Billy Napier: Florida preparing for 'all of the above' for Utah's quarterback situation

When Florida travels out west to play Utah on Thursday, there will still likely be a big game-planning question left unanswered: Who will start at quarterback for Utah? With presumed starter Cam Rising still working back from an ACL tear suffered in the Rose Bowl, the Utes quarterback situation is in flux.

As such, Florida head coach Billy Napier said the defensive staff is prepping for basically every possibility. He said each of the Utah quarterbacks are slightly different from each other, necessitating a mixed bag of defensive game planning.

“But there’s really some unique players at quarterback that they have on the roster that cause you to really evaluate all of the scenarios that could happen. I know our defensive staff has been working on that,” Napier said.

As of Friday, Aug. 18, Rising still wasn’t fully participating in practice at fall camp. Further hurting Utah, his backup, Brandon Rose, had been injured in a recent scrimmage and may not be available for the opener, either.

That could be redshirt junior Bryson Barnes under center for the season opener against Florida.

With a lack of certainty on the quarterback they’ll be facing, Florida is ultimately prepping for all the possible scenarios they might need to defend.

“Well we’re preparing for all of the above is what I would say. And I do think they have very capable players, right? But we got to see Cam live and in person. Certainly know Cam, his family, ton of respect for him as a person but competitor, leader, football player. He’s a real quarterback,” Napier said. “And so we’re doing all the homework we can here.”

The Utah-Florida Thursday night game is getting prime treatment from ESPN

The top ESPN college football crew of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Holly Rowe will be out west as Florida travels to face Utah on Thursday, Aug. 31, according to Gators Online’s Nick de la Torre.

The 2023 matchup is a return game from Utah’s trip to Gainesville in 2022, where the Gators won, 29-26, via an interception late in the fourth quarter. Now any similar drama will be scored by a Fowler call and some Herbstreit analysis.

The matchup between Utah and Florida is also one of the best games in the ESPN inventory for Week 1 until LSU and Florida State play on ABC on Sunday. The FSU-LSU game in 2022 was called by Joe Tessitore and Greg McElroy.