Why Graham Mertz won the Florida Gators quarterback job

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The long offseason without a starting quarterback is over. On Friday Billy Napier named Graham Mertz the starting quarterback for the Florida Gators in 2023. Mertz won the job over redshirt sophomore Jack Miller and redshirt freshman Max Brown.

Gators Online spoke with players, coaches (including Graham Mertz’s high school coach), and people around the program to get a sense of who Mertz is. What makes him tick and what separated him from his competition?

How Graham Mertz separated himself from the pack

Football IQ

Most expected Graham Mertz to come out of spring camp as the starting quarterback. When It took Mertz some time to acclimate to the playbook and his new receivers. It became evident that given time to get more comfortable in the system and with his teammates, Mertz became the clear option to start.

Senior linebacker Teradja Mitchell spent the last four years studying Mertz. As a linebacker at Ohio State, Mertz was a competitor.

“He’s an experienced quarterback. I believe he’s got 32 starts and 2,000 snaps in his career. Very experienced quarterback. I like his preparation. The way he prepares for the game is off the charts,” Mitchell said of Mertz. “You could tell that he was a smart quarterback. That he made smart decisions with the ball. Could definitely manage the game. Great leader. We knew that at Ohio State. We knew we couldn’t make mistakes against him. Smart quarterback.”

Leadership

As much as the head football coach, the quarterback is the face of the franchise. The quarterback gets the praise when a team wins, slammed when they lose. They do more media, get more headlines, and their name is known by even casual fans. That can go to someone’s head, especially an older player. Graham Mertz leads by example. Nothing is too small for him to take on.

“He does everything that’s expected that his teammates would do. He’s going to do all the little things that people don’t want to do,” Andy Sims — Graham’s high school coach said of Mertz. “I think a lot of times in sports you have different leadership styles. You have the guy that’s going to yell and scream and challenge his teammates. Graham is just a little bit more old-school. He’s going to lead by example.”

Graham put in the time. He needed to. He spent four years in Wisconsin running one system. Wisconsin’s three yards and a cloud of dust homage to the 1940s is nothing like what Billy Napier will run and call on Saturday. Mertz needed to be the first in and last out, but that work ethic still made an impression. Once Mertz started making plays on the field, the team started following.

“Graham has been doing a good job leading us,” cornerback Jaydon Hill said. “Graham is actually on my off-season team, and he’s been doing a good job just making sure everybody is where they’re supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to do. And then just for the team, Graham has gotten up and he’s spoken to us as far as just being a leader. And everybody, we listen. Graham has a lot of respect from us as players.”

Experience and Maturity

Mertz possesses something his two main competitors don’t have: experience.

Mertz started 32 games for the Badgers and totaled 2,075 career snaps. In his career at Wisconsin, Mertz completed 460-of-773 passes for 5,405 yards, 38 touchdowns, and 26 interceptions. Mertz holds a passer rating of 127.7. He has recorded eight rushing touchdowns as well.

His experience gave him a clear advantage his maturity, knowledge of his game, and the playbook is what set him apart. Mertz has been accurate in throwing the short to intermediate routes that Anthony Richardson struggled to complete with consistency. Mertz has a big arm but knows when to take some off the ball. He also knows when it’s best to check down to a running back and take a short gain rather than forcing the ball into a tight window.

He won the trust of the coaching staff because of his maturity in knowing what he is as a quarterback and what his purpose in the offense will be.

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