Intro all right Florida State takes on the Gators in just a couple of days and much like Florida State the Gators will be starting a different quarterback than the other 11 games that they've played this year unfortunately gr Merz went down with an injury just shortly after Jordan Travis did and the Gators will turn to Max Brown who looks pretty good in very limited action against Missouri um did have one hiccup that we'll talk with Dave Waters of Gator breakdown Gator Dave how you doing man good man good to be back on with you here talk from Florida Florida State and yeah as you said man the St hey man the story lines were already there but even even more so now yeah it was and it's funny how like not funny because none of it's funny this week everything's just depressing but it's funny that like you know Jordan gets hurt and so the narrative becomes like oh my goodness now they got to go in and they got to play and then Florida's quarterback gets hurt and it's like well that's a whole new different Dynamic with a running uh QB or a QB who can use his legs and so we'll we'll certainly um talk about some of that um when you look at this let's Graham Mertz start with graham Merz um not a lot of people believed in him not a lot of people you know I will say in working with a little bit more Florida stuff this year uh there's a little bit of like Florida fans are quick to say like man none of y'all believed in Florida fans didn't believe in him either like just to be fair like Florida fans are like yeah Florida State you were wrong about merch I'm like wait a minute no Florida fan that I knew wanted Graham merch to be and hats off to him tough kid he took an Absol I I think I said like week three I was looking at my friends like he he's going to get killed like that he's getting he's taking shots and he really stood in there all year um just the the toughness to the play he got hurt on even you know more so really just embodied that so hats off to him for sure but I want to ask you like he would never admit to this but would you say that gr merch probably even exceeded what Billy Napier expected this year like I don't think Napier knew it was going to be this good and he'd never tell you that right but I I feel like I me and you could talk about it yeah yeah that's a good angle to it I'd say yeah I mean granted you know Billy APR did say oh yeah you know there was 30 40 quarterbacks we looked at he was the one we pinpointed and I mean look it did look like he was going to Kentucky at one point he had visited Kentucky I think the week he visited Florida and then and it was kind of a surprise he put up on his Instagram story hey I'm in the swamp and it was like okay Grand Merz is there okay all right well um maybe he's going to Kentucky and then all of a sudden it was no okay it's it's Florida and yeah TJ as you said man it was um not a lot of love fair when he decided to to transfer to Florida and it was like oh go look at his Wisconsin stats look I fell into the Trap as well initially okay oh good look at it well look he didn't he he's AR without the legs that's that's what we're getting and that was the label that was put on him but uh look he definitely exceeded expectations uh there but you know as that time from commitment to game one we all kind of went back and looked okay what Hur him at wh wiconsin why did he not have success at Wisconsin and then right before the season Paul Chris comes out and said yeah maybe we didn't put him in the best situations and then I think the light kind of dinged on to maybe Florida does have a little bit more here uh w w with gr Merz and uh and you know it didn't really show up right away in game one I mean the stats were good but you knew a lot of those were padded stats because they were fighting from behind the whole time versus Utah but maybe that was a glimpse into what some of we were getting there from gr Merz and week by week as you said he had to kind of make up for a lik luster offensive line a run game that probably wasn't quite there where it was last year as well and still waiting for some weapons to identify themselves as well we knew Ricky piol but Trey Wilson hadn't emerged yet AR Bingham hadn't emerged yet and you once those guys kind of started getting their feet under him a little bit you started seeing this offense taking some steps a bit so yeah credit for GR Merz being a leader showing a lot of toughness uh this year as you said that last play where look he was wearing number 15 looked like Tim TBO running over the Defenders there for for a play the adrenaline gets to him and runs one more play and all of a sudden he's coming off the field and you kind of knew right then soon as he started grabbing shoulder collar bone area all right that's that that that's probably going to be it for for for for GR Merz but yeah credit to him for kind of exceeding expectations and uh you know really kind of lifting this Florida offense through a through a tough season yeah he he almost you know no pun attended used it as a chip on his shoulder right like yeah I'm going to prove all you guys wrong and and he really was good he'll he'll be fun to fun to watch again uh next year if he if he does return which I guess we'll we'll see in a in a few weeks or so um his Max Brown backup Max Brown uh we'll talk about the Missouri game in just a minute but just High Lev thoughts on Max Brown like what what is UF getting in a quarterback for uh this final regular season game out of Max Brown yeah as you said uh earlier definitely more athletic so the running quarterback aspect of the Florida offense comes back into play which was what we saw with Levi Lewis and Billy naer at Louisiana what we saw with Billy naer and Anthony Richardson last year now definitely not the explosion of an an Richardson I don't think you see a out of nowhere 65 yard run happening but to help move the chains to help this run game with the running backs open up a bit that's what you're going to get with Max Brown and I still think we're still going to question what he can do in the passing game that's probably an element of surprise going into the Florida State game now of course Florida state knows now to definitely prepare for a Zone read prepare for an athletic quarterback but there's not a lot of passing tape on on Max Brown so that's still an element of surprise Florida will have uh there but at the same time you now the spotlight is on Max Brown how does he react to being