Graham Mertz to Participate in Manning Passing Academy

Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz is coming off a season that saw him throw for 20 touchdowns against only three interceptions.

Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz / Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY

Florida Gators quarterback Graham Mertz will be one of 10 SEC quarterbacks to participate in the 2024 Manning Passing Academy in June, according to Garland Gillen of FOX 8 (WVUE-TV). 

Mertz joins Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Georgia’s Carson Beck, LSU Garrett Nussmeier, Mississippi State’s Blake Shapen’s, Missouri’s Brady Cook, Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold, Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart, and Texas’s Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning as quarterbacks from the SEC to act as counselors. 

This year will be the 28th year the Manning family holds the camp, which “embraces the basic fundamentals of football while catering to the offensive skill positions of RB, TE, WR ... and of course QB,” according to its website. 

The camp, which will run from June 27-30, is catered to young athletes from 8th grade to seniors in high school with college athletes acting as counselors while also training themselves. 

The last UF quarterback to participate in the MPA was Anthony Richardson in 2022, during which he wowed viewers with his arm strength. 

Coming off a career year in 2023, Mertz elected to return to Florida for his sixth and final year of college while hoping to lead the Gators to its first winning season since 2020.

"It’s a big deal for the Florida Gators that Graham Mertz is back to play quarterback," said UF head coach Billy Napier after Florida’s first spring practice in March. 

Mertz put up career-highs in passing yards (2,903) and touchdowns (20), a career-low in interceptions (three) and broke school records in completion percentage (72.9%) and consecutive passes without an interception (239).

Although being selected in the draft would have been a strong possibility, six-consecutive losses to end the season, five of which Mertz started, along with his season-ending collarbone injury in the second-to-last game, left him feeling there was unfinished business in Gainesville. 

"Frankly, I was unsatisfied with last year. I base my satisfaction [on], 'Did we win every game?' And I think that's the only way to go about playing this game and being at the quarterback position," Mertz said during the Gators’ spring camp. 

"I think that's what should drive you. I don't really ever try to put weight into external things, good, bad or ugly, because I personally don't think that has any impact on how I'm doing my job. It's, 'Are you here and are you doing your job to the best of your ability?' We won five games. Point blank that's not it. That's why I'm back. And that's why we're fixing it."

Another aspect to Mertz’s return to Florida is his role as a player-coach and mentor in the room. Outside of walk-on Parker Leise, Mertz is the only quarterback from the 2023 team still left on the roster. 

Additionally, Mertz has been tasked with helping mold and mentoring five-star freshman DJ Lagway, who is considered the heir to the quarterback position. 

"Graham’s on a mission. [He] came back with a purpose," Napier said during spring camp. "Not only to increase his value personally but for our team to accomplish more. And then certainly DJ being a young player, being a rookie, there’s a ton to learn there. The advantage of DJ being able to observe Graham and certainly Graham’s embraced that mentorship and done a phenomenal job so far.”