Graham Mertz on Florida's challenging schedule: 'You want a schedule like that'

Florida has arguably the toughest schedule in the country heading into the 2024 college football season. The Gators will play eight teams ranked in the preseason AP top 25 this coming season, including No. 1 Georgia, No. 4 Texas and No. 6 Ole Miss.

Florida quarterback Graham Mertz joined The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday and was asked about this year’s schedule. He insists that the Gators aren’t backing down.

“If you’re a competitor, if you play this game, you want a schedule like that,” Graham Mertz said. “You want to get everybody’s best. You don’t want a schedule that’s the easiest in the country. I mean that’s not why you play the game, that’s not why you come to Florida.

“So I think the biggest thing for us is we’re excited about the opportunity. It’s close. It’s right around the corner.”

Speaking of the season being right around the corner, Florida opens the year with a rivalry matchup against No. 19 Miami. That will be a huge game for the Gators, who have a chance to prove early on that they won’t be a pushover for anyone this year.

The good news for Florida is that the game will be played in Gainesville, which Mertz is excited about.

“Any time we get the chance to play in The Swamp it’s an absolute blessing,” he said. “Gators fans, they light that place up. So it’s going to be a great atmosphere. … If you’re a fan of football, you’re going to want to tune into that one. It’s going to be a fun one.”

The matchup with Miami is less than three weeks away, and Florida is trying to make the most of the time it still has to prepare.

Mertz shared with Finebaum what the Gators are focusing on for the next few weeks.

“The biggest thing I can think of is details, whether that’s pass protection, better communication within that, stretching the ball down the field, making the defense cover the entire field – every blade of grass on it,” Mertz said. “I think for us it’s stretching the field, protecting yourself, being great communicators so that we can do that.”

In addition to the three top 10 teams and Miami, Florida will also face No. 20 Texas A&M, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 13 LSU and No. 10 Florida State this season. It’s obviously a challenging schedule, but as Mertz said, it’s also a great opportunity to show just what kind of team the Gators have.