Greg McElroy says Florida is in for a 'tough' season

There were definitely highlights in head coach Billy Napier’s first season at Florida. At the same time, there were also a lot of difficult moments. Unfortunately for the Gators, analyst Greg McElroy thinks that Florida is in for another tough season in 2023.

As McElroy explained on Always College Football, Florida was inconsistent in 2022 and now has to replace its best player in 2023. It’s hard to expect much from the Gators because of this.

“The record last year was 6-7,” Greg McElroy said. “6-7 and you have a quarterback that’s likely going to be picked in the top 10 of the NFL Draft.”

Greg McElroy was, of course, speaking about Anthony Richardson. He was capable of turning a game on its head and potentially stealing a win for Florida.

“Now, he was inconsistent. Week one performance against Utah, if he played like that every single week, we’re talking about a totally different conversation. But he was remarkably inconsistent. I mean, Anthony Richardson against Tennessee, plays his tail off. Anthony Richardson against Kentucky looked terrible,” McElroy said.

“So, there’s a lot of inconsistencies that we saw last year from your quarterback. But, ultimately, the defense also was porous and you lost four of your final six games, not including the bowl game, which I take for a slight grain of salt.”

Even if you ignore the bowl loss, which Greg McElroy does, Florida didn’t give any reasons to be hopeful going into 2023.

“Like, to me, the bowl games, you can use them to your advantage, use them when you want to, ignore them when you want to, doesn’t really matter. But, Florida showed up with two arms tied behind their back and tried to go in and fist fight against an Oregon State team that was hungry and anxious to prove that they belonged against a, I guess, a traditional, powerful team, and Oregon State wiped the floor with them. It wasn’t even remotely competitive,” McElroy said.

“So, I think Florida this year is in for a tough, tough season.”

Despite this, Greg McElroy still believes in Billy Napier. He still believes that Napier can rebuild this program. However, it’s going to take time at Florida and fans need to adjust their expectations.

“Your roster this year is not yet at a level where I expect them to be competitive week in and week out in the SEC. 6-6 would be an achievement, to be completely honest with you.”

Billy Napier praised Florida’s spring practice

At the very least, Florida has been practicing well this spring, as Billy Napier explained.

“Just got done with practice eight. The film was as clean as it’s been since we’ve been here,” Napier said.

“Certainly we’ve got a veteran group of players returning going into Year 2. More importantly the staff is in Year 2, so we have a group of players and an entire organization that understands our process, our expectations.”