GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback Graham Mertz jogged into the Swamp with the first-team offense Thursday night, wearing the No. 15 Gators jersey made famous by 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and harboring no regrets about leaving Wisconsin for the Sunshine State.
“Just grateful to see the sun every day, which is something stupid, but when you are in Wisconsin for a while, you kind of realize what the sun does,” Mertz said. “Really enjoyed the spring.”
It’s not clear whether the 6-foot-3, 214-pound quarterback from Overland Park, Kansas, could honestly say the same about the Orange & Blue spring game, which included countless bad snaps, ended with a 10-7 score and even drew a veiled shot from Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin on Twitter.
Mertz completed 18 of 29 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown while playing the first half for the Orange and the second half for the Blue in a controlled scrimmage in front of an estimated 42,000 fans. The defense was credited with five sacks of Mertz, and his lack of arm strength was evident with every attempt at a deep ball.
He is a short-term solution for a rebuilding program that essentially lost six scholarship quarterbacks — including one potential NFL star — in the past 12 months.