Florida Gators Fall Camp Update: Montrell Johnson Injured & Eugene Wilson III Feeling ‘Dangerous’

we got Gator breakdown here we know we're businesses Gator breakdown because there's never a dull moment in Gator Nation the gator breakdown podcast is ready to go I am your host David Waters you can find me on social media Gator Dave EC coming at you with another episode of Gator's breakdown of course going through fall camp and of course it always happens some bad injury news not as bad as it could be but an injury scare with running back Montreal Johnson we'll get into that and we'll dive into Trey Wilson claiming himself to be and rightfully so dangerous on the field we'll get to hear from him heard a little bit last week of Billy Napier offensive coordinator Russ Callaway talking about getting play Wilson the ball a number of touches kind of having this pitch count uh of wanting to get the ball in his hands will expand on that a bit as well but plenty to get into also Billy nap on Elijah Badger the transfer wide receiver from Arizona State so heavy offensive episode here on Gator breakdown a lot of the news coming from that side of the ball right now of course Ron Roberts did speak last week trying to get around to to implementing that but offense kind of Garing the headlines right now some of it not so good because of the injury but also expanding on Florida's best weapon in Trey Wilson so everybody hit that like button right here if you're watching on YouTube subscribe right here on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform if you haven't done so yet and then hey not much longer just a few more weeks till that first game of the season get your beat Miami shirt right there Gators breakdown merch.com other designs there as well to help us and support what we do right here on Gator breakdown but even more so if you want to interact with some more Gator fans do so on the Discord at Gator breakdown plus link is in the description there some new members joining in a lot of good conversation lately with fall Camp starting there at Gator breakdown plus one more time link is in the description to get access to the Discord server add free episodes of Gator breakdown I know that's a big uh especially with football season coming up there'll be a lot more ads here on Gator breakdown so be sure if you want those adree episodes of Gator breakdown you get access to those at Gator breakdown plus so Billy na did speak to the media on Saturday and it was around midday um and then right after the press conference it started coming out that there was an injury to montro Johnson so um I'm not sure anybody at the press conference at the time had the info to ask Billy Napier about it I don't even know how much he would have shared but it eventually came out anyway uh so he probably would have have been asked I just don't know if it had had been out cuz it was literally not long after the press conference ended on Saturday to started getting word about Montreal Johnson didn't want to run with the rumors I trusted the source and what was being said about the injury but also wanted to confirm I have a news background of course so look the person who was telling me I completely trusted him but news background tells me go get another store I going to get confirmation somewhere else as well so I did reach out to Florida uh and then put out of course the tweet in the article there confirming the injury there to Montell Johnson so severity of course is going to be the question but the bad news of course the start fall Camp early in Fall camp for Florida Mont Johnson suffered that minor minor knee injury uh in Friday evening's practice he had a scope performed and the status from Florida is he's weak to week and sources confirmed that the gator breakdown on Saturday as well as other outlets out there as well so like I said the word started coming out about midday after Bill A's press conference so he wasn't asked about it uh but you know it started coming out that Johnson would miss several weeks uh so that's another reason reaching out to Florida to get some more clarity on the whole situation so we'll see as we go along here the next few weeks about Montreal Johnson's injury status if he's going to miss the opener versus Miami Texas st& m a couple weeks later as well so early season big games for Florida we'll see where montro Johnson status is as we move long so of course for Johnson decided to return for his senior season to boost his NFL draft stock and was expected to have an increased workload of course this year after Trevor etn transferred rival Georgia um last season Johnson admitted he didn't play as best as he had NFL on his mind was trying to do too much still led the team in rushing yards for the second consecutive season 87 rushing yards 5.4 yards per carry 68 yards a game of course splitting a ton of carries febr ATN about mirrored the same stats there for montro Johnson two seasons in a row those guys about mirrored the stats but Johnson leading uh in the yardage category there for the Gator the last couple of Seasons last season Johnson scored six touchdowns five rushing one receiving that one receiving being that uh with that screen pass against Tennessee there where Grant mer does to him at the very last second Johnson breaks tackle on his way to the end zone call a career-high passes last year 30 of them for 236 yards and I don't want to overlook his ability as a pass catcher you know that's something these young guys will need to prove they can bring while there is a lot of confidence that those guys can run the ball well you know Johnson through his time at Florida become a more reliable pass catcher as well so with no definitive timeline for Johnson's return the running back room will have to rely on a lot of in experience you sophomore trayon web freshman Jaden ball kayen Daniels and then red shirt Jr jacobe Jackson you know for this crucial early season stretch that includes the games versus Miami Texas A&M in two of the first three games so you know cam Carroll's names getting thrown around a bit but still you know hearing that he may not be ready uh as of right now so you still have four deep here Tryon web Jaden ball Katie Daniels jacobe Jackson web the only back in the group with experience you playing in last season playing 11 