Florida Regular Season Stats

[Weeze]

Florida Season Stats

A Look Back, and a Peak Ahead

Florida Defense Celebrating Turnover.

 

          The regular season has finally come to a close. The best teams in the various conferences are preparing to fight it out to see who will hold their conferences trophies. Others are preparing for a post season Bowl game. The rest will be emptying out their lockers and calling it a season and enjoying some time off before spring practices roll back around. For the Florida Gators, they are awaiting to see who and where they will be playing their first Bowl game under coach Weeze. At the start of the season, the hope that the Gators would reach the post season was slim. The Gators lost a lot of major contributors last season and the starters for this season were seen as nothing more than place holders while the new wave of recruits learned the playbook and adapted to the speed and strength of the college game.

 

          That being said, the scrappy Florida team came out and continued to fight all season surprising many with their ability to score and wear down opponents. Unfortunately a tough stretch of games in the middle of the season where they played South Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia consecutively all on the road, nearly derailed the season. Florida however did have a massive increase in production this season compared to the previous season. The scrappy Gators jumped from 197 to 302 in total points scored, and had 5,072 offensive yards, up from 3,938 yards a season before.

 

          Defensively it was a bit of a mix bag. They improved in many areas, but failed in others. For example, the Defense allowed 287 points in 2022, and 306 this season. Total Yards allowed, the unit allowed 5,242 yards, up from 4,802 a season before. But when you start digging into the numbers, the defense made big improvements on run defense. 2,527 down to 1,903. Even when you look at the pass yards allowed, the defense allowed 3,339, up from 2,275 a year before. Most of that can be attributed to Tennessee, who had a massive 703 yard game. The Defense did have more sacks this season as well as more interceptions. Look to the coaching staff however to focus on Fumbles and recovering. There was a big drop in the defense forcing fumbles this season. They also did better this season getting the ball carrier down behind the line. Up Next we will take a look at individual units and how they did. 

Sr QB Shareece Kelly, 129 of 272 attempts, for 1248 yards, 12 TD, 2 Ints, 100.53 QBR, 135 Rushing Attempts for 705 yards, 2 TDs

          Quarterback play through much of the season was very much questionable. Shareece Kelly won the job right before the regular season to the surprise of some media members and analyst. Many thought true freshman Kevin Jones should have been given the reigns and let the kid grow. Now With Max Howard coming in, who knows if Jones will ever see the field as a Gator. Regardless of who should have started, Kelly played the games and lead the Gators to their highest win total and Coach Weeze first Bowl Season. Passing was poor. Simple as that. Through 12 games, the Gators had a total of 1,319 passing yards, 1,248 of that belonged to Kelly. He only posted a 47% completion rating, and a 100.53 QBR. His 12 Touchdowns however is a School record for a single season(and career. UF has had 3 different starting qbs over 3 season.) passing touchdowns. He did do some damage on the ground however making it hard for some defenses to get a real sense of what the gators were gonna do. Kelly booked 135 rushing attempts for 705 yards, with 2 more touchdowns to be added to his total. Looking ahead, current freshman Jones has a small leg up on Howard having been in Coach Weeze system for a year, but he is gonna have to work hard if he doesn't want the 5 star to come in and take his job.

Passing
Forename	Surname	Position	Year	Games	Completions	Pass Att	Pass %	Pass Yards	Pass Tds	Ints	YPC	YPG	QBR	Long Pass	Sacks
Shareece	Kelly	QB	Sr	12	129	272	47.43%	1248	12	2	9.67	104.00	100.53	52	5
Luis	Culberson	QB	(Fr)	1	2	2	100.00%	24	0	0	12.00	24.00	200.80	14	0
Matt	Goldman	QB	Jr	1	3	4	75.00%	47	0	0	15.67	47.00	173.70	21	0

Jr RB Ryan Bowman 180 attempts for 1281 yards for 11 TD, 20 comp on 29 tgts for 145 yards, 2 TD
Sr RB Mason Matthews 132 attempts for 877 yards, 6 TD, 14 comp on 18 tgts for 87 yards
Jr FB Tommy Murton 138 attempts for 754 yards, 5 TD, 8 comp on 13 tgts for 66 yards, 2 TD

