EXCLUSIVE | Florida Gators QB Graham Mertz 1-on-1 | "There is no doubt"

how you doing everybody Sor sorry I'm a little got my coffee good here we go montre walked up with a big cookie we didn't want to interrupt that so yeah I'm not I'm not rocking any cookies where's your cowboy hat my cowboy hat they give you one it's sweet is it really it's sweet I got a little like a like a gator right here I got my my initials nice have you seen Shamar yet he was carrying that thing dude he's got like a feather and a card oh really yeah I don't know I don't know what he's got going on he was having a good day hey you having fun is this been fun I'm having a blast I'm having a blast this is my so when I was at Wisconsin obviously I went to a media day there um so I was telling the guys in the car I'm like this is what to expect we're going to be on the mic the whole day talking to people so it's been a blast it's been a blast it it means The Season's cominging that means time to play Hey the uh uh you're you had a fantastic year uh the Gators didn't have as good year as they wanted to for a myriad of reasons but when you look back and people we didn't know you in the South you know we we didn't know boy you yeah yeah Northern Kansas City Wisconsin everywhere here um how do you feel about how last year went uh I I did not I mean obviously I I love football and by the end of the season it it was it was hard losing those games for me because you care so much about it um but I got the question earlier like you had a really good year like how did how'd you feel and I was like we didn't win the amount of games I wanted to win right like for me I'm I'm at this stage of of my career especially in college where it's like you're not looking for individual stats like I'm I'm here to do whatever I can to help help this team win and I I think that that's kind of like that's the theme of this team this year like they we went through it together a lot of young guys that might have been their first year playing and and they're coming back for a second year and they don't want to feel that that way again right so uh yeah it's the season it was it was a hard one at the end especially when you break a collar bone and in game you probably would have won in a game you probably would have won made a great play broke the C against a really good team on the road in a game you probably would won and it would have been aame that could have turned it for you guys so let me ask you this I've been dying to ask you this I mean how far away is that five touchdown game against Illinois how far away is that my gosh I mean that was when you had that game as it retro freshman correct when you had that game it was this is grah Merz this this is a guy who's going to lead Wisconsin to the promis C the next day yeah yeah but I mean how I mean that seems like a decade ago right it seems like uh I was thinking about the other day likez we're on the flight today honestly I was thinking about just like my journey and just how long it's been and it feels like I just it's been long but I feel like I just blinked and I went from high school to my sixth year sixth year of college football which is just crazy but I mean I've been blessed uh I went through a bunch of hard things at Wisconsin but it it taught me who I was as a person not just a football player and I'm forever thankful for that I think that you're crafted through your hardships in your life and if you like yourself to learn from it so it feels like it might it might feel it seems like a long time ago but for me I mean you blink and there's there's a lot of things that happen in between there but no it's uh it's crazy going into year six of you got a book by the way there's no doubt in my mind we can write a book man you can write a book Graham tell us about this year's team Ricky peaw was such a good player tell tell us about Elijah Badger tell us about Chimay DK who we players that we don't know players that you know that we don't know we know we know Trey Wilson um we know Montell tell us about this year's offense and your kind of Supporting Cast it's fun it's it's a fun group and I think the cool thing like first off just about Ricky I mean that's like he's he's my brother for Life man I mean I talked to him shoot two days ago we talk every couple of days uh he's he's going to crush it and I'm confident of that but I think that the the team we got the skill players we got right now just pure depth pure speed pure talent I mean it's it's a it's a deep group man and I think that you look at even the young guys like the guys that just came in you think about TJ tank um guys that going their second year uh Andy Aiden I'm leaving off probably three or four guys but that's the group that's the group yeah yeah and you think about guys like K Jack or kill Jackson Marcus Burke uh the guys that have been here that understand it um now they're they're at a point where they are they're fully fully immersed in the Playbook and they're building on their like their weight their body then you bring in two guys that have experience that know what it takes to win um that have seen a lot of ball in Chim and Badger and it's it's a fun group to work with because they they come to work every day they keep they keep me rolling every day um keep me keep asking me questions trying to just get a little bit better but I think having those two veteran guys in there is Big Time um just cuz they they've seen a lot of ball I I've known Chim for forever yeah for 2019 2019 but no he's he is he is a great addition to this team not only as a player but as a leader so so last year you you know you spend an entire offseason you preparing for Utah you come out you guys probably played your worst game oh without a doubt now you're play spending nine months again preparing for Miami give us the difference between what you showed then and what you're going to show now yeah I I think it's just we're getting to the point where we're a we're a well oiled machine like we we know what it takes to win because we lost that one right right we we learned from armor State we didn't just there was a lot of there was a lot of time in the offseason we were just focusing on the details of where we fell short in those games and I I think that when you focus on those and you work on them even it's just like ball security snap count like the fundamental things that win football games the easy stuff the easy the easy stuff but when it comes time when it comes time to it it ain't that easy stuff like that so uh yeah I mean we're we got a we got a hungry group um they're ready to play some ball man Grim final thing here and I I asked Shamar this and asked Montrell this and nobody wants to say yeah we got a chip on our shoulder because people are doubting us that that that clich I get it that's a cliche but it is a cliche yeah but there are doubts about the Florida program and there haven't been over the years how do you how does that manifest itself and how do you how do you manage that I think that there might be doubts outside of it okay there's no doubt inside that building and that that's I can say that with full confidence I mean we got a we got a group that went through a lot of hard stuff together and doesn't want to feel that again right and will not leave any stone unturned to make sure that doesn't happen right uh we got a head coach that is the same guy every day y he's right there and he's just talking about you yeah he was you guys are going to change seats in a minute he was saying you know all good things just right there so yeah but he comes in every day and he sets the tone for us and our only option is to follow it so it's great gr thank you hey Mia here and thanks so much for watching 1010 xl's coverage of the 2024 SEC media days brought to you by instant Keys If you're looking for even more college football content this fall be sure to subscribe to our 1010xl gators 1010xl seals channels [Applause] [Music]