games as a reserve running back and on special teams of course had 163 yards rushing 26 attempts two rushing touchdowns four catches for 18 yards so look this is a deep group on potential and nothing more right now let not to slam those guys that's just the reality of the situation I think we can like their talent but it is all potential right now with no games being played I like this group I they will be good but it is all potential at the moment that's not a slam on him you know web limited experience but behind him nothing as far as game experience so you know there I think there's plenty of reasons to be confident that you know for napor and this and in this area he's got some recent history Mont Johnson playing a good bet as a true freshman at Louisiana of course remember Trevor etn a couple seasons ago as a freshman here at Florida if you prove you do enough to get on the field as a true freshman Billy naer will play you and really don't have a choice right now because of the injury to Monro Johnson so I also think there should be confidence that those guys will be ready to go based on some recent history The Freshman running backs for Billy Napier you know two main ones Johnson back at Louisiana etn at Florida all ready to go we were all impressed by what we saw from Jaden ball in the spring game I was too and there was positive word at the same time of K Daniel J Kobe Jackson coming out of spring but we do have to see it so probably the biggest area for concern for me it's really not those guys running the ball but it will be the pass blocking side of playing the running back position Trevor etn did struggle there but I do think that gets overblown a bit as a coping mechanism for losing him to Georgia it wasn't great but you know it's funny to see many pointed out now when they really weren't pointing it out as much when he was in the Florida Back Field so I think it gets overblown a bit you know if the game I think for Florida's offense now if the game plan has to shift or Florida was going to open up the offense even more this season then the backs are going to have to be reliable pass blockers while Napier has you know his base offense and and that's based more on the Run game as we discussed last episode with having Callaway more involved in the offense with recruiting more speed bringing in Badger and DK through the transfer portal I do believe this offense sense is evolving a bit to open it up more so with that you know these running backs will certainly need to adapt quickly and pass blocking for somebody like KD Daniels you know didn't have experience in that in high school basically playing the running back or the quarter the quarterback position but running the ball so much as a quarterback that there's going to be an adjustment period uh for those freshman backs so how will Florida adjust you know we just discussed how they will in the running back room but does the focus of the offense change yeah I just talked about the adaptability how you've recruited what you did in the transfer portal you know does this Force Napier in the offensive staff to open up the offense more it it certainly can but it may have been there anyway so last week we discussed napers and offensive coordinators uh Russ Callaway's comments on feeding wide receiver Trey Wilson now that's where we'll go next you know Montel Johnson going to be injured we don't know the timeline yet but the offense is probably going to be open up a bit more anyway your best playmaker is wide receiver Trey Wilson the way you've recruited the other guys the way you've hit the transfer portal you certainly can see the vision there and now we we got the comments of Billy a Russ Callaway last week about getting Trey Wilson to touches that he needs as a top playmaker in this offense and certainly that may be even more critical now to help make up for the time Johnson may be out so let's hear from Trey Wilson he spoke to the media and as he looks for a larger role in this offense this coming up season yeah Trey so Billy the other day was we were talking about how Russ Callaway talked about getting the ball to the best Playmakers and Billy said that you were at the top of the list there um what does it mean to you to establish that trust and belief and how did you go about doing that um well I most definitely don't disagree with him but at the same time you know it's a team game and being able to give our team the best chance to win and you know drive down and get in the Box as many times a game as we can that's so we'll give our team the best chance to win again how do you how do you feel like you've gone about earning the belief and Trust of your head coach and your team um I feel like it's just kind of you know part of the process you know coming in early and then being able to be be thrown on the field early I feel like it was just kind of part of the process being able to you know not have too many setbacks none of that you did so much last year from so many different positions where would you like to see what do you expect to see your maybe the next Evolution for you playmaker I'll say just you know every day of practice just being able to let the game slow down for me you know being able to see all different perspectives from the field and um coach NAB like to you know emphasize being a 4D Gator which is pretty much seeing not just your position but all sides of the ball from you know all the positions on the offensive side to all the positions of rols on the defensive side so pretty much knowing all 22 assignments are you closer to that how much closer are you this year than last year a lot closer yeah was your head just spinning last year trying to figure out your um I say I was just out there running around you know just following instructions but now just kind of following my rule how much you think it helped you to be able to line up in such a you know kind of versatile way last year you got some snaps out of the back field and can slot outside what did that do to kind of help you develop uh just keep you know keep defense on their toes and pretty much you know apply pressure from all ways what's the key to handling the workload you're going to probably have this year uh it just keep it keep it strong in the mental in the mental game you know a part of the aspect of the