Mailbag: Answering Your Questions About Florida's Week 2 Defeat

All Gators answers your questions about Florida's loss to the Kentucky Wildcats and quarterback Anthony Richardson's struggles in Week 2.

Photo: Anthony Richardson; Credit: Alex Shepherd 

Our second edition of the All Gators' Florida Gators mailbag is here, and following a grounding loss to the Kentucky Wildcats this past Saturday, the vibe is totally different this time around.

We had far more mailbag submissions following Florida's Week 1 win, this time around only gathering four questions. Still, we've answered each one below.

From Tizz: How well do you think the QB is reading the defense pre-snap? Do you think the QB is getting past the first read in most cases? And what are your top three play calls that you would call for a struggling QB? 

I don't think Richardson had many extended reads to go through against Kentucky. The gameplan didn't appear to expand from a week ago against Utah in terms of passing concepts and, for a combination of reasons, a lot of Richardson passes seemed pre-determined in Week 2. 

That isn't to say Richardson didn't successfully go through his passing progressions against the Utes. We saw Richardson make a couple of great post-first-read throws against Utah, his 23-yard seam shot to Ricky Pearsall being a prime example.

But the route concepts were very similar in Week 2 compared to Week 1, with significantly fewer opportunities for Richardson to move the pocket and get through his reads. After a few big gains (15+ yards) to start the evening, most of his throws against the Wildcats were quick hitters, and he struggled with accuracy and touch as the game went along.

The responding drive to Kentucky's first touchdown, in the early second quarter, started with a 40-yard rush by Montrell Johnson that could have opened things up. UF's next three plays? An outside screen, a read option and a bubble screen, combining for two yards and leading to an Adam Mihalek field goal. 

There were similar situations in which playcalling indicated a lack of trust in Richardson going through reads and pushing the ball as the game went on: Running down the clock as halftime approached, the 4th and 3 hot read to Ja'Quavion Fraziars (who was pressed on a slant) in the fourth quarter after three consecutive runs, and so on. He only completed four passes of 10 yards or more after the first quarter, although poorly placed, intermediate first-read throws contributed to that small number.

Florida could have been more committed to the run game to take stress off of Richardson, so I'd begin answering the second question by incorporating rushes that were working (power and counter out of the pistol, for example). 

I'd have specifically tried to move to pocket for Richardson with designed roll-outs and Hi-Lo half-field reads to spread out the passing game. That way, Richardson could have utilized his strengths with simpler passing concepts to the boundary while wearing out Kentucky defenders, and the outside focus likely would have eventually created openings inside the seams and on mesh concepts where Richardson would have gained more comfort passing from the pocket.

From Dan: Richardson seemed to have a "Shane Falco moment" checking into an ill-advised run. How concerned are you about where his head and confidence are at going into rest of season, and how long a leash do you think he has as Napier establishes his identity here as a coach?

You never want to hear your quarterback admit that their confidence was shot in a game, but Richardson let that quote slip after the loss to Kentucky. To his credit, it took a lot of accountability for him to step up and completely shoulder the blame for the defeat when, in actuality, he wasn't fully responsible for the loss. You do want to see that kind of leadership from your signal-caller.

Now, all you can hope for is that Richardson will work tirelessly to correct his mistakes. At the very least, he seems motivated to do so.

Richardson, at the very least, has the rest of this year to prove himself as Florida's QB1. I seriously doubt we'll see Napier move to Jack Miller III, Jalen Kitna or a walk-on at any point aside from an injury to Richardson considering their lack of experience. 

Richardson is in a similar boat as those quarterbacks when it comes to lacking experience, but none of them come close to matching his physical and athletic prowess. He's got the starting role on lock as a result.

From JFG: Why is Nay'Quan Wright RB1?

I don't necessarily think that's the case, even though he's listed as such on the depth chart.

As foreshadowed in the preseason, Florida is taking a committee approach in its rushing game. The Gators followed a pretty strict rotation between their running backs on a series-by-series basis against Kentucky: Wright, then Johnson, then Trevor Etienne. Etienne subbed in for Johnson on 2nd and 9 to wrap up the second quarter, and Johnson was in the start the second half before the rotation restarted from the top.

So far, Johnson leads the room with 19 carries for 137 yards and a touchdown, Wright ranks second with 18 carries for 63 yards, and Etienne stands in third with 14 carries for 110 yards and score. Johnson and Etienne have both caught two passes while Wright has caught zero, as well.

Etienne saw his carries nearly double from Week 1 to Week 2 and made the most of them, so Wright will have to boost his efficiency (3.5 yards per carry) before he becomes UF's third-most utilized back. All that being said, I expect a heavy rotation to continue at the position.

From GatorJosh: In your opinion, what do you think Billy’s overall strategy is for this season in regards to play on the field and players on the current roster? Like his goals, etc…

The running back breakdown above encapsulates the strategy pretty well, in my opinion, although specific rotation strategies will obviously differ at each position. 

Offensively, five different receivers have been targeted this year and at least seven have earned snaps; 12-personnel has been used infrequently, but when in 11-personnel, the Gators have rotated Keon Zipperer and Dante Zanders at tight end; even Richie Leonard IV earned rotational snaps at left guard in place of a healthy Ethan White against Kentucky.

Defensively, the Gators are aiming to be legitimately two or three players deep at each defensive line position. We've seen Gervon Dexter, Tyreak Sapp and Chris McClellan rotate significantly at one defensive end spot, Princely Umanmielen and Justus Boone at the other, and Jalen Lee and Desmond Watson split snaps in the middle at nose tackle. The same applies at JACK edge rusher, with Brenton Cox Jr. and Antwaun Powell-Ryland Jr. primarily splitting reps there.

Freshman Shemar James has taken the first snap at inside linebacker two weeks in a row, although he isn't considered a starter. This reflects the Gators' usage of three "inside linebackers", with starter Amari Burney technically aligning outside, opposite of the JACK rusher. Jeremiah Williams had already begun to rotate at linebacker before Ventrell Miller's injury, too.

Kamari Wilson, Donovan McMillon and Jadarrius Perkins have earned significant snaps at safety and STAR in rotation with Rashad Torrence II, Trey Dean III and Tre'Vez Johnson; Jalen Kimber and Devin Moore earned a series at cornerback for every two drives Jason Marshall Jr. and Avery Helm played on Saturday.

All of these rotations, featuring a lot of inexperienced players and freshmen, point to Napier attempting to mature Florida's roster with game reps. 

This should come as no surprise. Napier said all offseason that UF's depth is extremely limited when it comes to experience, and snap shares are ultimately how they'll gain the reps needed to be depended on when their number is called upon.

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