          The Florida rushing attack was not only one of the best in the SEC, but one of the best in the entire country. This 4 headed monster(including Kell) was lead by Junior Runingback Ryan Bowman. Bowman was thrown into the fire last season when Sam Haynes started to struggle. Bowman held the starting role since and continued with a strong presence into this season. In fact he was only a 100 yards short of doubling his total last season on the same number of carries with 1281 yards on 180 attempts. He also lead the team with 11 rushing touchdowns. He was also an efficient target in the passing game with 20 completions on 29 targets for 145 yards. He was able to score 2 more touchdowns. Mason Matthews saw some action last season..and to be frank is lucky he saw any action this season. He worked hard and coaches praised his hard work in the off season. Matthews followed up his 54 yard season with 877 yards off 132 attempts and six touchdowns. He pulled in 14 passes on 18 targets to add 87 yards. Its a shame this was his final year of eligibility as he seem to finally find his stride, with a few games even out performing Bowman. The final head that hasn't been mentioned yet, Tommy Murton. Officially listed as a FB, Murton, much like Matthews, saw some work last season and didn't impress...not on the ground anyway. The 4 Star FB put in the work in the off season and slimmed down a little bit and worked on his power. He became the true change of pace back that bullied his way into the defense leaving them all a little sore. Murton ran for 754 yards on 138 attempts, five touchdowns. He was targeted 13 times with 8 catches, 66 yards and two more touchdowns. Both Murton and Bowman are returning next season to build off this strong season.

Forename	Surname	Position	Year	Game	Rush Att	Rush Yards	Rush Tds	FUM	YPC	YPG	Longest Run	Over 20
Ryan	Bowman	RB	Jr	12	180	1281	11	3	7.12	106.75	50
Mason	Matthews	RB	Sr	12	132	877	6	1	6.64	73.08	58
Tommy	Murton	FB	Jr	12	138	754	5	4	5.46	62.83	26
Shareece	Kelly	QB	Sr	12	135	705	2	0	5.22	58.75	29
Kyle	Phelps	RB	Sr	8	19	114	2	0	6.00	14.25	40
Luis	Culberson	QB	(Fr)	1	5	20	0	0	4.00	20.00	7
Matt	Goldman	QB	Jr	1	5	3	0	0	0.60	3.00	6
	Team	Rushing	Total	12	604	3731	26	8	6.18	310.92

 

Sr WR Kai Benkert 31 receptions on 59 targets for 336 yards, 1 TD

          Next on the list the Wide Receivers and Tightends. Its hard to know if this group is so bleak because of QB play...or if QB play was bleak because of receiving play. If we are gonna be honest, probably both. When looking at the stats, no player who caught a pass had a completion rate over 60% that didn't come out of the RB room. Emilio Williams is the only one but his two passes only showed up in 1 game. Johnathan Kling, a Senior TE will end his career at Florida leading the '23 season with 358 yards, as well as tied with WR Bruce Gedeon for touchdown receptions with only 3. Kai Benkert, a senior WR was second in yards with 336 yards. No one else managed to get over 200 yards. Kevin Howard or Kevin Jones will have to put in some work next season. No experienced TE will be returning next season, and only Gedeon will be returning with any experience in the WR room. Luckily for one of those two QBS, Edward Watkins should be joining the team and he should provide some talent in the WR that hasn't been seen at Florida. Unfortunately that Young man is going to have to grow up and be a number 1 before he has a chance to see a play book. Gedeon just has not shown to be a reliable target over the last two seasons. Hopefully he steps it up for his final season and can finally shine with real QB play coming.

