Storylines and Position Battles to Watch During Gators Spring Game

What are some notable storylines and positional battles to pay attention to during the Florida Gators spring game?

Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: Zach Goodall

Florida Gators football returns to the gridiron on Thursday night for the first time since its forgettable 2022 season finale in Las Vegas.

It's the second year of the Billy Napier regime in Gainesville, bringing continuity to a program that hoped to undergo an extensive structural rebuild and culture shift following the peaks and troughs of the Dan Mullen era.

Year one of that top-to-bottom reconstruction brought more lows than highs. Players like Montrell Johnson, Trevor Etienne, Jason Marshall Jr. and a bevy of others return in an attempt to reconcile the lapses that resulted in UF's second straight 6-7 season.

However, while there is welcomed familiarity, the roster's makeup is drastically different. Having brought in 27 new scholarship athletes into the program by way of transfer or the prep level since the last time the team took the field, Thursday will be the first opportunity to see several of those pieces — many of whom will take on integral roles for Florida in just over four months — donning orange and blue threads.

They've participated as part of the team for 14 of the 15 practices allotted for spring camp by the NCAA. 

To conclude the 2023 spring sessions, Napier will lead the Gators onto the field for an intrasquad scrimmage that can highlight some of the team's unknown, bringing expected strengths and room for growth to the surface in a live setting before their season-opening trek to Salt Lake City, Utah on Aug. 31.

All Gators takes a look at notable storylines and positional battles to watch heading into the 7:30 p.m. EST kickoff time in The Swamp.

Storylines

Recruiting

The Orange and Blue game is the first opportunity for the current rendition of the Gators football squad to showcase its talent to the public.

However, potentially an even more important aspect of the night aligns in the talent-acquisition department, with the showcase of sorts doubling as a recruiting event for prospects far and wide to travel to campus. That fact is magnified when factoring in that Florida has a stand-alone spring game date.

Napier’s mentioned on multiple occasions the advantage holding the game on a Thursday has in luring prospective talent to Gainesville for the evening, an experiment he first conducted a year ago in his debut spring scrimmage as UF's head coach.

“It was about avoiding Easter weekend and then also you look at the calendar and OK, we got nine spring games that day right here just in our footprint,” Napier said when asked about the motivation behind setting the date for the game on April 6. 

“We knew we were going to have to compete to get people here. So we moved it to Thursday and thought it went over well. Something about that place under the lights. We got a lot of people off work Friday, so make it a long weekend and come watch the Gators play. Definitely some recruiting strategy that comes with it, for sure.”

The strategy seems to be working in Florida’s favor.

That’s evident by the wide net the coaching staff has cast with over 200 recruits expected in Gainesville on Thursday night, including commits DJ Lagway, Chauncey Bowens and Kahnen Daniels as well as priority prospects Xavier Filsaime and Colin Simmons among others.

That number should be more than the 2022 version of the Orange and Blue spring game, in which about 200 prospects attended.

It’s an opportunity to create valuable momentum by pinning down key pledges to bolster the future roster during the game — or, in Florida’s case, stack momentum as it trends upward on the trail this spring — and make strong impressions on elite players with recruitment timelines scheduled to end further down the road. 

New-look linebacker corps

The rising quarterbacks of the Gators' defense have large shoes to fill in a pressure-heavy system that will stress their leadership abilities.

Are they ready to take on that challenge, or at least on track to do so before the season kick?

At his time last offseason, the linebackers corps held nine combined years of collegiate experience with Ventrell Miller and Amari Burney at the helm. However, their departure to the NFL leaves the Gators in the process of revamping their second level while simultaneously attempting to reconcile their defensive woes over the last three seasons.

The unit has a relative experience due to the team's rotation at the spot a season ago and the acquisition of immediate contributors via the transfer portal.

The youthful pieces and new faces in orange and blue at the position will be crucial factors in the defense's success in 2023.

Thursday night will be the first look at that new personnel group, with Teradja Mitchell and Shemar James expected to lead the unit as starters while Scooby Williams and Mannie Nunnery occupy second-team duties.

That comes while expected middle linebacker contributor Derek Wingo is sidelined due to injuries this spring.

The unit's performance can give valuable insight into how the individuals are meshing and their growth in communication to operate within the defense at a rate that presents higher success rates against opposing offenses in 2023 under Austin Armstrong. 

Related: Young TEs preparing for elevated role in Florida's spring game

Position Battles

Quarterback

All eyes are on the signal callers.

Anthony Richardson's departure to the NFL makes this offseason different from Napier's first, as his starting quarterback isn't set in stone.

Instead, a tight competition between Graham Mertz and Jack Miller III — which Napier has suggested will carry well into the summer as he continues to evaluate each prospective signal caller intently — will be the main focus until the potential season-defining decision is made by the second-year head coach this offseason.

Both have flashed signs that they can take on the role during the spring practice sessions, although neither has done enough to separate himself from the other substantially.

As a result, the duo will appear on both Team Orange and Team Blue, giving Mertz and Miller opportunities to gain reps with the first and second-team offenses. During those snaps, decision-making, accuracy, arm strength, footwork and command of the offense, as expected, will align as vital aspects to define which player has a leg up in the two-man competition. 

While the starter won't be named based on his performance in this modified contest, there is something to be gained from outperforming the other on a live stage in front of the Florida faithful. 

Place Kicker

The Gators have struggled from a field goal-kicking perspective since the departure of Evan McPherson following the 2020 season.

Connecting on just 68.6% (24-for-35) of all field goal attempts over the past two seasons — with Jake Christmann, Chris Howard and Adam Mihalek assuming duties during that time — an emphasis on bolstering the third phase of the game is a focus for Florida this offseason.

In 2022, Mihalek controlled that role unchallenged, splitting the uprights on 14 of his 21 kicks (66.7%) with a long of 52 yards, and knocked through all but one of his 43 extra point attempts.

Despite returning to the fold, Mihalek's lack of overall consistency opens room for rising sophomore Trey Smack. Smack, a former highly touted recruit, performed kickoffs for Florida at points last season and shined an impressively strong leg in said role to warrant the competition.

The spring game was seemingly where Mihalek pulled away in the competition with Howard an offseason ago, resulting in the latter's transfer out of the program post-spring. 

Can a favorite to win the kicking duel emerge with a strong outing in the 2023 rendition of the spring game? Will Mihalek read off the same script that earned him the duties in 2022, or will he be on the opposite side of the coin as Smack elevates himself to assume a slight edge in the battle heading into the summer?

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