Florida fifth-year senior Ricky Pearsall is a receiver on the move catching passes from quarterbacks on the move.
Pearsall has competed for both Arizona State and the Gators, and he has gone from racking up receptions from Jayden Daniels to Anthony Richardson to Graham Mertz. Mertz arrived in Gainesville this past January after starting the last three seasons for Wisconsin.
“I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily difficult, but there is timing that goes into it between the quarterback and receivers,” Pearsall said last week at Southeastern Conference Media Days. “Maybe there are times when the timing is a little bit different, but the quarterback and receiver have to know each other at the end of the day.
“You’ve got to keep getting those relationships developed and keep getting that trust with each other.”
Pearsall and Florida second-year coach Billy Napier have placed their trust in the 6-foot-3, 218-pound Mertz, a fifth-year senior from Overland Park, Kansas, who compiled solid but not eye-popping numbers for the Badgers. Mertz completed 460 of 773 pass attempts (59.5%) for 5,405 yards with 38 touchdowns and 26 interceptions, with Wisconsin’s 20-13 record the past three seasons reflecting a decent but nothing spectacular accomplishment.
The Badgers have won the Duke’s Mayo, Las Vegas and Guaranteed Rate bowls the past three seasons, a trio of postseason destinations hardly knocking on the door of the New Year’s Six lineup, but the last two seasons for the Gators have ended with embarrassing losses in the Gasparilla and Las Vegas bowls.
FLORIDA
Last season: 6-7 (3-5 SEC)
Opener: Aug. 31 against Utah in Salt Lake City (8 p.m. on ESPN)
Fun Fact: Florida has lost 11 Southeastern Conference games the past two seasons, marking the most for the program in a two-year stretch since 1935-36.
COMING NEXT — Georgia
“I’ve been very impressed with Graham,” Napier said. “Graham is a 32-start player. He’s played over 2,000 snaps at a really established program in Wisconsin, so I think Graham is an accomplished player, but I’ve been more impressed with the person and the leader.
“This guy has an incredible motor and work ethic. He is always in the building, and he is fanatical about his preparation.”
Though redshirt sophomore Jack Miller and redshirt freshman Max Brown are also vying to replace Richardson, who went fourth overall in April’s NFL draft to the Indianapolis Colts, Mertz is the decided favorite to prevail.
“I’ve seen Graham take some tremendous strides,” Pearsall said. “Obviously he’s an older guy and is really experienced, and I’m just continuing to develop that relationship with him. He’s one of my brothers now, so I see him every single day in the facility.
“As soon as he walked on campus, we were all impressed by him and had no choice but to respect him. He’s a super smart, intelligent guy.”
The 6-1, 187-pound Pearsall was a top target of Daniels during the 2021 season with the Sun Devils, but Daniels transferred to LSU and Pearsall headed off to LSU’s annual cross-divisional rival. He caught 33 passes for 661 yards and five touchdowns during his first year with the Gators and added eight rushes for 113 yards and a score.
Playing against “the best of the best” in the SEC was why Pearsall elected to leave the Pac-12, but him simply existing at Florida means being compared to some of the school’s receiving greats and the school’s top teams. The Gators won three national championships in a 13-season stretch from 1996-2008, but 2008 remains the last time Florida sat atop the league.
“We try to stick to what’s going on in the locker room and control what we can control,” Pearsall said, “but we all do understand that there is a standard here at Florida and that it’s a championship standard. We’re in the process of setting our own standard as a team, but we’re all aware of the history of Florida.”
Pearsall, who hails from Chandler, Arizona, also found Napier’s businesslike approach very appealing, and it will soon be a matter of getting down to business in terms of improving the program’s fortunes. Florida has gone 6-7 the past two seasons, marking the first time the Gators have suffered consecutive losing marks since 1978-79.
Five of Florida’s 12 opponents — Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, LSU and Florida State — won at least 10 games last season, so any improvement this year could be minimal. Still, this is a program that has won big in the past with a coach who won big at Louisiana, so overlooking the Gators, who were picked fifth in the Eastern Division, could always turn out to be foolish.
“In January, we went through an extensive detailed review of year one at Florida,” Napier said. “As an entire organization, we went through what worked, what didn’t work, how do we adjust, how do we adapt and how do we evolve. We started the process then of getting our 2023 team ready to go.
“This is a new group of players and we have a few new staff dynamics, but one of the things that I’m encouraged about is that 97% of our team was with us in January. We had 27 midyear players, and we have a great group of veterans who have experience and have wisdom from the past.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.