What a win at Utah could do for Graham Mertz's success in 2023

Graham Mertz can erase all doubts and previous opinions about him if he can lead the Florida Gators to a win over Utah Thursday night, according to On3’s J.D. PicKell.

Mertz was a hyped prospect when he was recruited to Wisconsin. But an up and down career with the Badgers led to his transfer, but he might have new life at Florida after winning the quarterback battle.

Going into Year 2 under Billy Napier, Florida certainly hopes Mertz is the guy for them.

“If Graham Mertz is able to win this game on the road at Utah, it’d be great for this Florida team,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “Think about how we would talk about him if they beat the back-to-back Pac-12 champs in their crib. Graham Mertz has played a lot of football, a lot of criticism from his time at Wisconsin, it was up, it was down. It is what it is. Fresh start now for him in Gainesville. 

“If they go beat them, I think Graham Mertz has a totally new swagger about himself externally and then I think internally too. It just proves, yeah, I am that guy that I was recruited to be out of high school. Yeah, all the talk about what I was at Wisconsin and what we weren’t able to do there and the offensive struggles and whatnot, like, how do you like me now?”

As Mertz won the job, Napier was impressed with the way he was able to grasp the offense.

“I think the big thing I’ve been impressed with is just his ability to come in and learn the system, translate what he knows and apply that to our system,” Napier said after naming him the starter. “And then just, you know, relentless in approach. Probably’s worked as hard as any player on our team.

“Probably as hard as a lot of players that I’ve been around in terms of the unseen hours. Those are what I’m talking about specifically, and the self-discipline, to have a system, a process, a routine, to work, to connect with players, ask very intelligent questions, and is anticipating problems.”

Mertz finally put up bigger numbers in 2022, finishing with 2,136 yards, 19 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 57.3% completion percentage. In total, Mertz has 5,405 yards, 38 touchdowns, 26 interceptions and a 59.5% completion percentage.

Florida opens the season on the road against Utah Thursday night.