Kentucky Transfer Portal Watch: Graham Mertz visits Florida

Kentucky appeared to get their offensive coordinator situation settled on Friday when reports started to leak out that Liam Coen would be returning to Lexington after just one season in the NFL. Now the Wildcats can focus on the next big problem.

QB1 is wide open for the Wildcats in 2023 and this program desperately needs to address the most important position in football in the transfer portal once again. Some prospects have started to catch our attention, but a few specific names have emerged.

Most notably, Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz appears to be a clear target for Kentucky. However, there is some SEC East competition for the former top-100 recruit out of Metro Kansas City.

Per Mertz’s personal Instagram account, the Big Ten quarterback visited Billy Napier’s Florida program over the weekend. This could be the start of a head-to-head recruiting battle between the Cats and Gators.

The former blue-chip prospect in the class of 2019 was a three-year starter at Wisconsin who threw for 5,405 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions during his career in Madison that included a different play-caller every season.

Will Kentucky attempt to close on Mertz? That is still to be determined but there now appears to be some legit competition for the transfer.

KSR’s Scouting Report

Graham Mertz (6-3, 216) is a pro-style quarterback with some NFL tools. The pocket passer flashes spurts of high-level play in three years as Wisconsin’s starter. In a traditional offense that got under center a ton and played with a lot of heavy personnel, Mertz displayed good velocity on short-to-intermediate throws and excelled at creating completions on vertical concepts due to ball placement, arm strength, and accuracy. However, that accuracy was not always consistent on some of the easier throws in the Wisconsin scheme. There is a lack of foot quickness and speed that limits Mertz’s secondary playmaking when plays break down. Was a true game manager in the Big Ten that was never really asked to carry an offense.

Mertz can excel in a run-heavy scheme that plays ahead of the chains and uses play-action looks to create vertical throws. However, the transfer has not had the opportunity to prove he can succeed in a pass-first approach.