According to a report from Matt Zenitz of 247Sports, Florida senior quarterback Graham Mertz sustained a season-ending knee injury in Saturday night’s 23-17 loss at Tennessee in overtime.
Billy Napier hasn’t done much of anything right during his disastrous three-year tenure at UF. However, Napier’s decision to sign Mertz, a transfer from Wisconsin, before the 2023 season was the best move he’s made since replacing Dan Mullen.
And I’ll readily admit that was I was dead wrong about Mertz, who mostly struggled in 32 starts for the Badgers from 2020-22.
Mertz has balled out since arriving in Gainesville. Not only that, but he’s been the consummate teammate and leader.
In 11 starts last year, Mertz completed 261-of-358 passes (72.9%) for 2,903 yards with an elite 20/3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He had four rushing TDs as well.
In UF’s first five games this season, Mertz has connected on 72-of-94 throws (76.6%) for 791 yards with a 6/2 TD-INT ratio. He also has 56 rushing yards, one TD and a 3.1 yards-per-carry average.
Even with Napier signing the nation’s #1 QB in the 2024 recruiting class, DJ Lagway, Mertz decided to return to school and mentor the freshman signal caller. He embraced that role even though it’s taken snaps away from him.
Mertz and Lagway have even been roommates in Florida’s road games.
Mertz sustained the non-contact injury right after throwing a 13-yard TD pass to Arlis Boardingham that gave the Gators a 10-0 lead over the Volunteers with 7:18 remaining in the third quarter.
Napier confirmed Zenitz report when he met with the media early Monday afternoon.
“Graham Mertz has torn his ACL, and he will be done for the season,” Napier said. “He will have surgery next week. It’s only right for me to say how much I appreciate what he has brought to the team.”
In a post to his Twitter account, Mertz said, “Gator Nation, thank you for two incredible years in Gainesville. Unfortunately, I suffered a torn ACL against Tennessee and will miss the remainder of the season. During my recovery, I will remain a part of the program and do whatever I can in meeting rooms and from the sideline to help my teammates win. I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of support during this time.”
Without Mertz, Lagway will take over as the full-time starter. He will make his second career start in Saturday night’s home game vs. Kentucky.
As of early Monday, most books had Florida (3-3 straight up, 3-2-1 against the spread) listed as a 2.5-point favorite with a total of 42.5. The Wildcats were +110 on the money line.
Lagway has played in all six UF games, completing 47-of-72 passes (65.3%) for 765 yards with a 5/4 TD-INT ratio. He has 50 rushing yards and a 2.1 YPC average.
Lagway completed 9-of-17 throws for 98 yards and one TD with one interception in the OT loss at Tennessee. He forced OT by finding WR Chimere Dike with a 27-yard scoring strike on a third-and-18 play with 29 seconds remaining to knot the score at 17-17.
The game never should’ve gone to OT. Napier’s ineptitude as a head coach and a play caller were on full display in the first half at Neyland Stadium.
Florida scored merely three points on four possessions that made the red zone in the opening 30 minutes. There was an 11-play, 72-yard drive that chewed up more than six minutes of game clock.
However, on fourth and inches at UT’s 18, Napier didn’t want to give the ball to his workhorse senior RB Montrell Johnson. He didn’t want Lagway, who is 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, to line up under center and run a QB sneak.
Nope! Instead, he put Lagway in shotgun and ran a jet sweep to WR Eugene Wilson, who was getting his first touch of the night after missing three games in a row with an injury. The play was predictably stuffed to end the promising drive.
After UF’s defense produced a stop, the Gators mounted another excellent drive that covered 79 yards in seven plays. Johnson had runs of 23, 6 and 13 yards that gave UF a first-and-goal opportunity at UT’s 1.
Johnson had earned the right to score the TD on the drive. There was no excuse to not feed him the ball four times in a row if that’s what it was going to take.
Instead, Napier wanted to do a QB sneak this time, albeit with Mertz, who doesn’t have the same sort of size as Lagway. Mertz coughed up a fumble and the Vols recovered.
(Side Note: Johnson eventually left the game with an injury and didn’t return, but Napier said Monday that the injury isn’t a long-term one.)
But with 1:11 remaining until halftime, UF’s Sharif Denson intercepted a pass from Nico Iamaleava and returned it for 20 yards. A penalty on the Vols advanced the ball to UT’s 11.
But the possession started with a false start. After an incomplete pass by Mertz which obviously stopped the clock, Napier used his team’s final timeout when WR Elijhah Badger apparently didn’t line up correctly out wide left.
On second and 15 with 1:08 left, Mertz’s quick screen to Wilson gained only one yard. Then Mertz was sacked with 19 ticks remaining.
Florida sent the field-goal team on the field and Trey Smack buried a 32-yarder. The Gators were flagged for an illegal substitution (12 players on the field), though, and since they were out of timeouts, a 10-second runoff resulted in the end of the first half.
The final sequence before halftime highlighted how deep Napier was into his bag of incompetence in Knoxville. Furthermore, it provided more evidence that nothing is going to get better in Gainesville until Napier and AD Scott Stricklin are belatedly handed their long-awaited pink slips.