Florida was a program in transition in 2022, exiting the bright, exciting, hard and fast burn firecracker of the Dan Mullen era and entering the Billy Napier era, which Florida’s administration and fans alike hope brings long-term stability and success back to The Swamp.

Year 1 was a mixed bag.

The Gators finished 6-7, with an embarrassing 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl assuring the program of back-to-back losing seasons for the first time since 1978-1979.

Early Signing Day was a bit better, though, as the Gators inked a class that ranked 6th in the 247 Composite in average recruit ranking, behind only Georgia and Alabama in the SEC. Florida’s final average recruit ranking of 92.16 is the program’s best since the Urban Meyer era. That, for those who are counting at home, now covers a timeframe of more than a decade and 4 head coaches, excluding interims. So yes, despite the class currently sitting at 11th in the 247 Composite overall, Florida’s recruiting has already picked up steam Napier and his army of support staff.

The program does not appear poised to win much more in 2023 than 2022, though, which makes it hard to narrow a piece about questions the Gators must answer in the offseason. The best question might actually be, “Are 10 questions even enough at Florida?”

Nonetheless, here are 10 burning questions facing the Gators as they head into the offseason.

1. Can Florida get Graham Mertz right?

Florida fans weren’t thrilled with Napier’s transfer portal quarterback choice, Graham Mertz. A 3-year starter at Wisconsin, Mertz’s main claim to Badgers fame were the 26 interceptions he threw. Paul Chryst was fired last season, in no small part due to the fact that Mertz, the highest-rated quarterback recruit to  sign with Wisconsin, couldn’t live up to the high 4-star billing that made him a coveted recruit who visited Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama before picking the Badgers. Could a fresh start be what Mertz needs? With 2 years of eligibility remaining, the notion Mertz could resuscitate the promise of his prep billing isn’t absurd. But unless he does that, Florida fans will wonder what could have been had Coastal Carolina’s star Grayson McCall’s interest in the Gators worked out, or what could have been if Florida had been more active in pursuit of Oklahoma State’s supremely talented Spencer Sanders.

Getting Mertz “right” matters though, because…

2. Jaden Rashada may not ever be a Florida Gator…

Rushing freshman quarterbacks before they are ready is a bad idea. The evidence is overwhelming.

From Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence and Cade Klubnik to Bryce Young and countless quarterbacks in between, playing a freshman only when they are ready is the right move. Gators fans need to look no farther back in the memory bank than Jim McElwain’s forced, too-soon play of Feleipe Franks to see what can happen when a freshman isn’t ready to play. But for Dan Mullen’s remarkable coaching, would Franks have recovered to have a productive college career?

Of course, to make the mistake of rushing a freshman quarterback in the first place, Johnny Five Star has to show up on your campus.

There’s no guarantee Jaden Rashada will show up in Gainesville.

In fact, it looks like he won’t.

A dispute over NIL money– with conflicting reports about the size and scope of the dollar figure — has kept Rashada, who as late as Jan. 3 intended to enroll early and play spring football in Gainesville — from the Florida campus. On Friday night at 11:59 pm, Rashada missed the official deadline to enroll in classes for the spring semester. Of course, exceptions are made all the time for students, and one would doubtlessly be made for Rashada, a 5-star quarterback, should the Gators and Rashada’s NIL team (which, SDS can confirm, does not and has not ever included Darren Heitner, contrary to heated fan speculation this week) come to an agreement on the unresolved NIL issues.

But at present, as January slowly turns toward February, Rashada is not on campus and the Gators appear headed for a “bridge the gap” type season while they wait on another 5-star quarterback, D.J. Lagway, to arrive in Gainesville with the 2024 recruiting class.

3. If Mertz struggles, can Jack Miller III bridge the gap to DJ Lagway?

Are you noticing the trend here?

Quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. Florida’s biggest questions all come at the most important position on the field.

Jack Miller III was dire in the Gators’ bowl game, but then again, what Florida player wasn’t?

