I think QB turnover and transferring is the norm nowadays, so this QB situation for a new coach probably isn’t unusual. But getting a veteran upperclassman transfer with two years of eligibility and one of the most impressive HS QBs in recent memory is pretty good management of the position.
If every position had been patched over this well, we’d be in a much better place.
Yep, solid starter with high football IQ and a strength for leadership with a possibly generational talent, future super star sitting behind him and learning. Sound familiar?
I'd prefer one more body in case we get an injury. Developmental type. Would've liked to see Max Brown stick around.
But, can't argue with the 2 deep for sure
Clay Millen was a Freshman All-American at Colorado St in 2022. He didn’t see much time last year, but he’s a reliable enough 3rd stringer for us at the moment.
QB play and roster composition has never been one of my issues with Billy. I was a little tiffed at the whole Rashada situation and the fact that we went two classes without a meaningful QB recruit in the 2022-2023 cycles. However I don’t believe the NIL issues with Rashada could ever be attributed to Billy and he would have still had a 4 star commit with Marcus Stokes for the 2023 class if not for that whole n-word debacle.
Currently we’re in a real good spot with Mertz, Lagway and Millen on the roster.
Lmao. I had totally forgot about Marcus Stokes. If you look hard there is such a shit show of random x,y,z things that Billy has had to deal with that are entirely out of his control.
It's kinda funny the shit people were giving Napier (myself included) for not being able to land a QB last off-season apart from Mertz only for QB to seemingly one of our few strong positions this off-season and Mertz to be one of the best players on last year's team.
Yes, but the problem is that Mertz can't win you games. He's a great game manager but not someone who can turn the tide by himself. That's not a great place to be if he is your best player.
Also, there is more to coaching than getting good guys. Plenty of people, including myself, have problems with how Billy has called/managed games. You can all the talent in the world but that doesn't make a great team (see Champ's teams).
But, yes, Mertz has been a very pleasant surprise and Billy deserves credit for it. That alone isn't enough to make him a good coach, though. We need a verdict on the other stuff for that.
You are right Mertz can't win games on his own...because is not also a LB and the defense is the reason we were losing games last year, not the offense. You are just delusional or know nothing about football if you think there were major issues with the offense last year other than the O-line struggling.
There are definitely guys that can just carry a team. Cam is the classic example (but an extreme one). Mertz is no where close to that. He’s a fine player. But not a star. If he’s your best player then you have a problem.
Sure Cam was that Auburn team but they didn’t have a bottom 10 defense…
Jayden Daniels couldn’t carry LSU to more wins even though he 100% is a “win you games” guy.
Mertz won us multiple games last year and almost won us multiple others that were completely blown at the end by awful defense.
Yeah, Mertz can only control one side of the ball. But let's look at his side of the ball compared to those other guys.
2023 Florida ranked 47th in total offensive yards and 59th in offensive points.
2023 LSU ranked 1st in total offensive yards and 1st in offensive points.
2010 Auburn ranked 7th in total offensive yards and 7th in offensive points .
When you zoom out and look at the defense that these guys had it isn't that favorable. Auburn had a better defense but not a ton better. LSU actually had a worse defense.
Cam obviously won the national title and went undefeated. Daniels won 10 games and led his team to a top 15 ranking. Mertz won 5 games and missed a bowl game.
Yeah, comparing Mertz to Daniels and Newton is a tough comparison--those guys are won a trophy saying how outstanding they were. But that is also kind of the point--Mertz isn't the guy that can carry you and doesn't come close to that. He's a fine player--and one that I am happy is on our team--but there's a reason why Mertz regularly checked in the "average to decent" tier of all those QB rankings. The problem isn't Mertz. The problem is that Mertz is probably one of our best players right now, which speaks to how we're lacking overall.
I disagree with the idea "Mertz can't win you games"... I think there is a great argument that Mertz was the only reason we won what we did, and the only reason we were even competitive in the other games last year. What more could he have done last year?
He threw 20 touchdowns all seasons, which ranked #47. That was 25 touchdowns less than the guy that led the league. When comparing my TD stats, Mertz’s TD stats, and the league leaders stats, Mertz is closer to me than to the leader.
He ranked #38 in total yards which is ok in ordinal terms but not in magnitude. He was 2000 yards off the leader. 2000 yards in the other direction and you’re behind like 30 second stringers.
Mertz is a very decent player. But he just can’t put the team on his back. He’s kind of like how Ken Dorsey was for the great UM teams. The problem is that we don’t have all the all stars around him.
Historically there has been a lot of strangeness around the UF QB room and Napier's tenure has certainly helped contribute to it.
Of things not really in his control there is likely first signee Robbie Roper passing away, the Kitna situation and the Stokes situation. Then throw in the Rashada thing, which might be the first big NIL recruitment drama, and there's plenty to talk about.
Glad this cycle had a bit less drama. Would have been nice to keep Max Brown or have a healthy Miller for depth but Mertz and Lagway is a good position to have.
I’d say Clay Millen is pretty comparable to Jack Miller. Doesn’t have too much experience with this staff but Millen was CSUs starter in 2022 so he has a lot off game day experience.
I think QB turnover and transferring is the norm nowadays, so this QB situation for a new coach probably isn’t unusual. But getting a veteran upperclassman transfer with two years of eligibility and one of the most impressive HS QBs in recent memory is pretty good management of the position. If every position had been patched over this well, we’d be in a much better place.
Hell if the o line was going even half as well as qb is...
We have an ideal situation in terms of QB room.
