3-2-1: Florida Gators spring game preview

We’re less than two days away from the Florida Gators spring game. It will be the first time for fans to see Billy Napier’s team up close.

Napier and the Gators have Thursday night all to themselves, as UF will kick off under the lights of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium

Florida moving its game to Thursday was done in part to help recruiting. The slate of games for Saturday, April 16 would have been prohibitive in getting more recruits. Napier made the decision to move the game to Thursday night and the Gators have an impressive list of visitors for the spring game now.

The game will feature four quarters, a 15-minute halftime, and a running clock with the exception of the last four minutes of each half. The clock will also stop for penalties, changes of possession, and scores. 

In this edition of 3-2-1, Gators Online will preview the spring game and what we’re looking forward to.

3: Gators to watch

Lorenzo Lingard

The former five-star recruit has had an impressive spring camp. He turned heads during the second phase (Identity) in spring and has only turned it up a notch in camp. Lingard is playing his best football in what could be his last college season.

Anthony Richardson

We’ve described him as the future of the Gators. Richardson has all of the tools and talent to be an All-American. He was described by the past coaching staff as immature and they said he wasn’t ready to start in 2021. Now, heading into the 2022 season, this is his team and his offense. We’ll get a peek at what that looks like on Thursday.

Gervon Dexter

We’ve talked a lot about Brenton Cox this offseason but Gervon Dexter might be the best player on the Gators’ defense. Dexter is on a mission to get drafted after this year. He’s still relatively new to football but his new defensive line coach sees the potential. How will Dexter look against the Gators’ offensive line on Thursday night? Is he starting to scratch the surface of the player he can be? Will he realize that potential in 2022?

2: Questions heading into the game

1: How will Billy Napier separate the Gators?

This is one thing that we’re looking to see. Napier has said that the team will split into two teams and will practice separately during the last week of spring camp. On game day, the teams will run out of separate tunnels using both the home and visiting locker rooms.

This is a nice change from recent spring games. Napier is, at least trying, to create as much of a game-like atmosphere as he possibly can. Of course, injuries will hinder how much you can really do, but a true game-like atmosphere will be good to see.

Will the Gators be split up by depth chart: first team vs the second team? Will there be a draft done by the coaches or the players? How the teams will be split will have an impact on the product on the field Thursday night. So that’s definitely something to keep an eye on.

2: What will the crowd look like?

There was a lot of backlash when the Gators announced they were pushing the game up from Saturday, April 16 to Thursday, April 14. That is completely understandable. When the game was announced people made plans to come in from out of town. That meant booking hotels, rental cars, flights, etc.

The change might keep a lot of fans away from the stadium and the game this week. Napier has been vocal about wanting to make it a great experience for the students, many of whom will be going home for the Easter Holiday.

“Obviously, it’s an open invitation, it’s free. We’re excited that this is our first opportunity to engage the student body,” Napier said. “I went for a few walks this week and every kid I met when I was out there I asked them to come to the spring game on Thursday night. I got a lot of yeses so we’re excited about that.”

How full should we expect the Swamp to be this Thursday?

1: Thing we want to see

One thing that can really show how the Gators’ quarterbacks are doing is putting them with the second-team offense and seeing how they fare against the first-team defense. We don’t know just yet if the Gators will split the two teams between the depth chart. Will they run Thursday’s game with the first-team offense against the second-team defense, or will the first team go against the first team?

Something that can reveal a lot about a quarterback is how they affect the players around them. In the second scrimmage, Anthony Richardson was able to lead a touchdown drive with the second-team unit against the first-team defense.

That shows Richardson elevating the players on offense. While we all might like to see the ones go against the ones (good on good), I’d like to see both quarterbacks with the first and second-team offenses.