Lagway is as strong as a Texas longhorn bull, so no worries there mate. He's bigger than Tebow was.I don't want him to get hurt. I think Napier or both of his offensive line coaches should line up at QB and see how they like it. By the way, PFF also said Mertz had roughly 2.48 seconds to throw, which last season would have ranked 128th out of 131 teams.
Miami didn't need to blitz much, they were getting pressure nearly every play with just rushing 4. Meanwhile, we rushed 6, 5, 4 and a few times just 3 and never laid a finger on Ward until the 4th quarter. It will be an interesting season storyline to see which group finishes the worst, our oline or our dline. No wonder neither will get better since they go against each other in practice. If we don't fix the lines QB play doesn't matter.is as strong as a Texas longhorn bull, so no worries there mate. He's bigger than Tebow was.
Mertz was hit as he threw once.
And he was lucky in that only one of 3 turnover-worthy plays resulted in an interception.
The big criticism from fans regarding Mertz is that he isn't great at letting the ball loose. Pro Football Focus' passing breakdown backs that up to a degree. Mertz was 6-for-7 within 10 yards and behind the line of scrimmage. He was 0-for-4 on balls thrown deeper than 20 yards, including his lone interception.
The real concern with Mertz should be that he seemed to struggle more when Miami didn't send a blitzer (34.9)
Coming in cold off the bench, (none of the promised 1st half packages happened), the true freshman didn't blow anyone away with his 56.6 overall grade and 48.5 grade as a passer (3/6), but it became clear rather quickly that he injected some life into the offense, (even running Napier's crappy offense and play calling).
DJL brings something new to the offense. We'll see more this coming week but if he plays well I hope we stick with him because Mertz just isn't going to get it done.I think Mertz is very limited which he showed in the 1st half. We see why he was checkdown Charlie last season as he can't make the good throws downfield usually. I think you can count on your hands the times he connects with a WR in stride or places a ball where the WR has a decent chance of getting it. Mertz wants stuff where the WR will come to a stop. No reason not to try and give Lagway experience now.
PFF - We’re talking about college, so we will grade on a scale and consider anything above 65.0 as a solid performance.Miami didn't need to blitz much, they were getting pressure nearly every play with just rushing 4. Meanwhile, we rushed 6, 5, 4 and a few times just 3 and never laid a finger on Ward until the 4th quarter. It will be an interesting season storyline to see which group finishes the worst, our oline or our dline. No wonder neither will get better since they go against each other in practice. If we don't fix the lines QB play doesn't matter.
Secondary can't be expected to cover for 8 to 10 seconds. Our Dline was horrific. Zero pressure, no pressure. Miami went through us like Swiss cheese. They had almost 300 yards offense in the first half. Did you watch the game?PFF - We’re talking about college, so we will grade on a scale and consider anything above 65.0 as a solid performance.
Gator DL against the run (85.5) on defense.
The Gator D performed poorly in pass coverage at (50.7).
It's he secondary that's still a problem it seems to me, along with not enough pressure on the QB.
Exactly. Our coach blows chunks and we are horrible along both lines of scrimmage. Unfortunately, we are stuck with Napier.I'd like to see DJ but it doens't really matter until the coach is gone. We've had liek 26 games/data points and he is what he is...not good. lol
Secondary can't be expected to cover for 8 to 10 seconds. Our Dline was horrific. Zero pressure, no pressure. Miami went through us like Swiss cheese. They had almost 300 yards offense in the first half. Did you watch the game?
Miami ran for 144 yards on 33 carries. That's not exactly what I would call stout run defense. It certainly was better than the pass defense. They had their way with us. My only hope is that Ward and the canes are a legit top 10 team, but I don't think they are.Curious to see if the decent run defense holds up. It's seems so many times in recent years we have a decent game with that and then just fall apart later. It was one good sign out of many awful ones though.
Miami ran for 144 yards on 33 carries. That's not exactly what I would call stout run defense. It certainly was better than the pass defense. They had their way with us. My only hope is that Ward and the canes are a legit top 10 team, but I don't think they are.
Miami's schedule is pathetically easy this year. The don't even have Clemson, North Carolina, NC State or Stanford on their schedule. Thei other non-conference games are Florida A&M, Ball St. & USF. Overall, the ACC is a mediocre league and I could see Miami winning it with only a loss or two on their record.With that RB it was alright I think. I know a lot of people don't agree with me but I really think Miami is around the #10 best roster out there. I think only teams like the top 5 or 6 in the polls now might be able to rough them up good. It sucks they don't play Clemson to see how they look against their defense.
Miami's schedule is pathetically easy this year. The don't even have Clemson, North Carolina, NC State or Stanford on their schedule. Thei other non-conference games are Florida A&M, Ball St. & USF. Overall, the ACC is a mediocre league and I could see Miami winning it with only a loss or two on their record.
A couple of seasons ago, I was supporting Mullen and I was against the hiring of Napier. When I said anything negative against him, I was the 'Bad Gator fan.'
Now those same two-faced moe-rons are acting like that's the reverse of what happened. Their 'Selective Memory' is now in full swing....
I was also against leaving Brown on the bench in favor of the (5-8) Wis Sack King.
And this past off-season I wanted to see Lagway be the starter as a much better fit with the teams personal.
No, I'm not always correct, but mouthy know-it-alls here are two-faced hypocrite twits imo
How bad was it?
Against the Hurricanes, the Gators allowed 529 yards while picking up just 261 of their own. They also allowed three sacks, threw two interceptions, averaged just over two yards per carry when removing a 71-yard touchdown rush from the picture, completed 54 percent of their passes, surrendered 10 passes of 20 yards or more while connecting on zero of their own and converted just one of their nine third downs.
Disgruntled fans, or "the outside - some guy in his basement in rural Central Florida," as Napier put it, can't disrupt their (loser) process.
All I got to say to that nappyhead BS is this:
2002-05 Zookster - 8-5, 8-5, 7-5 = 23-15 - A FIRED WINNER
2012-14 Musclecramp - 11-2, 4-8, 7-5 = 22-15 - A FIRED WINNER
2015-17 McLame - 10-4, 9-4, 3-4 = 22-12 + 2 SECe-C - A FIRED WINNER
2018-21 Mullen 10-3, 11-2, 6-6 = 27-11 1 SECe-C - A FIRED WINNER
2022-24 Napier - 11-15 === 2x LOSER, going on 3x - ??? - A new & improved Socialist-U EDI hire?
Napier: Gators must block out criticism as they focus 'on the football part'
The Gators are 0-1 to open their third season under Billy Napier after a 41-17 loss to No. 19 Miami in the Swamp247sports.com
Right now today, would you rather have the proven winner Mullen, or his 'new & improved' total loser replacement? Where are the 'know-it-all' twits that claimed that once Napier had his own chosen and recruited players, due mostly to his 50+ staffs recruiting, that HC/OC would turn it all around? How are they panning out?They know he destroyed this program at the end.
From everything I've read and been told, Mullen's ultimate goal was to coach in the NFL. Who knows why he quit working his last year at Florida? Lots of speculation, but only he can answer that I guess. He was a very successful head coach at Mississippi St. and was a great OC for Urban Meyer. We can blame the "entitled" Gator fans for Mullen leaving or Socialist-U or whatever excuses people want to make. But I believe in individual responsibility and personal accountability and, to me, Dan Mullen damaged his own reputation by his seeming lack of effort his last season. Just seemed to be going through the motions and hadn't put much effort into recruiting from I can remember. He had that guaranteed contract and may have just decided he was going to take the money and run (Steve Miller Band). He's laughing it up with his commentator gig at ESPN/ABC/Disney, spending unearned money, IMO, with no regrets. I have no respect for the guy (as if he cares!) And it seems that Sun Belt Billy is going to do even better in cashing big checks from the UAA (Florida boosters) to leave town.Where are all the power 4 teams that are after Mullen? They know he destroyed this program at the end. My guess is any better power 4 program would only want him as an OC. I hope this isn't the new normal with the Gators but it's a scary situation because we no longer have East protection and OK and TX are in the SEC now. Either our admin and big boosters go all in or what KY is now might be our normal ceiling going forward. We could end up regulated to the lesser half of the SEC with Mizzu, KY, Arkansas, Vandy, Miss State and SC. I think Mizzu will have a clear drop-off after this season with their loss of players and they will have a much harder schedule in 2026 also.
Copied and pasted this off another website, so if the info. is incorrect, I apologize.
"Billy Napier has the third worst winning percentage (.423) as a head coach in the history of UF Football...not including interim coaches. Only Raymond Wolf at (.359) from 1946-49 and Josh Cody (.419) from 1936-39 are worse. If he finishes out this year, he may end up being the worst coach in the history of UF. Again, not including interim coaches...BN is the only coach in UF history not to have had at least one season at .500 or better in their career and my guess is that will remain the case after this year as well."
Mullen had quit on the team. He was forced to can Grantham, and my suspicion is he didn't like that. Guy hated recruiting and was able to get away with that at Miss St. Great offensive mind though. Tons of folks on here did not like the Napier hire....tons. Mullen left the cupboard bare and that is an indisputable fact. Napier got his chance and any and all Mullen blaming is over. He owns it right now....and to me it looks like we are gradually getting worse. Mertz, Brown, Lagway, Gak, Whittemore, whoever doesn't matter...
As someone famously said you are what your record says you are.A couple of seasons ago, I was supporting Mullen and I was against the hiring of Napier. When I said anything negative against him, I was the 'Bad Gator fan.'
Now those same two-faced moe-rons are acting like that's the reverse of what happened. Their 'Selective Memory' is now in full swing....
I was also against leaving Brown on the bench in favor of the (5-8) Wis Sack King.
And this past off-season I wanted to see Lagway be the starter as a much better fit with the teams personal.
No, I'm not always correct, but mouthy know-it-alls here are two-faced hypocrite twits imo
How bad was it?
Against the Hurricanes, the Gators allowed 529 yards while picking up just 261 of their own. They also allowed three sacks, threw two interceptions, averaged just over two yards per carry when removing a 71-yard touchdown rush from the picture, completed 54 percent of their passes, surrendered 10 passes of 20 yards or more while connecting on zero of their own and converted just one of their nine third downs.
Disgruntled fans, or "the outside - some guy in his basement in rural Central Florida," as Napier put it, can't disrupt their (loser) process.
All I got to say to that nappyhead BS is this:
2002-05 Zookster - 8-5, 8-5, 7-5 = 23-15 - A FIRED WINNER
2012-14 Musclecramp - 11-2, 4-8, 7-5 = 22-15 - A FIRED WINNER
2015-17 McLame - 10-4, 9-4, 3-4 = 22-12 + 2 SECe-C - A FIRED WINNER
2018-21 Mullen 10-3, 11-2, 6-6 = 27-11 1 SECe-C - A FIRED WINNER
2022-24 Napier - 11-15 === 2x LOSER, going on 3x - ??? - A new & improved Socialist-U EDI hire?
Napier: Gators must block out criticism as they focus 'on the football part'
The Gators are 0-1 to open their third season under Billy Napier after a 41-17 loss to No. 19 Miami in the Swamp247sports.com
I saw today that Vegas now has Napier at even money to be the first coach fired this year. Before the Miami game he was 4/1. He's simply in over his head, especially, with that rudimentary offense.
Don't know if ya'll are aware, but DJ Lagway has the highest NIL valuation of any Gator student/athlete at $1,000,000. The highest NIL- value athletes are Shedeur Sanders, Colorado QB with $4.6 million, Livvy Dunne, LSU gymnast at $3.9 million, Arch Manning, Texas QB at $3.1 million, Travis Hunter, Colorado 2-way player at $2.7 million, Jalen Milroe, Alabama QB and Quinn Ewers, Texas QB at $1.7 million. Lagway's $1 million is ranked #20. The only other Gator athlete, in any sport, in the Top 100 is Graham Mertz, #96 at $596,000.I would put it at less than 10% he survives but I think if Lagway looked like he was developing and started most of this season they might actually give him another season if we were to go 5-7 somehow.
He had his chance to get a gameday OC and special teams coach instead of himself and an analyst.Napier got his chance and any and all Mullen blaming is over.
Don't know if ya'll are aware, but DJ Lagway has the highest NIL valuation of any Gator student/athlete at $1,000,000. The highest NIL- value athletes are Shedeur Sanders, Colorado QB with $4.6 million, Livvy Dunne, LSU gymnast at $3.9 million, Arch Manning, Texas QB at $3.1 million, Travis Hunter, Colorado 2-way player at $2.7 million, Jalen Milroe, Alabama QB and Quinn Ewers, Texas QB at $1.7 million. Lagway's $1 million is ranked #20. The only other Gator athlete, in any sport, in the Top 100 is Graham Mertz, #96 at $596,000.
He seriously believes the stuff that works in the Sun Belt will work in the SEC. In year 3.Guys on SECN said Napier's play calling is simple and unimaginative. Ouch! Then they reminded everyone that he got canned at Clemson. Guess Dabo was right!
The fact that nobody wants to address is this:
Napier's buyout is set at 85 percent of the remainder of his contract. So, with four seasons - including this year -- remaining, he would be owed over $26 million.
How many of the previous 3 HC's are still getting paid by UF?