Miller III also missed a large swath of his first season in Gainesville with an injury. Another former blue-chip recruit, the Ohio State transfer does make good decisions, which may give him an edge over Mertz, who has been risk prone his whole career despite starting 32 games. But if Mertz isn’t the answer, how long can Miller, with just 1 career start, bridge the gap to either Rashada, should he ever decide to be a Gator, or Lagway?

Finding a bridge to a young quarterback would be best.

Mertz and Miller each have multiple years of eligibility remaining, and the Gators would be wise to let one start until Lagway (or Rashada, of course) is truly ready.

Starting a freshman who isn’t ready can ruin a young player, even a mega-talented one like Lagway or Rashada.

The Gators’ better path would be to do what Clemson did with Klubnik this season, and let him learn. Remember that as much as DJ Uiagalelei struggled in the second half of the season, Klubnik repeatedly showed he wasn’t truly ready until December. Klubnik threw a critical interception in Clemson’s loss at Notre Dame, and he had such a little grasp of the offense that he only attempted a handful of passes in a comeback win over Syracuse. The good news? By ACC Championship weekend, Klubnik was ready. But then he delivered a dismal performance in Clemson’s Orange Bowl loss to Tennessee, proving, again, it’s not easy, even for the best freshmen.

Florida needs to let their 5-star quarterback(s) develop, which makes Mertz and Miller having solid spring practices a huge piece of Napier’s rebuild equation.

4. Will the offensive line rebuild define Florida’s 2023 as much as the quarterback situation?

The path for Florida to be an improved team on the field in 2023 is relatively straightforward. Play better defense, find a game manager at quarterback, and rely on a great run game to carry the load offensively.

Here’s the hard part: Florida has to rebuild what was, according to Pro Football Focus grade system, the SEC’s 2nd-best offensive line, behind only national champion Georgia.

Gone is consensus All-American O’Cyrus Torrence, the nation’s highest-rated offensive lineman at any position in the 2022 season. Also gone? Starting guard Ethan White and 2 of Florida’s best tackles, Richard Gouraige, who graduated, and Michael Tarquin, who transferred to Southern California. That leaves center Kingsley Eguakun, who graded out as the SEC’s 3rd-best center in 2022, per PFF, Freshman All-American Austin Barber, and a host of unknowns.

The Gators have hit the portal hard and are players for Miami’s John Campbell, a tackle, and Baylor’s All-Big 12 performer Micah Mazzccua. Mazzccua committed last week, and on Dr. Martin Luther King Day, the Gators added Alabama transfer Dameion George, who started multiple games for the Crimson Tide in 2021, including their SEC Championship Game win over Georgia.

Florida’s needs may not stop after Mazzccua and George, but that’s a great start.

Reconstructing the offensive line is key to riding run game that finished the year in the top 10 nationally in yards per carry (6th) and success rate (7th) but struggled mightily in the Las Vegas Bowl without Torrence.

5. Who starts at safety in 2023?

Florida’s pass defense has been so miserable for the past 3 seasons that any references to the school in the “DBU” debate are disingenuous at best. The biggest reason for the decline? The school that has produced more Pro Bowl appearances by safeties than any other program this century has been inadequate. Making matters worse, Florida’s best safety, Rashad Torrence II, elected to skip his senior season and declare for the NFL Draft earlier in the offseason.

Now for the good news. After years of recruiting failures at the position, Napier and his staff have landed a host of tremendous athletes and recruits, beginning with 5-star Kamari Wilson, who had a solid freshman campaign in Gainesville. Wilson may earn a starting job in the fall, especially if the Gators don’t bring in a rental from the portal like Baylor safety Al Walcott. But would Wilson starting at one safety spot and fellow freshman Miguel Mitchell at the strong spot be sufficient in the SEC? Or is a veteran rental needed as insurance while the Gators wait for high profile 2023 recruits like Jordan Castell, Aaron Gates and Dijon Johnson to contribute?

6. Who wins the job at middle linebacker?

Ventrell Miller’s departure will be felt from a leadership perspective, as Napier identified the super senior early and often as being “bought in” to what the new staff was selling. Miller, who finished a great Gators career with a degree and Day 2 draft projection, told SDS that 2022 “was about as much fun, from a playing standpoint, as I had in college despite the record, which tells you everything you need to know about the energy, enthusiasm, and care of the new staff. They are going to win and win big in Gainesville.”

