The college football season is fast approaching, which means TGH will preview SEC team’s season. Here is the 2022 SEC Football Preview for the Florida Gators.
2021 Florida Schedule
2021 Record: 6-7 (2-6), 6th in East
L vs UCF in Gasparilla Bowl
Out with the old, in with the new. Dan Mullen almost made it 4 full seasons before he was canned in November of last year. Despite playing in the SEC Championship game the year before and two great seasons prior, the 13 year head coach was fired after a 5-6 start.
The Gators made a great hire with Louisiana’s Billy Napier. Napier spent the first four years of his career building the Ragin’ Cajuns into a dominant force in the Sun Belt. Florida started well last year and had a lot of close games. Napier at the helm with plenty of talent gives reason for optimism in 2022.
The offense loses a lot from 2021. There’s been a lot of hype for sophomore Anthony Richardson who was mediocre in limited play last year. What he lacked with his passing game he more than made up for with his legs. Still, if he’s not up to the challenge the Gators have an adequate backup in Ohio State transfer Jack Miller.
Anthony Richardson (photo by floridagators.com)
The running back position doesn’t feature a standout yet, but there are plenty of good options. Nay’Quan Wright has experience form last year’s squad but Louisiana transfer Montrell Johnson has familiarity with Napier already and had a great freshman season.
Wide receiver has a lot of questions but should be helped by Arizona State transfer Ricky Pearsall. The lone good news is the experience returning at offensive line along with another of Napier’s transfers from Louisiana in O’Cyrus Torrence. Together the offensive line should be the most consistent unit, at least early on.
Florida’s defense took a jump last year but after a horrific 2020 season nearly anything was going to be improvement. The Gators have plenty of talent however with four SEC All-Americans chosen in the preseason. Brenton Cox Jr. highlights the group at linebacker but highly touted 2019 recruit Diwun Black has had an excellent spring after making it to Gainesville via a circuitous JUCO route.
Florida should be on the rise this season with a fresh face at the helm. The talent is there to have a respectable season, and from the looks of it Napier has had a great offseason with the team. The Gators might be ready to contend for the East just yet but they shouldn’t be too far away.
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