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Inside the Gators takes a look back on the Florida-Miami game and hands out positional grades based on the performance of UF’s players and coaches, by the numbers, hot and not, and the bottom line.
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GRADES
| POS | COMMENT | GRADE |
| QB | Florida spent the offseason touting a more wide-open offense that would take shots down the field and hit more explosive plays. To their credit, they did attempt to do that early on, but at the end of the day, Graham Mertz simply isn’t a deep-ball quarterback. Actually, any attempt over 15-yards through the air was an adventure. He is simply a dink-and-dunk, game-manager type. Live with that or move on to DJ Lagway. Speaking of Lagway, yes, he showed promise as a quarterback with a big arm who can move in the pocket. His ceiling is incredible. However, keep in mind he came into the game when UM was up by four touchdowns. The defense wasn’t playing with anywhere near the intensity at that point in the game. No matter what though, it might be time to thank Mertz for what he’s added to the program, but start phasing Lagway in more prominently. Two grades here, the first for Mertz, the second for Lagway | F/B- |
| RB | As bad as the offensive line was pass-blocking, they were equally as inept opening holes for the backs. The one clear time that they did, 71-yards later Montrell Johnson Jr. was in the endzone. Take off that explosive play, and the backs combined to gain 53-yards on 16 carries (3.3 YPC) | C- |
| WR | As a group, they combined to catch 12 of the 14 passes completed on the day. Early on, it looked like the group, especially Elijhah Badger, might be a factor, but that didn’t pan out. There’s talent and depth in this group if Florida can figure out the passing game. I don’t want to grade them too harshly, without taking into consideration the play of Graham Mertz. | C |
| TE | I don’t know the exact snap counts, but much like the first two seasons, Florida plays way too much 12 personnel considering the talent level of the room. Hayden Hansen is a better blocker than a pass catcher, while Arlis Boardingham is an okay pass catcher and a liability as a blocker. On Saturday the duo combined for four yards on one catch. You won’t convince me that UF wouldn’t be better off with one less tight end and one more receiver on the field. And don’t put all the blame on the tight ends. In his first year, Billy Napier hired William Peagler to coach the position, though he had never been a tight ends coach before. He replaced him with Russ Callaway, who, you guessed it, had never been an onfield tight ends coach before. | D- |
| OL | I commented early on in the game thread, that through the first two series, given the competition, I thought Florida’s offensive line was holding up pretty well in pass blocking. Then you started seeing some mixing and matching. Kamryn Waites moved inside to right guard and Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson played tackle. Devon Manuel replaced Austin Barber at left tackle. Billy Napier clarified on Monday that the staff had predetermined substitutions along the line (Manuel was playing the 3rd, 6th, and 9th series) The numbers (only three sacks and one quarterback hit) don’t do the amount of pressure this unit gave up justice. If we learned anything in this game it is that the starting right side should be in the bench area the first time the offense takes the field against Samford. | F |
| DL | In our Preseason Superlatives, I wrote that perhaps the biggest question about the defense was where is the pass rush going to come from without Kingsley Umanmielen? One game into the season and we’re still looking for that answer. Florida’s defensive line put up little fight on the day. Some of that was by design, in that they only rushed three men some, and other times, you could tell they weren’t pinning their ears back and coming after Cam Ward in order to keep him in the pocket. Still, when they did rush, with intent, they still didn’t accomplish anything. Florida will face at least three more lines who are every bit as good as Miami’s. If the defensive line can’t get this figured out, look for more high-scoring affairs. The good news was Kamran James looked like he could be a difference maker in the making. | F |
| LB | If there was a single bright spot in giving up a record 41 points in a home opener, it was the play of Grayson Howard (led the team in total tackles) and Shemar James (led the team in solo tackles and recorded an interception). Backup RJ Moten also had a solid day. | B+ |
| DB | For Cam Ward and Company, it had to almost feel like they were spending a Saturday afternoon in the park, playing around, going ‘on air’ as he completed 26-of-35 attempts for 385-yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Florida’s secondary didn’t record a pick and only had two pass breakups while allowing nine completions (30, 28, 24, 40, 22, 23, 27, 29 & 35) over 20 yards. | F |
| ST | A rarity on Saturday, and for the unit, perhaps the biggest overall plus for Florida was the special teams. Jeremy Crawshaw pinned UM inside their 20 on three of his five punts (including a 61-yarder). Trey Smack was perfect for the day. Chimere Dike had a couple of nice punt returns and Jadan Baugh had a 35-yard kickoff return. Even more impressive, they had the right amount of players on the field each time and didn’t commit a penalty. | A |
| CO | An abjective failure in all aspects other than special teams. To think that the staff spent eight months in preparation, and that is the product is mind-boggling. It appears as though Billy Napier‘s biggest offseason blunder wasn’t bringing in an offensive coordinator to run his offense, rather than making an in-house promotion to tweak what isn’t exactly elite to begin with. | F |
HOT & NOT – FIVE-BY-FIVE
The five most memorable performances
Joe Houston – As you can see with the grade above, what a turnaround by Florida’s special teams. Just when I thought Ron Roberts was the best offseason coaching staff addition, Houston proved me wrong.
