Who will be the Florida football starting quarterback? We break it down

Florida football will make a change at its most important position heading into the 2023 season.

Anthony Richardson, who started all 12 regular season games for Florida in 2022, declared for the NFL Draft in December and was taken fourth overall by the Indianapolis Colts.

It was an up and down first year as a starter for Richardson under first-year coach Billy Napier. There were two 400-yard passing games against Tennessee and Vanderbilt, but overall, the Gators finished ninth in the SEC in pass offense at 223.8 yards per game. Richardson's completion percentage of 53.8 percent ranked second-worst amongst SEC quarterbacks last season.

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Still, Richardson's production (2.549 passing yards, 654 rushing yards, 17 passing TDs, 9 rushing TDs) won't be easy to replace. Richardson was a big-play threat with both his arms and his legs, passing for touchdowns of 75 and 51 yards and rushing for TDs of 81, 60 and 45 yards.

Here's a look at UF's quarterbacks heading into the 2023 season:

Florida football quarterbacks — the starter

Napier didn't name one at SEC football media days, although it appears that Wisconsin transfer Graham Mertz is ahead of returning redshirt sophomore Jack Miller in the competition for the job. A decision, Napier said, could be made by the first intra-squad scrimmage to prepare the starter for the season opener Aug. 31 at Utah.

Mertz has stated 32 career games at Wisconsin, passing for 5,405 yards with 37 TDs to 26 interceptions.

"Graham is an accomplished player but more importantly, I've been impressed with the person, theleader," Napier said. "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 caused Jack to respond. Jack has had an incredible off-season and he's in position for great camp."

Miller made his first career start in the Las Vegas Bowl, completing 13 of 22 passes for 180 yards. A four-star recruit out of Scottdale, Ariz., Miller transferred from Ohio State to UF in 2022 but sat out half of last season with a broken thumb suffered in training camp.

The depth

Sophomore Max Brown, the third string quarterback on the roster, passed for 15 yards in UF's spring game. If needed, the Gators could turn to grad transfer walk-on Micah Leon, who began his career at North Carolina State before transferring in from Connecticut. Freshman quarterback Parker Leise, an Omaha, Neb., native who played last season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, joined UF as a preferred walk on in the spring. Leise was rated as a three-star recruit by both 247Sports and Rivals coming out of high school.

The future

Florida fans are looking ahead to 2024 and the arrival of five-star quarterback commitment D.J. Lagway, who is expected to sign in December. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Lagway, from Willis, Texas, is considered one the top dual threats in the country with a build capable of absorbing contact in SEC play.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators football quarterbacks in 2023. We break it down