Graham Mertz came to the University of Wisconsin with unprecedented hype. As the highest-rated quarterback recruit in program history, Mertz was seen as the savior of Badger football and the man who could finally elevate the program to a championship level.
The Overland Park, Kansas, product started during the pandemic season in 2020, and he looked to become a difference maker in 2021.
In the first game of the season, Mertz had an opportunity to lead Wisconsin to a win over No. 19 Penn State. However, this wasn’t Mertz’s moment.
He threw an interception in the end zone down by one score and threw another interception on the last play of the game. Even after another disappointing season in Madison, Wisconsin, and a transfer to Florida, Mertz hasn’t forgotten that moment.
Against South Carolina, Mertz found redemption and started a new legacy.
The Florida Gators (5-2, 3-1 SEC) escaped the South Carolina Gamecocks (2-4, 1-3 SEC) 41-39 in a high-flying conference clash. Mertz led two touchdown drives in the final nine minutes, and he threw the game-winning touchdown pass to senior receiver Ricky Pearsall with 47 seconds left in the game.
“I had a very similar situation, lower score — Penn State 2021 at home in Wisconsin, and I threw that ball about five yards over my receiver's head,” Mertz said postgame. “It’s a big weight off my shoulders. A lot of emotion that came out of that at that point.”
Outside expectations for Mertz this season were through the floor. 247Sports’s Brad Crawford rated the Gators’ gunslinger as the worst quarterback in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason.
The low ranking wasn’t a rare opinion on Mertz entering the year. But he’s finally showing why he was a high four-star recruit, and he’s rewarding Florida head coach Billy Napier’s faith.
“Look, I get to be around the guy every day. I know how much the guy's worked all the way going back to the beginning of the process,” Napier said. “This is a young man that came here on a mission and had a plan, and he's worked.”
Mertz hadn’t been a resounding success through the Gators’ first six games this season. His high completion percentage — the best in the country entering Oct. 14 — is respectable, but Florida’s passing attack didn’t threaten defenses down the field.
Entering week seven, the Wisconsin transfer ranked last in the SEC in Average Depth of Target with 5.53, more than a full yard fewer than the second lowest in the conference, per SECStatcast.
That changed against the Gamecocks.
Florida hit on several deep passes throughout the game, including a 45-yard strike to redshirt junior receiver Kahleil Jackson, and Mertz finally showed an ability to push the ball vertically.
His accuracy down field wasn’t perfect — 4-for-12 on passes 20 or more yards down field per Pro Football Focus — but Mertz made big plays in the passing game. He set a new career-high with 423 passing yards and is on pace to break his single-season record for yards and touchdowns.
“I’m truly just having the most just genuine fun I’ve ever had in my life, during the week, in meetings, on game days,” Mertz said.
More than any statistical achievements, Mertz’s leadership and moxie are what etched him into Florida’s storied football lore in Williams-Brice Stadium Oct. 15.
Mertz and the Gators’ offense took with the Gators trailing by 10 points with 9:11 on the clock. Florida’s dwindling hopes faced a 4th-and-11 near midfield. Mertz kept the play alive and found redshirt freshman tight end Arlis Boardingham who rumbled for a crucial first down.
The drive ended in a Boardingham touchdown and kept the Gators’ dream alive.
Florida’s reeling defense stiffened when it needed to and got the ball back into Mertz’s hands with 2:43 left, no timeouts and 75 yards separating the Gators and their first road win of the season.
Three incompletions put Florida on its last gasp beneath the sea of waving, white towels. Mertz refused to wave the white flag.
Maybe another Florida team would buckle and shrink in the moment. But the Gators and their veteran quarterback making his 39th career start didn’t back down from the daunting task. Mertz escaped pressure in the pocket and found Pearsall for a 26 yard gain.
The drive could’ve ended after a Mertz misfire on a slant to Pearsall. But some supernatural force blew the wind in Florida’s favor as the pass fell into the waiting arms of freshman Eugene Wilson III who scampered for a 22-yard gain.
“It was a bad ball,” Mertz said. “I threw it behind Rick. It could have gone another direction. I owe a bunch of credit to [Wilson] there just making a huge play.”
Mertz capitalized on his sudden second chance. He delivered a strike to Pearsall in the endzone — while taking a massive shot from a Gamecock defender — and capped off a magical night for the once maligned signal caller.
It remains to be seen how high Mertz can take Florida. He might not be a future first round pick, and he may never earn All-American honors, but for one night in Columbia, South Carolina, Mertz showed the world who he is.
And when Florida needed its leader, he delivered a moment that will live in Gators history.
Contact Topher Adams at tadams@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @Topher_Adams.
Topher Adams is a fourth-year communications major and in his fourth semester with the Alligator. He previously covered football, baseball and women's basketball. He also enjoys professional lacrosse and Major League Soccer.
