Graham Mertz Excited for 'Fresh Start' With Billy Napier's Gators
Photo: Graham Mertz; Credit: Zach Goodall
Graham Mertz was ready for a change.
By way of the NCAA transfer portal, Mertz landed in Gainesville this past December after four years at Wisconsin, including three seasons and 32 games as the Badgers' starting signal-caller.
"I’m just refreshed, man," Mertz told reporters on Saturday. "I wake up every day with just joy to have a fresh start."
After four scholarship-level passers — Anthony Richardson and Jalen Kitna from the roster and Jaden Rashada and Marcus Stokes as recruits — were removed from the program's future plans for a plethora of headline-worthy reasons between Nov. 2022 and Jan. 2023, the Florida Gators were just as joyous to offer Mertz a new beginning.
Provided the attrition UF's quarterback room had encountered, Mertz, a seasoned veteran of college football, was exactly the kind of player head coach Billy Napier was looking for at the position.
"We evaluated a lot of quarterbacks in the portal. You’re talking about a guy who started 32 games, an experienced player, and I do believe he’s got unique tools," Napier said of Mertz on Feb. 1, later sharing his belief that 24 transfer quarterbacks were evaluated by an eight-man staff including himself.
"I think we’re getting an experienced player that’s got arm talent, that can process, and wanted to be at Florida. He has been fantastic. I think he has proven his work ethic, just observing him and hearing other players talk about him — the work he’s done with our staff, not only strength and conditioning but also every part of training, nutrition and film study. The guy’s a very experienced player.”
The experience, however, comes with a share of highs and lows.
Mertz shined in his first career start with the Badgers in 2020, completing an incredible 20-of-21 passes with five touchdowns in a 45-7 victory over Illinois. But a team-wide COVID-19 outbreak, involving a positive test result for Mertz, forced Wisconsin to cancel its next two games — and he went on to toss multiple touchdowns in just seven of his next 31 appearances.
A knack for turnovers — 26 interceptions and 12 fumbles — joined a lack of scoring in that stretch of Mertz's career, a span in which the Badgers went 19-13.
Wisconsin's 2022 firing of head coach Paul Chryst gave Mertz an out. But before leaving, he produced a résumé-topping performance by — again — throwing for five touchdowns and zero interceptions in a game, the week after Chryst was fired.
“We had a really good team that cared about each other and wanted to succeed. I just think that it came down to communication things where there were little gray areas that we needed to fix," Mertz expressed about his time with the Badgers.
"Love that place, love those people, but yeah, I was at that point in my career where I needed a fresh start and I was excited for that."
Florida welcomed Mertz for a visit six days after he entered the transfer portal, on Dec. 10, and Napier's NFL-esque program structure quickly enthralled the rising fifth-year vet.
He committed to the Gators 11 days later and was with the team before the new year and offseason workouts began, immediately ready to begin the new chapter of his football career.
"I came down here and I mean, you fall in love with the weather, you fall in love with people. Great coaches, great teammates," Mertz recalled from his visit. "I love the direction that coach Napier is taking this ... it's a pro-program. You can take program, but if you capitalize the pro, that's how he runs it here.
"So really, just from the start, fell in love with this and I knew this is the place where I wanted to be.”
The slate has been wiped clean; performances of the past are exactly that. Napier and the Gators are moving forward without fear of Mertz's box score, but instead with the belief that the fresh start as Florida's signal-caller can do him well.
Mertz is similarly confident in the possibility thanks to, in comparison to Wisconsin, the lack of gray area in Napier's approach to team improvement.
"You come down here and there's no gray. There's a plan for everything," Mertz explained. "You stick to the plan, you follow your rules and you do it.
“We're all striving for one common goal and no one goes away from that. It’s how you go about your business every day and I think that starts from the top down. Coach Napier sets a fantastic example of that. And then from that just across the board, players, coaches, equipment staff, strength staff, every day we have a set plan of what we're doing and that's what I think is a true program.”
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