With a new head coach and more talent than people realize, Florida football could surprise people in 2022, and here are three reasons to buy stock in the Gators.
The 2022 college football season is fast approaching and one of the most interesting teams to follow is going to be Florida football.
Florida went 6-7 last season after a stellar season with Kyle Trask at quarterback in 2020. The defense has been bad though and the quarterback play got worse last season, as did the coaching and the recruiting.
Billy Napier has taken over after building Louisiana into a conference champion and while Florida football fans were weary about his recruiting prowess at one point in this 2023 cycle, the Gators now have a top-10 class after four four-star commitments this month.
Yet, that has nothing to do with the 2022 season. However, there are reasons to be optimistic about that, and here are three reasons to buy stock in Florida football.
Florida football is super talented
Programs like Florida generally don’t stay down long because they are football factories. By that I mean, certain programs have access to talent and the Gators are one of them.
And even though Dan Mullen didn’t recruit as well as some Florida fans would like, the Gators are still ranked 10th overall according to the blue-chip ratio rankings put out by 247 sports.
Bud Elliott, a college football expert for 247 sports, has long contended you need at least 50 percent of your roster to be four-star recruits or better or blue chips.
Whether you include transfers or not, the Gators have the 10th-best blue-chip ratio in all of college football, meaning not only should this team win a lot more than six games, it could be a playoff contender.
That’s probably a stretch but the point is, that the talent is there for this team to succeed. If Napier is who Florida thinks he is, the Gators should finish the season in the top 25.
Quarterbacks (s) you can win with
The jury is still out on Anthony Richardson and what he can do as a college football quarterback. He’s been getting NFL buzz already and it’s easy to see why. He’s 6-foot-4, 236 pounds, and is mobile with a pretty good arm.
Richardson has never attempted more than 20 passes in a game, so there’s a lot of unknown. The wide receiver group is solid but there aren’t any superstars and the same can be said about the running backs.
The offensive line can’t get any worse and the bottom line is that Richardson has the skills to be a really good quarterback. But the coaching staff needs to put him in a position to be successful and allow him to use his legs — he did have two 100-yard rushing games last season.
Richardson didn’t light the world on fire against LSU and Georgia throwing four interceptions in the two games. In three games with limited action against Georgia, LSU, and Florida State, Richardson threw four touchdowns and four interceptions.
So it’s understandable if Florida football fans get Emory Jones flashbacks but there’s enough talent on both sides of the ball that Richardson doesn’t need to set the world on fire to win games.
A manageable schedule
Florida’s schedule is difficult but it’s not as bad as it looks. The Gators have three preseason top-10 teams on the schedule in Utah, Texas A&M, and Georgia.
Only one of those games is at home and that’s the season-opener against Utah. That will be one of the most fascinating games on the schedule that week because Utah is trying to prove it is a playoff contender while the Gators hope to show they’re back.
It’s a winnable game for Florida. For one, Utah will have to travel a long way and the Swamp isn’t an easy place to play, especially with the temperature and humidity taken into account.
Utah also isn’t a team you’ll see listed anywhere close to Florida in terms of the blue-chip ratio. Yet, the Utes are extremely well coached and have Cam Rising, a really talented QB.
That’s why Richardson is such an X-factor. If he delivers on his potential, it changes the calculus for Florida in 2022. The game against Georgia feels like the most difficult to me, followed by A&M.
The game against Tennessee is also on the road but that’s winnable too and would be a huge momentum booster. Missouri, South Carolina, and Kentucky all head to the Swamp, and if the Gators can hold serve at home or even just lose once, the game in College Station could be for a New Year’s Six Bowl.
I don’t see Florida winning it. But 9-3 seems very realistic or 8-4, which would still be a two-game improvement. Napier will prove to be a home-run hire and 2022 is just the first step.