Billy Napier addresses Graham Mertz's future at Florida following injury
Week 12 of the college football season was a rough weekend for the Florida Gators. The Gators would lose a close one on the road to SEC East rival the Missouri Tigers 33-31. But that is not all Florida would lose, as starting quarterback Graham Mertz would be lost for the season.
Although Mertz will not suit up and play for Billy Napier and the Gators again this season, that does not mean his time in the program has come to an end. As Florida prepares to face their bitter in-state rival from the ACC, Florida State, who also lost their starting quarterback for the season in Week 12, the Gators head coach took some time to address Mertz’s future in the program.
“I’ll let him handle that, much like we’ve done with players in the past,” said Napier. “They have the process that they want to go through. And out of respect for that, we’re gonna allow them to do that. But Graham has been fantastic. And again, we’ll let him; how does he want to announce his decision? How does he wanna go about that? We’ll let him do that.
After transferring to Florida in the offseason from Wisconsin, Mertz has put together a solid year with the Gators. Unfortunately, it has not amounted to much as Florida is 5-6 on the season and needs a win over the top five ranked Seminoles in order to punch their ticket and to the 2023 bowl season.
Mertz still has time to make his decision on whether to stay or declare for the 2024 NFL Draft. But should he decide to return, it is likely that Napier would welcome him back with open arms as he gives Florida a viable starting quarterback option with the experience to boot.
Napier shares update on Mertz
Mertz suffered a significant injury in the form of a cracked collarbone during Florida’s loss at Missouri this weekend. Now, with that being the case, Billy Napier and the Gators are doing all they can to help him, whether medically or by supporting him as one of their own.
Napier addressed Mertz’s status during his press conference on Monday. He started with an update of how they’re going to go about injury over the next two weeks by sharing their plan as far as treatment and study that they’re going to do that’s in the best interest of their quarterback.
“We took another image yesterday, we felt good about that image,” said Napier. “We’re going to basically go in a two-week period here where we’re going to give the chance for the fracture to start the process of growing back. Then we’ll reevaluate things.”
“I think, in the meantime, we’re going to do exhaustive research on like-cases in college football and in the National Football League relative to players who have been through similar injuries,” Napier explained. “Just making sure that we’re giving him the best map for him going forward with the rest of his career.”
Until they reevalute Mertz, Napier said the Gators are going to do all they can to help him still remain a part of their team in the ways that he can off of the field.