To make Miller prophetic, defensive coordinator Patrick Toney and linebackers coach Mike Peterson will have to replace their captain.

The bowl game return was actually positive — Florida surrendered just 4.2 yards per carry and no one in orange and blue had a better bowl than Derek Wingo, who tallied 8 tackles, including a sack and 2 tackles for loss. The middle linebacker job could be his to lose, but it’s worth watching Ohio State transfer Teradja Mitchell, a more natural inside backer and a former top-50 recruit that may benefit from a fresh start in the same way Drew Sanders did at Arkansas.

7. Is there a big spring jump from Desmond “Mount” Watson?

Watson brought Florida fans joy in 2022 when he forced a fumble and rumbled the other way in Florida’s rout of South Carolina.

The big question now is whether Watson can build off a promising close to 2022. Watson ranked in the top 50 of all defensive tackles in PFF over the season’s final 6 games, a positive sign that the mountain of a man can be a legitimately game-changing talent as an upperclassman. But consistency, and staying in shape, remain challenges.

8. Is Florida’s wide receiver room ready to take a leap?

Florida had one of the nation’s most productive receiver rooms in 2019 and 2020, producing 4 future NFL contributors in Freddie Swain, Van Jefferson, Tyrie Cleveland, and Kadarius Toney. There has been a significant drop-off since, and Florida will enter 2023 without, at least on paper, the group’s most talented player, as former 5-star NFL talent Justin Shorter declared for the NFL Draft in December.

Ricky Pearsall caught 9 passes for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns in Florida’s final 2 games, giving the Gators at least 1 high caliber starter. But who else is ready to contribute in 2023? Will Xzavier Henderson finally live up to the huge hype he had coming out of Miami as a prep superstar? What about Henderson’s fellow blue-chip recruit teammates, Ja’Quavion Fraziars and Marcus Burke? Is a breakout coming? Will legacy commit Aidan Mizell be an immediate contributor?

Will Florida hit the portal for additional help, or are they content to develop what is on the roster? This unit needs to be better, though help is on the way.

9. Is a top-50 defense too “low” of a goal?

A week ago, I wrote that Florida’s goal defensively in 2023 should be to become a top-50 defense again.

Considering that since the NYT and Sagarin started tracking “total defense” as a stat in 1980 and 1982, only Alabama and Ohio State have fielded more top-20 defenses than the Gators, this goal seems modest. Is it too modest?

Maybe not.

After all, Florida has fallen off a cliff on that side of the ball since 2020, when Todd Grantham’s unit finished 83rd in the country. In 2021, the Gators improved, but remained outside the top 50, and in 2022, Toney’s first year on campus, Florida fielded what would become the worst statistical defense in program history, finishing 97th in total defense.

A 47-spot improvement seems an audacious goal, but maybe a top-30 defense should be the real hope, given the talent returning on the defensive line and at corner?

10. Will Florida’s special teams continue to improve?

Florida finished 57th in SP+ special teams efficiency in the 2022 season. That’s not great, considering Mullen’s first team finished 15th and his 2019 Orange Bowl champion was even better, finishing 4th. But Florida was miserable on special teams in 2021, finishing 110th, so a nearly 50-spot jump in 2022 was a welcome sight, as was the blocked punt in the Las Vegas Bowl, Florida’s first in 4 seasons.

The Gators return punter Jeremy Crawshaw, who averaged 47.9 yards per boot in 2022, good for 9th in the nation. Adam Mihalek will also return at kicker, though he will need to win the job this spring after connecting on just 14 of 21 kicks at an erratic 67% in 2022.

The biggest thing the Gators need to improve? Kickoff play. Florida finished 11th in the SEC in return yards gained, a surprisingly low number considering the explosive play potential of returners Trevor Etienne and Xzavier Henderson. Getting more out of the return game is a next and natural step for an improving special teams unit in Gainesville.