Projecting Florida's 2023 Quarterback Depth Chart

Photo (left to right): Florida quarterbacks Max Brown, Graham Mertz and Jack Miller III; Credit: Zach Goodall

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The time for a decision is approaching. 

Florida remains without an announced starting quarterback entering the 2023 season, which is slated to begin Aug. 31 against Utah in Salt Lake City. 

Head coach Billy Napier has been methodical in his assessment of UF's three scholarship quarterbacks over the course of the offseason, evaluating each passer — not only their abilities but also their leadership qualities — in workouts, the meeting room, spring and fall practices, and team scrimmages.

An apparent favorite has emerged, but the decision remains unofficial until the head coach puts the word out. That's where we come in. 

All Gators will go position by position to project Florida's 2023 football depth chart as the season nears. If the lede didn't make it clear, we're beginning with the quarterbacks.

Projected Florida Gators 2023 QB Depth Chart

Starter: Graham Mertz

To no surprise, we predict Florida will name Mertz its starting quarterback for the 2023 season. If anything, it should have happened a while ago. 

However, Napier on numerous occasions has suggested that the choice should become clear to him by the conclusion of Thursday's intrasquad scrimmage, the team's first of the fall. If Saturday's open practice served as any kind of foreshadowing of the scrimmage, Mertz will command the majority of first-team reps in the game-like setting. 

"[The scrimmage will] have a lot to do with it. But we've seen the body of work and it's all going to matter," Napier told reporters about the quarterback battle on Aug. 7. "We're right in the middle of that process and we do have competition and we're looking forward to watching those guys for the next couple days." 

Should this prediction become correct, the 2023 campaign would be Mertz's fourth as a starter at the collegiate level. But his fifth-year redshirt junior season will be his first in the SEC following an offseason transfer from Wisconsin.

There, Mertz led the Badgers' offense in 32 games, completing 59.1% of his passes with 5,332 passing yards, 38 touchdowns and 26 interceptions as a first-team signal-caller. He also rushed for eight scores. 

"Really pleased with what Graham brings to our team," Napier said regarding Mertz at SEC Media Days in July. "When you think about over 2,000 snaps, 32 starts, he’s caused others to respond.

"He's doing exactly what you would want a veteran quarterback to do. This is like acquiring a free agent that has played multiple years as a starter. He's learning our system, he's embraced our methods, our way of doing things."

Florida's other quarterbacks don't possess the same degree of playing experience as Mertz, and they haven't received public praise from their head coach like the above quote to the extent that Mertz has this offseason. 

The choice seems pretty obvious. 

Backup: Max Brown and Jack Miller III

The battle at quarterback this fall, at least from an outsider's perspective, has been for the role of Mertz's backup and not the right to start. This competition isn't as easy to make a clear-cut prediction about.

Entering the fall, fourth-year redshirt sophomore Jack Miller III could have been considered the favorite for this role with the advantage of playing experience on his side. He has appeared in seven games across three seasons of college football, including a starting debut with Florida in the 2022 Las Vegas Bowl.

Max Brown, meanwhile, has only played quarterback for three years. 

Although he had a ways to go in his development at the time he emerged on Florida's radar as a recruit, Brown's physical and athletic attributes intrigued Napier and his scouting staff as they looked to wrap up the class of 2022.

After a year of sharpening those skills and his passing mechanics, however, Brown has impressed over the course of the offseason and has been observed throwing to projected second and even first-teamers often in practice.

“Max has made improvement. I think he's a classic example of a really good athlete and just started playing quarterback a couple of years in high school, and we took the guy for those reasons specifically," Napier said about Brown on Aug. 3.

"The quarterback blueprint that the use of the summer is pretty rigorous, and I think he's benefited from that. There's no doubt his accuracy is improved. I think he's cleaned up his footwork, his stroke is much more consistent. 

Napier did acknowledge an "information gap" remains for Brown to close on the mental side of playing quarterback. Regardless, the progress the redshirt freshman has made thus far has put him in a position to fight for a meaningful role in 2023 and beyond.

Miller's experience shouldn't be discounted, though, and according to starting wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, neither should his physical and mental abilities. Miller completed 13-of-22 passes for 180 yards for the then-depleted Gators in their 30-3 loss to Oregon State last postseason, four of which were caught by Pearsall for 65 yards.

"He has really good arm talent," Pearsall said of Miller on July 19. "He’s extremely talented, extremely smart, has a good head on his shoulders.”

It shouldn't come as a surprise if an "or" is spotted between Brown and Miller on Florida's official Week 1 depth chart.

As we see it though, if Florida were to need an extended replacement for Mertz, such as in the event of an injury, Miller would be the top choice as of right now. But if the Gators' offense were to underperform and need a spark in a game, the coaching staff might look to Brown's upside to light it. 

Hence the "and." 

Reserve: Micah Leon

Napier has stated previously that, ideally, Florida's roster would carry four scholarship quarterbacks at a time. 2023 passer Jaden Rashada and reclassified 2025 signal-caller Austin Simmons were both, at separate points, supposed to fill the final opening, but neither ended up at Florida this offseason as Napier had planned. 

Therefore, although he remains of walk-on status, one can consider graduate transfer Micah Leon to be Florida's No. 4 quarterback in 2023. In the event that a walk-on passer was to be elevated into a significant role, Leon would be the obvious pick over freshman Parker Leise at this point in their respective careers.

All Gators first reported Leon's transfer to Florida in February. A product of Delray Beach (Fla.) American Heritage B/D and member of the 2017 recruiting class, Leon first signed with North Carolina State as a walk-on before transferring to Connecticut in 2019. 

Leon completed 10-of-13 passes for 62 yards in his debut and only appearance with the Huskies, in a 45-17 loss to No. 24 Houston in 2021. He left the program before the 2022 campaign.