The Florida football team is coming off another disappointing season. The Gators finished just 5-7 in Billy Napier's second season as head coach, so the pressure is on to win more games this upcoming season. One positive step is the return of quarterback Graham Mertz, who decided to play one more year of college and bypassed the transfer portal as well.

And, with Spring practice underway, Napier admitted the return of Graham Mertz as a reason why they can have success this year, as he made the comments during an episode with Josh Pate.

“THE No. 1 thing — when you talk about Florida football — that's happened here that has set us up to have success for the future, is Graham Mertz coming back to play another year of football…We get a player who I think has a renewed confidence…I think he starts this offseason as the leader of the team, a completely different place than when he arrived here last year.”

Napier talked about Mertz's competitiveness and locker-room leading ability as a key factor to Florida's success this upcoming season. He also talked about how Mertz had an inconsistent run at Wisconsin, which is where he was before transferring to Gainesville and becoming the starting quarterback for the Gators.

Graham Mertz the main cog in Florida football in 2024 

Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK

These are strong words from the Florida football head coach. And, more than anything, it shows how important Graham Mertz is going to be to the success of the Gators in 2024. In 2023, his first season in Florida after transferring from Wisconsin, he threw for 2,903 yards with 20 touchdowns and just three interceptions while breaking a record held before by Tim Tebow. For some perspective, he threw for 2,136 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with the Badgers the year before, so it's quite an upgrade in every category.

So, there are even higher expectations for Mertz as he comes back to Florida and is expected to be the starting quarterback once again. At the Spring Game earlier in April, Mertz made some impressive throws and made sure to get Florida fans excited for the upcoming season, especially with the Mertz-Eugene Wilson III connection.

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Billy Napier has gone just 11-14 in two years (both losing seasons) as the Florida football head coach, so the pressure is building immensely for a program used to being in the top 25 and on top of the SEC. If he struggles again, the hot-seat rumors will pick up just as they did at the end of the 2023 season.

If the Gators want to make noise in 2024, a big part of the team has to be the success of Graham Mertz. But, it sure helps that Napier dropped some confident words about his starting quarterback going into the summer.