Grayson Howard – You might question his choice of programs after he left South Carolina (who almost lost to Old Dominion) for Florida (who was blown out of the water by Miami), but there’s no questioning his talent level. To be that big and still make the plays he makes in space. He has an incredible future ahead of him.
Montrell Johnson Jr. – The biggest question mark heading into the game was what was his availiblity going to be and was the knee okay. He answered that with his 71-yard touchdown scamper in the second quarter.
DJ Lagway – He didn’t have a ‘wow’ he’s going to make Sportscenter type of debut, but you can see that he has the tools to elevate an offense, even this one. One thing we’ve seen over the last few years, and even with Cam Ward on Saturday, an elite quarterback can help hide a lot of issues. Lagway is potentially an elite quarterback.
Jake Slaughter – One year ago, when he was forced to start the Utah game on the road for Kingsley Eguakun, we wondered if he was up to the task. Well, maybe not that day, but he certainly is now. He and Austin Barber are the two most solid pieces of Florida’s front five.
The five most forgettable performances
Graham Mertz – So much hype entering the season, mostly based on what fans heard during the offseason. He is as tough as nails, a hell of a leader, and a hell of a Gator, but it might be time to concede that Florida has reached its ceiling with him at quarterback and hand Lagway the reigns at least by splitting snaps.
Billy Napier – More on him below, but you have to feel like the clock is ticking after that embarrassing disaster.
Kamryn Waites – Last week Billy Napier proudly told the story of how his staff at Louisana discovered Waites and that part of making an evaluation on him was watching his basketball film. Instead of gloating about why ULL wanted him, he should have been focused more on why 130 other DI programs didn’t. It might have saved him from a tough decision, and Graham Mertz some pain and suffering. There is nothing wrong with taking a big swing on a developmental player now and then, but you aren’t going to compete in the SEC doing it very often.
Damieon George Jr. – A bad game was highlighted even more by his lackadaisical approach to trying to make a tackle, or at least hustle, during Graham Mertz‘s interception. At this point though, realistically, how surprised can you be considering he was benched his last year at Alabama and terrible his first year at Florida? This is more on the coaching staff than it is on him. As Steve Spurrier used to say, he didn’t blame the player for the mistake, he blamed himself or his coaches for putting them out there to begin with. That fits this situation to a T.
Asa Turner – For all the hype, he recorded exactly one tackle and when you saw him on Saturday, it was mostly the back of his jersey while he was chasing Miami receivers down the field after the catch. The funniest anti-Cam Ward argument I heard leading up to the game is that this is an SEC defense, it’s different than the Pac12 defenses he was used to facing. At the same time, those same people were playing up Turner, who played safety in the same Pac12 conference whose secondaries fans were denigrating.
BY THE NUMBERS
0 – Florida went 0-5 on third down conversions in the first half of the game. Among those were a couple of terrible third-down play calls that gave the Gators almost no chance at picking up a first down.
1 – It didn’t get much better in the second half as the Gators went 1-of-4 on third down conversions. UF finished 1-of-9 overall. While Miami on the other hand was 5-of-10.
7 – After spending the preseason taking up how much more explosive this offense is and needs to be, Florida only had a total of seven explosive plays on Saturday.
DEFINING MOMENT
Miami’s first possession begins at their own 16 and they methodically walk down the field in what looks like the beginning of a long day for the Gators’ defense. Then at the UF 19-yard line Tyreak Sapp and Michai Boireau combine to stop Mark Fletcher for no gain on first down and then Cam Ward throws incomplete to Sam Brown on second and 10. On third and 10 it looks like UF gets the stop with another Ward incompletion, but instead, Justus Boone is flagged for roughing the passer. Suppose UF could have gotten off the field there with no worse than a three-point deficit, who knows? Maybe it gives the defense a boost. Instead, two plays later UM is in the endzone and off and running.
THE BOTTOM LINE
I have tweeted and posted multiple times, putting coaching to the side, from a personal standpoint, Billy Napier is genuine. The type of person you want to see succeed. He is one hell of a nice guy.
Maybe that’s the problem.
Maybe nice guys do finish last – especially in the SEC.
They might be great coaches, but no one is going to mistake Nick Saban or Kirby Smart for being nice guys.
They are intense, to the point of being a bit of an asshole.
During Florida’s beatdown at the hands of No. 19 Miami on Saturday, of the many contributing factors, a lack of energy and intensity stood out. At no point did we see a visible reaction from Napier.
Post-game, though I already knew the answer, I asked if at halftime he exploded in the locker room, maybe turned over a table or two, and jumped in some faces. He, of course, didn’t. It’s not his nature. He is truly a good guy. His approach is more along the lines of let’s focus on the positives and try to turn this around.
I was told that a couple of players and coaches were furious, with Brandon Spikes standing out as one of them.
To me though, that has more impact coming from the head coach. Being loved is great, but they also need to fear you some. This is a job to the players. A paying job at that. They need to be in fear of losing their job if they don’t perform.
While Napier’s all-around record is abysmal, even 11-15 is a little deceiving because he has four wins against FCS and non-P5 programs, making him 7-15 in games that matter.
That’s simply not going to get it done and if he isn’t able to turn this around and find some fire, he’s going to certainly be fired himself.
I need to change my name to get Napier out of it.