How Florida can dictate Week 1 vs. Utah with talent-filled backfield
If Florida is to come out with a victory against Utah on Thursday night, On3‘s J.D. PicKell believes it will need to establish the run early. The Gators are set to travel to Salt Lake City to take on the No. 14 Utes and will no longer have dual threat quarterback Anthony Richardson — who totaled 106 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns in last year’s opener — to lean on.
That puts the pressure on the running back duo of Trevor Etienne and Montrell Johnson to set the tone. The pair combined for 1,560 yards and 16 touchdowns in 2022, and PicKell believes they aren’t getting enough respect entering this year.
“Make no mistake, they have quietly one of the best backfield in America,” he said in a recent episode of The Hard Count. “Everyone talks about Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards and they talk about Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen and those two backfields are absolutely worth talking about. But for Florida with Trevor Etienne and Montrell Johnson, those two dudes quietly had some of the best yards per carry in the country last year. The epitome of consistent.
“They’re gonna be a run-first football team. Graham Mertz, first time in the saddle for Florida. Played a lot of football. But they want to control the line of scrimmage. They want to make Utah put numbers into the box. They want to make them say, ‘If we’re going to lose to Florida, it’s gonna be by Graham Mertz throwing the football.'”
Florida rushed for 283 yards and four touchdowns in last season’s 29-26 victory against Utah. Mertz, who transfers in from Wisconsin to take over for Richardson, is more of a pocket passer with -21 rushing yards over his four-year career.
Utah finished this past season as a top 20 rushing defense with 111.4 ground yards allowed per game. Meanwhile, the Gators were just one of 24 FBS schools who averaged more than 200 yards rushing in 2022.
Even with Richardson gone and Mertz taking over, PicKell believes Florida will still lean on the run this season. That makes Etienne and Johnson key pieces as the Gators will aim to control the tempo and key Utah’s offense off the field.
“Florida wants to say, ‘You stack the box all you want to. We love our backfield. We’re coming downhill at ‘ya. We’ve got fresh legs in there. Let’s get after it. We like our horses. We’re gonna ride ’em,'” PicKell continued. “Florida wants to dictate the tempo of this football game, meaning they want to extend drives. They want to keep that Utah defense out there for 9-10 plays at a time (and) get points off the drive. They want to wear them down, take time off the clock and keep the ball in Florida’s backfield’s hands.
“The only way they can do that is if they’re able to have success up front. Able to get what they want to get from a yards per carry standpoint. …They’ve got the talent to do it, I’m just curious to see how they stack up against this Utah defense.”
Center Kingsley Eguakun is the lone returning starter on the offensive line, so there are some questions on that front entering the season. But if the Gators can find production there, it could be another successful year running the football in Gainesville.
Florida and Utah are set to kick off at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday in Salt Lake City.