{"id":16444,"date":"2023-09-12T13:37:29","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T18:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=16444"},"modified":"2023-09-12T13:37:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T18:37:29","slug":"back-in-time-a-look-at-graham-mertz-and-joe-milton-as-recruits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/back-in-time-a-look-at-graham-mertz-and-joe-milton-as-recruits\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in time: A look at Graham Mertz\u00a0and Joe Milton\u00a0as recruits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Danny Wuerffel vs. Peyton Manning it is not, but when Florida plays host to No. 11 Tennessee in the Swamp on Saturday all eyes will be on the starting quarterbacks. For Florida, you have Graham Mertz<\/a><\/strong>. For the Vols, it\u2019s Joe Milton<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Both were 4-star recruits back in high school. Both transferred to their current schools from Big Ten programs. And both have posted respectable, if not spectacular, early season stats.<\/p>\n

When it comes to experience, it\u2019s no contest as to whom has the edge. Mertz has thrown 834 college passes to only 359 for Milton. Mertz also has a better career completion percentage (60.6 percent to 59.3). <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Milton has a better TD-to-INT ratio \u2014 21\/6 to 40\/27, a higher career QB rating (144.8 to 129.6) and provides more in the running game by a wide margin.<\/p>\n

Here are their 2023 numbers entering the game \u2013<\/p>\n

Mertz: 45 of 61 (73.8%), 526 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 INT, 153.7 QB rating, minus-21 rushing.<\/p>\n

Milton: 42 of 63 (66.7%), 429 yards, 4 touchdowns, 0 INT, 144.8 QB rating, 40 yard rushing.<\/p>\n

Mertz\u2019s numbers have come against the more challenging schedule.<\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s take a look back at Mertz and Milton as recruits \u2026 <\/p>\n

Graham Mertz was a top recruit in the midwest <\/h2>\n

GRAHAM MERTZ<\/strong>
HIGH SCHOOL: Mission (Kan.) Blue Valley North
CLASS: 2019
RANKING: No. 4 QB, No. 57 overall (On3 Industry)
SIGNED WITH: Wisconsin (Notre Dame and others, including Alabama and Ohio State)
BY THE NUMBERS: Mertz had tremendous success during his junior and senior seasons. As a junior, he guided Blue Valley North to the Class 6A state title. A year later, the team fell in the championship game.<\/p>\n

Mertz\u2019s junior stats were off the charts: He completed 61.1 percent of his passes for 3,886 yards and 51 touchdowns \u2014 a state record. The following season, Mertz threw for 3,684 yards and 45 touchdowns \u2014 and added 455 rushing yards. He threw 96 touchdown passes to only 16 interceptions in high school.<\/p>\n

Mertz was an Elite 11 finalist.
WHAT WAS SAID ABOUT HIM AS A RECRUIT: -\u201cEven\u00a0Russell Wilson<\/a>, the quarterback to whom Wisconsin fans compare all others, didn\u2019t approach Mertz\u2019s accolades as a high school prospect. (Wilson transferred to Wisconsin from NC State in the summer of 2011.)\u201d \u2014 Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
NOTABLE: Kansas offered Mertz before he started his first high school game.<\/p>\n

Joe Milton was a coveted QB coming out of the Sunshine State <\/h2>\n

JOE MILTON<\/strong>
HIGH SCHOOL: Orlando (Fla.) Olympia
CLASS: 2018
RANKING: No. 17 QB, No. 242 overall (On3 Industry)
SIGNED WITH: Michigan (Over Georgia)
BY THE NUMBERS: Milton was a solid dual-threat QB in high school but accuracy never was a strength. In fact, he never completed more than 50 percent of his throws in a season.<\/p>\n

He was 90-of-188 passing for 1,317 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions as a senior while adding 262 rushing yards. That came after completing 82 of 178 passes\u00a0for 1,543 yards and 17 touchdowns as a junior. As a sophomore, Milton was was 88-of-183 passing for 1,115 yards and eight touchdowns.<\/p>\n

He competed in the Elite 11 quarterback finals in 2017, but that year the camp included the likes of Trevor Lawrence<\/a><\/strong>, Justin Fields<\/a><\/strong>, Matt Corral <\/a><\/strong>and Dorian Thompson-Robinson<\/a><\/strong>. Future Gators QB Emory Jones<\/a><\/strong> also was in the field.<\/p>\n

While Milton displayed a strong arm at the camp, some weren\u2019t in love with a long delivery and his accuracy. He did not make the final Elite 11 list of top competitors for the event.<\/p>\n

Milton was seen as being a developmental QB but one with a high ceiling.
WHAT WAS SAID ABOUT HIM AS A RECRUIT: \u201cMilton is everything coach Harbaugh has ever wanted. Harbaugh loves alphas. He loves guys who aren\u2019t afraid to get into a fist fight. With Joe, he\u2019s going to go in, take the curriculum, break it down and immerse (Milton) in it. This is absolutely, 100 percent Harbaugh\u2019s type of kid. It\u2019s a perfect match.\u201d\u00a0\u2014 quarterback guru Steve Clarkson
NOTABLE: Milton is cousins with former NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver Anquan Boldin. <\/p>\n

The post Back in time: A look at Graham Mertz\u00a0and Joe Milton\u00a0as recruits<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Danny Wuerffel vs. Peyton Manning it is not, but when Florida plays host to No….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}