Early thoughts on the Florida Gators’ quarterback room in fall camp

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators are just over three weeks away from the 2024 football season. Unlike recent years, there is no quarterback battle in Gainesville this offseason. Redshirt senior Graham Mertz has earned his role as the starting quarterback at the University of Florida. Behind him is true freshman DJ Lagway, who represents the future for the Gators.

It’s Mertz’s team but there is still a palpable excitement for Lagway and what the future holds. I continue to contend that there is no sense in redshirting Lagway. If he’s the player that Florida believes they signed then he’s not likely to be in college for four years, a redshirt in 2023 would be a waste. However, he still has to do the work in order to be ready to play this season and, of course, Lagway is one wrong tackle or injury away from being the starting quarterback for the Gators.

One aspect of this offseason that we haven’t talked about enough is the new coach-to-player helmet communications that have been approved for this season. The Gators worked with one system in the spring but received the actual helmet radios prior to fall camp and have been working with the new system every day in practice.

Only one player for each team will be permitted to be in communication with coaches while on the field. A green dot on the back of the helmet will be used to identify that player. The communication from the coach to the player will be turned off with 15 seconds remaining on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever comes first.

I asked Florida head coach Billy Napier about this during his spring speaking tour. His answer was about two different conversations. One with a 24-year-old veteran and the other, a 19-year-old freshman with unlimited potential.

“Graham Mertz is one of the brightest players I’ve ever been around so he can process about anything and I think he’s started about 43 games so talking to him is a little bit different. I think that DJ Lagway probably executed at a higher rate and was able to perform and be more productive because we were able to talk to him all the way up until 15 seconds left. I have no doubt his development benefitted in a major way.”

This, to me, has been instrumental in helping Lagway process what he’s seeing on the field. You can do more than just call a play in. If you can shorten your play calls, which can be easy to do especially with a veteran receiver group who can get their assignments from the sideline through traditional signals, you can actually get 20 to 30 seconds of talking through a play with your quarterback while he’s on the field. That’s something that has and will continue to help Lagway this season.

Graham Mertz taking the next step in second year with Florida Gators

While talking about Lagway is fun, the Gators will go as far as Graham Mertz can lead them. Mertz is coming off of a career season in 2023 where he threw for 2,903 yards, 20 touchdowns, and just three interceptions. He’s had a two full spring camps, a summer, and a seaosn in the playbook. His experience has shown this offseason.

“Graham’s great. He’s phenomenal. He’s just got great energy about himself, affects other people in a positive way. Extremely detailed. Great note-taker. Great in the unit meetings. Great in the position meetings, and he’s a pro,” Napier said of Mertz. “I think offense usually takes a little while to get in some rhythm. We got to kind of get the install down, and get the finer details all around him. Protect him, get open for him, and then be on the same page and try to stay on schedule. Graham Mertz is doing a great job leading the team.”

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