Forename	Surname	Position	Year	Games	Targets	Receptions	Catch %	Yards	YPC	Receiving Tds	Fum	Longest Rec
Kai	Benkert	WR	Sr	9	59	31	52.5%	336	10.84	1	0	52
Johnathan	Kling	TE	Sr	12	56	29	51.8%	358	12.34	3	0	38
Tommy	Murton	FB	Jr	9	13	8	61.5%	66	8.25	2	0	23
Brandon	Castro	TE	Sr	11	31	14	45.2%	115	8.21	1	0	21
Ryan	Bowman	RB	Jr	12	29	20	69.0%	145	7.25	2	0	20
Kyle	Phelps	RB	Sr	3	3	1	33.3%	14	14.00	0	0	14
Bruce	Gedeon	WR	Jr	12	41	15	36.6%	172	11.47	3	0	24
Mason	Matthews	RB	Sr	8	18	14	77.8%	87	6.21	0	0	24
Emilio	Williams	WR	Sr	1	2	2	100.0%	26	13.00	0	0	17
Justice	Andrews	TE	(So)	1	1	0	0.0%	0	#DIV/0!	0	0	0
	Team	Receiving	Totals	9	253	134	53%	1319	9.84	12	0

 

Gator Defense Stuffing Missouri

          The defense was already discussed earlier. They made big improvements in some areas, back tracked in others. The run defense improved, but the pass defense dropped off in pass protection, however they were able to force some more take aways. They were also able to get after the QB more. First you have to start with the Heart and Soul of this defense. Keenan Williams finished the Regular Season with 81 tackles, 5 asst, 19.5 tfl and a FR. Williams, a senior ILB has been one of the best tacklers in the conference the last two seasons, finishing 3^rd this season. The senior will be hard to replace and sorely missed next season. Another Senior who had a good season, and tied fourth for sacks this season, Chad Iyiegbuniwe. 6.5 sacks on the season, he holds the single season record for the Gators. This comes off of a season where he failed to get a single sack. When turning to the secondary, Darrell Capela, a senior CB, has been working. The senior registered 42 tackles, and a team leading 4 interceptions. The defense will look completely different next season. A lot of fresh faces will be making starts. The entire secondary for the most part will be new starters. The D-Line will be completely different. The LB unit is probably the only unit with a major starter returning. Elvis Thompson, who has played both Right and Left OLB. Thompson and FS Joel Wright will likely be the only two current starters to return to the defense. Wright however Would be Starting at FS, not the CB role he has been playing. Fans should be excited however. A lot of young guys will be playing next season yes, however 8 players will be joining the defense who are 4 stars. This should help infuse a lot of talent to the defense.

Forename	Surname	Position	Year	Games	Sol TKL	Asst TKL	TFL	SCK	FF	FR	INT
Keenan	Williams	ILB	Sr	12	81	5	19.5	0	0	1	0
Marcus	Frazier	FS	Sr	12	52	0	2	0	0	0	1
Darrell	Capela	CB	Sr	10	42	0	0	0	0	0	4
Chris	Nieves	SS	Jr	12	58	5	0	0	1	0	1
Robert	Moxey	CB	Jr	11	30	0	0	0	0	0	3
David	Kingery	DT(1)	Sr	11	41	6	10	4	0	0	0
Marcus	Miller	DE(DT2)	Sr	12	33	1	4.5	4.5	0	1	0
Elvis	Thompson	OLB(R)	Jr	7	18	1	3	0	1	0	0
Kendrick	Locke	OLB(L)	Sr	11	31	5	1	0	1	0	1
Chad	Iyiegbuniwe	DE(R)	Sr	11	32	2	6.5	6.5	1	0	0
Joel	Wright	FS(CB3)	Jr	12	28	0	0	0	0	0	2
Warner	Boxberger	CB	Sr	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
Wilfredo	Smith	DE(L)	(So)	11	37	7	7.5	6	1	0	0
Jason	Webster	OLB(R)	Jr	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jake	Sendejo	SS	Sr	7	16	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kelvin	Williams	G	Fr	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Byron	Caupain	DT	Sr	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Terrell	Dedmon	ILB	Jr	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon	Martin	DE	(Fr)	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kai	Benkert	WR	Sr	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0
		Defense	Team	Totals: 3	513	32	54	21	5	3	12

[npklemm]

that rushing attack is sexy as hell

[npklemm]

On 9/8/2023 at 12:10 PM, npklemm said:

that rushing attack is sexy as hell

And now I have to try and defend it 

[Weeze]

10 hours ago, npklemm said:

And now I have to try and defend it 

Can’t really defend it. You just out score it lol. All my losses except for UGA I believe have been pretty rough on the defense side. Offense never really slows down tooo much. But I’m actually nervous ahead of our game

Edited September 11, 2023 by Weeze