The 2023 SEC Media Days wrapped up on Thursday with the final three schools going through their media availability. SEC Media Days unofficially kick off the football season, so that means football is right around the corner.
There were plenty of talking points, hard-hitting questions, and joviality all week in Nashville. A lot was said and not a lot was said all at the same time. With that being said, I decided to take a look at what I believe was the biggest talking point from each SEC East Division team from their time with the media in Nashville this week at the 2023 SEC Media Days.
One takeaway for each SEC East team from 2023 SEC Media Days
A full list of transcripts and videos from the interviews can be found here (the transcripts there is where all quotes in this story were taken from).
Florida – QB competition
Florida is one of numerous SEC teams tasked with replacing their signal caller from last season. For Florida, the Gators are having to replace the No. 4 overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft in Anthony Richardson. Florida jumped into the portal this offseason to grab Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz (who threw for 5,405 yards and a 38:26 TD:INT ratio across 34 games at Wisconsin). Mertz is competing with another former transfer in Jack Miller (who transferred into Florida last offseason and was Richardson’s backup this past year) for the starting QB job heading into this season.
When asked about his QB’s and the decision to bring in Mertz, Florida head coach Billy Napier said “I’ve been very impressed with Graham. Graham is a 32-start player. He’s played over 2,000 snaps at a really established program in Wisconsin. We went through an extensive process to make that decision. I think Graham is an accomplished player, but more importantly I’ve been impressed with the person, the leader. This guy has an incredible motor and work ethic. He is in the building and he is fanatical about his preparation.”
“That’s helped the competition. I think that’s helped Jack to respond. Jack has had an incredible off-season and he’s in position for a great camp. And we have been really pleased with a young player, Max Brown. He’s had a good summer. He’s impressed the staff and he’s impressed his teammates. We are excited about that competition. We’ll go into training camp and we’ll make a decision when we see fit for the team.”
Florida receiver Ricky Pearsall stated about the QB competition, “I feel like they’re both really talented humans. They’re both really good people. They both see the field very well. Both have really good arms. I mean, obviously Graham has his experience back behind him. Jack had that one game last year obviously. But just creating that level of competitiveness between the two is going to really benefit them. Then at the end of the day we’re going to see who rises to the top. We’re just putting our trust into Coach Napier to make the right decision, so I don’t think we can really go wrong.”