Roy Philpott previews Florida’s Thursday night spring game, points to questions and expectations

Roy Philpott will be on the call Thursday night for Florida’s spring game on ESPN+ and SEC Network+, and offered a preview on WJOX and “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning.”

Philpott agreed that there needs to be more buzz around spring games, and spoke to how coaches are considering an opponent to face in the spring. He believes that’s where college football is headed.

Philpott spoke to the quarterback battle in Gainesville between Graham Mertz and Jack Miller, and how that is a reflection of the ongoing roster management that coaches deal with these days. That includes 27 mid-year enrollees between the transfer portal, and high school recruits.

“If you’re Billy Napier and you’re talking about this quarterback battle, don’t you have to kind of walk this fine line of, ‘OK, well Graham Mertz isn’t the clear No. 1, these guys are going to continue into the fall,'” Philpott said. “Because you know if you declare Graham Mertz, ‘He’s our first-team guy,’ if you said that right now, then Jack Miller’s probably in the transfer portal.”

Having said that, Philpott said it sounds like Mertz has almost lived in the football facility, and gone through virtual reality workouts to prepare to be the starter.

The biggest question is on the offensive line, where the Gators have had 2 players deal with injuries this spring.

Another piece is Austin Armstrong’s transition as defensive coordinator, and while he admitted to serving a vanilla ice cream-type defense to not give much away, the youth and background of Armstrong, who is 29, will be closely watched.

Armstrong previously coached at Southern Miss and Louisiana, and was a quality control coach at Georgia.

.@ESPN‘s @RoyPhilpott previews @GatorsFB‘s spring game tonight! https://t.co/BZs9Tn4snY

— McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning (@macandcube) April 13, 2023

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.