Florida's defensive depth will determine success of Billy Napier, 2023 season

Expectations are low in Gainesville, Fla., heading into the 2023 football season, with Florida coming off back-to-back 6-7 seasons and losing first-round NFL Draft pick Anthony Richardson at quarterback.

Many have written off the Gators entirely going into this season. On3’s JD PicKell isn’t one of them.

“Florida is probably one of the greatest unknowns in college football heading into 2023,” PicKell said. “Lot of people think they know what Florida’s going to be. Vegas has got them at a 5.5 win total, that’s fine. My real question for them, though, is is there actually more depth on the defensive side of the ball?”

PicKell broke down why he thinks that’s the most important thing for the Gators in a video for On3’s YouTube channel.

Essentially, PicKell believes Florida needs to be able to lean on its defense in order for the situational football coach Billy Napier would like to play to be an option. Florida’s defensive depth must make that an option. The Gators didn’t have that luxury last season.

“Now they allowed 30 points a game last year. That ain’t good,” PicKell said. “And the people that watch ball, the people that watched Florida, you know it wasn’t because they didn’t have good players starting. Was it an All-American all-11? Not necessarily, but they still had some good players.

“But when we saw them wear down was later in games. We had Gervon Dexter playing like I don’t know how many snaps, way more than a defensive lineman should be playing. What I’m trying to say is in the SEC, you’ve got to have some depth defensively. Florida didn’t last year, we saw what happened.”

Florida’s defensive depth has been shored up considerably, with Napier taking some high-profile transfers like Michigan safety RJ Moten, Houston safety Mannie Nunnery, Michigan linebacker Deuce Spurlock, Ohio State linebacker Teradja Mitchell, Louisville defensive lineman Caleb Banks and Memphis defensive tackle Cam Jackson.

The Gators will almost certainly be starting a transfer quarterback, whether it’s Wisconsin‘s Graham Mertz or Ohio State’s Jack Miller. Making life easier on them will be key.

“I believe it’s going to be Graham Mertz, so we’ll talk about Graham Mertz right now,” PicKell said. “Graham Mertz’ job will be substantially easier if he knows that defense has his back. That defense will have a much easier time having his back if they have a couple of platoons they can plug and play with and they can hold offenses to a lower total of scoring. Because then Graham Mertz doesn’t have to press when he gets out there. Then they can actually run the ball and let their big dogs eat with Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne.”

Florida was one of the better rushing teams in the country a year ago, though it must now replace a handful of starters on the offensive line. Having the rest of the team — particularly Florida’s defensive depth — function enough to highlight that group in 2023 could be key.

For PicKell, much of that comes back around to the defense.

“A lot of what they ask of that quarterback is going to be dictated on the situation of the game,” PicKell said. “Situation of the game is going to be dictated by what you have defensively. So the depth of the defense, that’s the key for me for Florida. If it’s improved, watch out now for the Gators.

“I, seemingly after one year, which is wild, am in the minority that Billy Napier’s a good coach. It feels that way, at least. If it’s not get in the chat, get in the comments section, let me know. A lot of people seem to be down on Billy Napier after one year, which, first of all, shame on y’all for making such a quick decision on a coach. And if I’m wrong then shame on me, but I don’t think I am on Billy Napier. So depth on defense, very, very crucial.”