The Florida Gators haven’t had the start to the season that most expected of them, coming into their Week 4 game against Mississippi with a 1-2 record on the year. And in response, the team has decided to adopt a rather bizarre plan for how they will operate at the quarterback position on Saturday.
Former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz came into the season as the team’s starting quarterback. But an injury in Week 1 and early season struggles led to the team giving former five-star quarterback recruit DJ Lagway a chance at starting in Week 2 and Week 3.
Lagway hasn’t found much success either outside of a dominant Week 2 win over Samford, struggling in the team’s Week 3 loss to Texas A&M.
So that begs the question. Who is going to be the starting quarterback in Week 4? Well, it turns out that both Lagway and Mertz will play into the team’s quarterback plans on Saturday.
According to Florida beat reporter Graham Hall, ESPN has reported that Lagway will play on the 3rd, 6th, and 9th series against Mississippi State. Mertz meanwhile will start the game and play whenever Lagway is not on the field.
ESPN reports #Gators freshman QB DJ Lagway will play the 3rd, 6th and 9th series vs. Mississippi State.
— Graham Hall (@GrahamHall) September 21, 2024
We’ve seen teams run a two-quarterback system before. But to have predetermined series’ where a specific quarterback will play is certainly a bit unconventional.
Florida fans took notice of this decision and are largely quite opposed to it, arguing that this system doesn’t allow either quarterback to get into a rhythm.
Even those of us who have never coached understand that this is beyond asinine for an SEC football coach…
— Nolan Weeks (@nolanweeks26) September 21, 2024
Napier coaches his real life SEC program like I run my CFB dynasty.
— Al… The Baddest. (@volunteer_27) September 21, 2024
Napier is drunk (apparently).
— Steve Whittle (@SteveWhittleFL) September 21, 2024
Unserious program
— Kyle Pitts Defender (@PittsDefender) September 21, 2024
It will be interesting to see if this quarterback system ends up working for Florida. But it certainly seems like it could be a recipe for disaster for a team looking for answers.
