Which Anthony Richardson will show up?

That’s the question that has defined much of Florida’s 1st season under Billy Napier.

In a year in which Florida has had some constants, both good (power run game) and bad (defense), the play of the 1st-year starter at quarterback has been the wild card.

When Richardson has been brilliant — as he was in the season-opening win over No. 7 Utah or in Florida’s nip-and-tuck 38-33 loss at then-No. 11 Tennessee — the Gators have been a formidable team.

When he has been bad — as in Florida’s 26-16 home loss to then-No. 20 Kentucky, or a narrow escape against USF — the Gators have flopped or floundered.

Very quietly, though, the redshirt sophomore has stabilized his play and is showing signs he’s turning the corner. In Florida’s past 3 games — a span that includes losses to a now top-10 LSU team and a No. 1 Georgia team — Richardson has gone 50-of-90 for 657 yards and 4 touchdowns and added 206 yards rushing on 27 carries with 3 touchdowns. While the completion percentage of 55.5 needs to improve, it has also come against 3 teams with top-10 talent in the 247 Talent Composite, and the yards-per-attempt number of 7.3 is respectable. Richardson’s rushing totals feature an average of 7.6 yards per attempt, including monstrous touchdown runs against LSU and Texas A&M. Those are great numbers, and when Richardson breaks a run like the one he did Saturday in Florida’s 41-24 win at Texas A&M, it energizes the entire team.

Most importantly? Richardson has not thrown an interception or lost a fumble in Florida’s past 3 games. That’s a sign of a maturing quarterback in any context. It’s an even better sign when it happens against 3 defenses loaded with 4- and 5-star talent in LSU, Georgia and Texas A&M. How stark a difference has Richardson’s ability to protect the football been over the past month? After Richardson played turnover-free football in the upset win over Utah, the quarterback threw 7 interceptions in the next 5 games and fumbled 3 times, losing 2. Florida went 3-2 in that 9-turnover stretch, but it felt comfortable in victory only in its rout of FCS foe Eastern Washington.

While the Gators have gone just 1-2 in the past 3 games, it helps to consider Richardson’s performances in context. The Gainesville native kept Florida and its hapless defense in the game against LSU. Richardson played better than any other quarterback this season — including Heisman candidate Hendon Hooker and Pac 12 Player of the Year candidate Bo Nix — against Georgia. Finally, Richardson treated a shorthanded Aggies defense like a practice squad, running over linebackers and around and past 4- and 5-star safeties.

Richardson didn’t just do it on the ground in College Station, either. He displayed much improved touch, dropping in this dime to emerging wide receiver talent Ja’Quavion Fraziars.

On another throw, Richardson displayed the type of pocket presence that only a quarterback who is beginning to feel comfortable with the speed of play in the SEC displays, biding his time before delivering this across-the-body touchdown throw to another young receiver, Caleb Douglas.

Those throws didn’t just start happening yesterday, as this NFL throw to Justin Shorter in the Georgia game demonstrates.

They are becoming commonplace, a big reason that Richardson is, after Saturday’s win, the SEC’s most accurate passer this season on passes of 20 yards or more, per Stats Solutions. The quarterback also has 11 career touchdowns of 40 yards or more, an impressive haul considering the contest at Kyle Field was just his 10th career start.

That’s the thing about Richardson. He’s still such a young quarterback. In 10 starts, he’s 5-5, hardly the standard Florida hopes to achieve. But he is showing signs of progress, both as a passer and decisionmaker. And as a result, Florida is playing better football, even if it isn’t beating great teams just yet.

The wins will come as Richardson continues to play quality football.

Saturday, Florida won an SEC road game for the 1st time since Kyle Trask was under center, and the program moved an inch closer to bowl eligibility in the process. Florida also beat a team in the top 5 of the 247 Talent Composite for the 1st time since the 2020 Cocktail Party. Texas A&M may have been battling a flu epidemic, but the Gators did what they needed to do to take advantage of a shorthanded opponent. Much of that is thanks to Richardson, who kept the Gators in the game with 4 1st-half scoring drives while Florida’s defense figured out what Jimbo Fisher was doing and eventually settled down, shutting the Aggies out in the 2nd half.

While Richardson remains a fringe 1st-rounder on most NFL mock draft boards, he is likely to return to Gainesville for his junior season, according to insiders who spoke with SDS after the LSU game and again this week. If the version of Richardson who has played over the past month is the one who consistently shows up, the ceiling for the 2023 Gators grows exponentially.

For now, Gators fans are focused on closing strong, with 2 winnable games in South Carolina and Vanderbilt remaining in SEC play and then a tricky and challenging game at an improved Florida State on Black Friday. There will also be a bowl game, assuming Florida nabs 1 more win this month. The way Richardson is playing, that seems likely.

In fact, just a month or so removed from Florida fans wondering if they truly had their answer at quarterback, plenty seems possible in November and beyond. Because the way Richardson is playing, Napier’s and Florida’s future seem very bright.