the guy how does he react to having a game plan built around him for a week uh but TJ man his stats there were unreal in in his twoe Lincoln Christian from Oklahoma 4,46 yards 68 passing touchdowns uh so he's got the stat profile you would want in a high school quarterback didn't play a whole lot of good competition he was a three three star um basically identified by Jim M that's where he was was going to go before he um chose to to uh go to Florida after Billy napr offered him there in the initial class for Billy Napier so um it's going to look a little different with him being the the athletic style quarterback but uh of course you now we just got to go see look going up against FSU and that pass defense their stats speak for themselves of even if he is a good passing quarterback how much success can he have against that Florida State Defense all Tailgate right I'll get right back to Dave in just a second and appreciate him for joining us but if you are going to the game this weekend come tailgate with us if you're going to be anywhere in the area listen if you live Tampa Orlando wherever and you don't have tickets to the game come out to the tailgate we're going to be showing the game at the tailgate we'll have a ton of food a ton of booze uh Guthries as always will be out there for you guys I know that's really the only reason you come it's not to see me or the games or anything like that but we will have a blast we've been doing this we started in Orlando we're finishing up in gamesville actually we'll be in Charlotte and then hopefully the playoff too but finishing up the regular season in Gainesville we'll have a ton of fun it's nlls Gators Mentality 2023.2rpm he drove them down three straight times and minus pick up the fumble I mean he was essentially great like I thought he was phenomenal uh but he just went in and played and and he didn't have a week to think about it he didn't have a week to think about playing the number four team and a top 10 div and all these other things right and a game plan and so like to me that's where it's at where is he at mentally because it's almost like you never want to say like oh if that it's almost like if if merch just got hurt on the first drive of the Florida State game like and then he just got to go in and play would would things look a little different I mean obviously then you wouldn't have time to game plan I also thought that caught Missouri a little bit off guard anything away from brown but I was chatting with some UF people and they they they agree like if you if Missouri would have had a week to prepare does Brown look a little bit different is that an advantage for Florida State at at some point and I think possibly but nobody likes and I tweeted this yesterday nobody likes playing a mobile quarterback nobody likes the oh well there's another option that you now have to defend I mean if merch is out there you know you don't really have to defend against the Run play breaks down I mean he was capable enough he had that nice that he got hurt on but nobody likes to play that mobile quarterback and so to me it's where can Brown be mentally throughout this week um fortunately for him playing at home I think is a big deal not having to go to Tallahassee this year um but that's that's my biggest question and I I guess something that we'll see answered this weekend yeah my think is and Billy Neer kind of a running joke is he's been masterful at first drives of games and putting up points yeah that's not my worry with Max Brown either My worry is okay second third quarter when you've got to adjust when you may have to catch up a little bit when you you know when the plays aren't so scripted how much the Playbook is actually there for Max Brown you know is it predictable play calling because they only know so much they only trust him with so much or can they expand the Playbook a bit because of his legs and because of his knowledge this is the second season there so he's got you know two years of experience in this offense so my my big question is how much does he know of the offense to second third fourth quarter you know be able to put that to put that to plan put that plan to work uh there so yeah it's um as you said being at home helps too I think but at the same time there it is a big question of how much he can actually lead this offense if there was one knock on merch or if there was one thing that folks thought he didn't do super well it was being accurate down the field what does what does Brown's arm look like what you know is he is he I I know it's a question and we haven't seen it a ton but is he a little more accurate down the field do he have a bigger arm um potential or what what would you kind of rate him again I know that passing is a question mark right now but thoughts around that yeah I mean of course in high school you see it a lot with his film yeah he's pushing the ball down the field uh competition probably comes into play a bit there Smooth release uh know I think in this my my I guess my biggest question would be would he be willing to pass the ball down the field that's probably where some of the knock on Merz was as well is he at times wouldn't be willing to to to go down the field so yeah I think a confidence in this offense probably goes a long way in that for for for for Max brown but I think plenty strong enough arm to push the ball down the field but the problem I think goes into there how much does that pair into the offensive line part of this issue for Florida and gr Merz was to when they would do a play action where you need time to throw and try to push the ball down the field he didn't have time he would have to escape pressure he would have to uh avoid a sack possible sack and does brown have to do the same thing now if he does he might can get away from it a little bit easier he might actually take off and run uh but my biggest question there is besides the arm talent for Max Brown will he have time to go deep um Florida State also obviously starting a backup quarterback in Tate rodmaker um how do you think that changes what Florida wants to do defensively um and are they maybe sighing somewhat of a a sigh of relief um because I think Jordan might still be running from last year yeah like other bunch of running quarterbacks this year too Jen Daniels is still running as well um it does change some things in that aspect but the still the big worry is Florida's given up so many explosives uh and it