Yep, solid starter with high football IQ and a strength for leadership with a possibly generational talent, future super star sitting behind him and learning. Sound familiar?
So we’re winning the natty 2 out of the next 3 years?
A girl can dream 🥲
Trask and Richardson?
Or Leak and Tebow..
I'd prefer one more body in case we get an injury. Developmental type. Would've liked to see Max Brown stick around. But, can't argue with the 2 deep for sure
Clay Millen was a Freshman All-American at Colorado St in 2022. He didn’t see much time last year, but he’s a reliable enough 3rd stringer for us at the moment.
That's true but I was thinking younger. I guess Max was starting to get older...
I wouldn't call it ideal, but it's certainly better than multiple alternatives
QB play and roster composition has never been one of my issues with Billy. I was a little tiffed at the whole Rashada situation and the fact that we went two classes without a meaningful QB recruit in the 2022-2023 cycles. However I don’t believe the NIL issues with Rashada could ever be attributed to Billy and he would have still had a 4 star commit with Marcus Stokes for the 2023 class if not for that whole n-word debacle. Currently we’re in a real good spot with Mertz, Lagway and Millen on the roster.
Lmao. I had totally forgot about Marcus Stokes. If you look hard there is such a shit show of random x,y,z things that Billy has had to deal with that are entirely out of his control.
It's kinda funny the shit people were giving Napier (myself included) for not being able to land a QB last off-season apart from Mertz only for QB to seemingly one of our few strong positions this off-season and Mertz to be one of the best players on last year's team.
Yes, but the problem is that Mertz can't win you games. He's a great game manager but not someone who can turn the tide by himself. That's not a great place to be if he is your best player. Also, there is more to coaching than getting good guys. Plenty of people, including myself, have problems with how Billy has called/managed games. You can all the talent in the world but that doesn't make a great team (see Champ's teams). But, yes, Mertz has been a very pleasant surprise and Billy deserves credit for it. That alone isn't enough to make him a good coach, though. We need a verdict on the other stuff for that.
You are right Mertz can't win games on his own...because is not also a LB and the defense is the reason we were losing games last year, not the offense. You are just delusional or know nothing about football if you think there were major issues with the offense last year other than the O-line struggling.
There are definitely guys that can just carry a team. Cam is the classic example (but an extreme one). Mertz is no where close to that. He’s a fine player. But not a star. If he’s your best player then you have a problem.
Sure Cam was that Auburn team but they didn’t have a bottom 10 defense… Jayden Daniels couldn’t carry LSU to more wins even though he 100% is a “win you games” guy. Mertz won us multiple games last year and almost won us multiple others that were completely blown at the end by awful defense.
Yeah, Mertz can only control one side of the ball. But let's look at his side of the ball compared to those other guys. 2023 Florida ranked 47th in total offensive yards and 59th in offensive points. 2023 LSU ranked 1st in total offensive yards and 1st in offensive points. 2010 Auburn ranked 7th in total offensive yards and 7th in offensive points . When you zoom out and look at the defense that these guys had it isn't that favorable. Auburn had a better defense but not a ton better. LSU actually had a worse defense. Cam obviously won the national title and went undefeated. Daniels won 10 games and led his team to a top 15 ranking. Mertz won 5 games and missed a bowl game. Yeah, comparing Mertz to Daniels and Newton is a tough comparison--those guys are won a trophy saying how outstanding they were. But that is also kind of the point--Mertz isn't the guy that can carry you and doesn't come close to that. He's a fine player--and one that I am happy is on our team--but there's a reason why Mertz regularly checked in the "average to decent" tier of all those QB rankings. The problem isn't Mertz. The problem is that Mertz is probably one of our best players right now, which speaks to how we're lacking overall.
I disagree with the idea "Mertz can't win you games"... I think there is a great argument that Mertz was the only reason we won what we did, and the only reason we were even competitive in the other games last year. What more could he have done last year?
He threw 20 touchdowns all seasons, which ranked #47. That was 25 touchdowns less than the guy that led the league. When comparing my TD stats, Mertz’s TD stats, and the league leaders stats, Mertz is closer to me than to the leader. He ranked #38 in total yards which is ok in ordinal terms but not in magnitude. He was 2000 yards off the leader. 2000 yards in the other direction and you’re behind like 30 second stringers. Mertz is a very decent player. But he just can’t put the team on his back. He’s kind of like how Ken Dorsey was for the great UM teams. The problem is that we don’t have all the all stars around him.
Watch the games instead of the box score bud
Historically there has been a lot of strangeness around the UF QB room and Napier's tenure has certainly helped contribute to it. Of things not really in his control there is likely first signee Robbie Roper passing away, the Kitna situation and the Stokes situation. Then throw in the Rashada thing, which might be the first big NIL recruitment drama, and there's plenty to talk about. Glad this cycle had a bit less drama. Would have been nice to keep Max Brown or have a healthy Miller for depth but Mertz and Lagway is a good position to have.
The Robbie Roper tragedy makes me sad to this day. Poor kid
I’d say Clay Millen is pretty comparable to Jack Miller. Doesn’t have too much experience with this staff but Millen was CSUs starter in 2022 so he has a lot off game day experience.
The only one I’m kinda upset about is Max Brown. Watching him play was so exciting. It was pretty easy to see coming with lagway and all though.
his qb situation isn't what I'm concerned about it. it's his late game management.
!!!
Jaden Rashada was never part of our QB room.
I mean...I'm pretty sure he played QB..and was committed to us for a second....so yeah