impression on all parts of the organization. And I certainly think on his teammates as well,” Napier said.

“He’s been very diligent from the first day. Really aggressive, oftentimes doing two a days. He’s in the building a majority of the day. Just really a professional approach. Very self-aware, there’s some experience there. I think the guy’s a really good communicator and he’s got a great grasp of what’s happening out there. It’s very evident that the guy has started 32 games at a really good program.”

Mertz was a highly touted recruit when he went to Wisconsin but failed to live up to those expectations. For his career, he has completed 59.5% of his passes for 5,405 yards (168.9 per game), 38 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions.