Notebook: Day 9 of Florida Gators Fall Camp 2022
Photo: Anthony Richardson; Credit: Zach Goodall
The Florida Gators were excited to take the field in The Swamp on Saturday for the team's first fall scrimmage under new head coach Billy Napier, but Mother Nature had other plans, as rain pushed the team back inside to the indoor practice facility for the ninth day of camp this fall.
You can find AllGators' observations from the media viewing portion of practice below, as well as our notebooks for each day of camp so far this year. Since day three, we have covered positions individually to maximize the viewing window, and that was no different prior to the scrimmage as we focused on the team's quarterbacks on Saturday.
- Day one - offense
- Day two - defense
- Day three - wide receivers
- Day four - linebackers
- Day five - running backs
- Day six - defensive line
- Day seven - offensive line
- Day eight - cornerbacks
Focusing on the quarterbacks
With the scrimmage set to take place shortly after the media viewing window, we had our eyes on the quarterbacks to get a feel for their poise and accuracy leading into the mock game.
The quarterbacks were tasked with throwing to short routes with wide receivers and tight ends catching passes. We observed the following routes: WR slants, TE out-sits, WR outs, TE curls and WR shallow crossers.
Starter Anthony Richardson had consistently good timing to pair with great zip and good accuracy when it was his turn to throw. A lot of confidence seeped through his arm when he'd take snaps, getting passes out in unison with receivers breaking into their routes routinely.
Richardson memorably threw the best pass to a tight end out-sit route, getting the ball out of his hands before tight end Keon Zipperer could sit into his route which allowed him to explode into catching the ball in what would have been a pretty open area against a live defense.
Primary backup Jack Miller III looked ready to go as well, throwing accurate darts on in-breaking passes in particular. He threw an out-route slightly behind receiver Jordan Pouncey, but otherwise placed passes where they needed to be.
The only other scholarship quarterback throwing during the window was true freshman Max Brown, who is continuing to get a feel for route-timing in the SEC after only playing high school ball for two years. The natural arm talent is there, though, and when he's confident in his timing his accuracy tends to improve. His ability to create natural spin and loft from a 3/4 throwing release is noteworthy, seen on the pass to tight end Arlis Boardingham below.
Participation report
For the first time since camp began. Florida did not have any players in a black no-contact jersey on Saturday as the team prepared for its scrimmage. That being said, there were still several participation updates to come from the two viewing periods of practice.
Wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, cornerback Jason Marshall, linebacker Amari Burney and offensive lineman Ethan White all wore full pads and standard practice jerseys, although the four players removed themselves from the workout once the team broke into individual drills. Pearsall, Marshall and White wore sneakers during the stretching circuit, while Burney changed from cleats into sneakers afterward.
Pearsall, who is reportedly "day-to-day" with bone bruises in his left foot, was seen walking into the facility with a slight limp before participating in the stretching circuit without the walking boot he wore on Friday. Once stretching was over, he departed from the wide receiver unit and AllGators did not see him for the remainder of the viewing window.
Marshall stuck around the group of defensive backs during individual drills and was seen stretching against the wall, remaining limited due to the minor hamstring injury AllGators reported on Friday.
Burney and White's statuses are currently unknown. Burney had worn a no-contact jersey over the previous two days of practice, while White joined him in the black uniform on Friday.
As has been the case throughout all of fall camp, cornerback Jaydon Hill was sidelined while recovering from injury. Quarterback Jalen Kitna, meanwhile, was seen in the facility during the media viewing period for the first time since day four of camp, although he did not throw with the quarterbacks during individual drills.
Clip of the day
There weren't any really exciting throws to get on tape during the media viewing window as the pass-catchers exclusively ran short routes, but this pass from Miller to receiver Taylor Spierto may have been the prettiest of them all. Miller led Spierto perfectly to this ball that the receiver never had to break stride from to haul in.
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