Florida names captains for rivalry showdown with No. 19 Miami
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Florida and Miami renew their rivalry on Saturday in Gainesville. The Gators and Hurricanes are facing off for the first time since 2019, a neutral-site meeting in Orlando that went to UF.
Ahead of the showdown in The Swamp, Florida has named its team captains. The Gators are going with returning starters QB Graham Mertz, P Jeremy Crawshaw and LB Shemar James.
Our captains for Game 1. pic.twitter.com/fayr7PFeKb
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) August 31, 2024
Mertz is in his second season at Florida. The Wisconsin transfer played in UF’s first 11 games of the 2023 season before missing the regular-season finale against Florida State due to injury. While there’s plenty of excitement for 5-star freshman QB DJ Lagway, Billy Napier has made it clear that Mertz is Florida’s QB1.
Mertz had a strong showing in orange and blue, finishing with career-highs in completions (261), passing yards (2,903), touchdown passes (20), completion percentage (72.9), passing yards per game (263.9) and efficiency (157.8). He also threw only 3 interceptions, a career-low, and tied his career-best with four rushing scores.
James is in his third season at UF. The linebacker from Mobile, Alabama was a blue-chip prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, Napier’s first at Florida.
Over two seasons, James has appeared in 21 games. He played in all 13 of the 2022 campaign, including 4 starts, earning Freshman All-SEC recognition. James was an 8-game starter for the Gators last season before suffering a season-ending injury. Even with limited action, James finished second on the team in tackles (55) and tackles-for-loss (5.5), recording 1 sack.
Crawshaw has been a Gator the longest, entering his 5th season in orange and blue. He currently owns the all-time program record of average yards per punt in career (min 90 punts) with 46.7 yards per punt. Last season, Crawshaw finished with 42 punts and set the single-season program record average of 48.9 per attempt with 7 punts 60 yards or more. Crawshaw was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team in 2021 and made the AP’s All-SEC second team in 2023.
Florida is a home underdog on Saturday. DraftKings Sportsbook has Miami favored by 2.5 points in The Swamp. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET, airing on ABC.
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Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