game is part of the mental so being able to keep that strong is was definitely the most important part of it what have you learned though just about the whole aspect of recovery and I mean you're still really young I'm sure you recover quickly yeah but have you learned more since you've been here about how what to put in your body how to recover yeah I mean especially after watching that Netflix documentary receiver they uh they kind of emphasize it a little bit as far as like being able to take care of everybody it's a whole part of the game as well but um I feel like I I almost definitely picked up on that es especially from last year yeah what have you kind of added to the repertoire I mean the cold plunge don't look any fun but I'm sure you're doing it I mean I wouldn't say a lot of it is probably not fun but at the end of the day you got to take care of your body because that's your money maker you said last year you were just kind of running around should defenses be scared like like last year you were as productive as you were just running around and now in year two you kind of know what you're doing like how much better you're going to be yeah I mean I feel like the defense is just going to watch the tape and at the end of the day they going to have to you know make their adjustments and feel the way they have to feel after watching our film do you feel more dangerous in your two knowing knowing what you know well lining up I feel the most dangerous every play so look Trey Wilson should feel dangerous you during let's go back let's just go back and look at it that productive freshman season played in 10 games seven starts 61 passes caught 538 yards with a team High six touchdowns he led all FBS true freshman in receptions per game with six while ranking second in overall receptions with 61 tied for second and receiving touchdowns with six and fourth and receiving yards per game at 53.8 he recorded 41 catches for 370 yards in the last six games of the Season finishing with 538 receiving yards those stats came from Zack Alber on on three the the comparisons of a freshman out there but you saw as the season went on him get more comfortable in the offense so those stats are even more impressive considering that of course he didn't arrive on campus until the summer then got to fall Camp was injured early in Fall Camp missed a a whole lot of the ball Camp last season with an injury and was still able to put those stats up so he made significant strides in the offseason that was um a big part of his press conference as well says he added 13 pounds of muscle to his 510 frame thanks to Tyler mil's new strength and conditioning program um and reflecting on his freshman All-American season you know just going back one more time Wilson says I'm just I was just out there running around just following instructions so despite that of course you know it was the season was impressive not fully ingrained in the offense just yet still learning to play book missing some time and was still able to do that so now adding muscle for durability the season be able to stay healthy be on the field more gaining more experience in the offense and being on the field more should help Wilson take his game to the next level so something I wanted to look at you I saw those stats from Zach Al bie really good job by him there at on three uh to to put those stats up but one more I kind of wanted to go to is looking at the distribution of his catches and we all remember those good starts and then we wouldn't see Trey Wilson for a little while and and I do think there is something to that so if you look at it notably 44% of his 61 catches were in the first quarter and I don't think it's any secret or you know I I think in looking at it it's the scripted portions of the of the offensive scheme I think it makes a lot of sense I don't think that's a reach there I think we can say you just by looking at this the breakdown he had 27 of his 61 catches in the first quarter five of his six touchdowns came in the first quarter I don't think it's a far stretch to say during descripted portions of the drive the game plan is built around him we saw how we saw how productive he was compared to the rest of the game rcky piol you can see if I threw his up out here if you're watching the YouTube version he had 19 of his 65 catches in the first quarter but it was more it was distributed for Ricky piol 19 in the first quarter 12 in the second quarter 18 in the third quarter 16 in the fourth quarter Trey Wilson let's go back one more time 27 in the first quarter 12 catches in the second quarter 11 catches in the third quarter 11 catches in the fourth quarter I mean go back to Trey Wilson he had six catches on the opening drive against Tennessee didn't have another reception the rest of the game as he injured his collar bone he'd go on to miss the next two games against Charlotte in Kentucky he had 11 catches against Georgia four of those were on the first drive of the game including one being the 25 yard touchdown catch and run so you can see the trend was to script the early game plan around Wilson while he while he's adjusting to the college game having to learn the Playbook I wouldn't expect to see such a drop off in production from the first quarter to the rest of the game with Trey Wilson now having the experience knowing more of the offense having more muscle he should be to be able to play more and more consistently and then early word of at a fall Camp so far is making the plays you'd expect him to make pretty much unguardable the first week of fall camp and then I hope you guys saw it I'm going to if you're watching the YouTube version I'm going to throw it up here I mean that catchy the catch Fida released on Friday I think it was from Thursday's practice I mean you talk about another step in this game you see merch dropping back Wilson with the Hops over sh I mean Sharie Denson played it about as good as you could play it but Trey Wilson showing the Hops getting up coming down with the ball I mean that was something we didn't get to see much of last year you know a lot of the the plays last year some of those pop passes you know his yards per completion weren't very high as he's getting in uh ingrain into the offense we saw that get better as the season went on so I think this year we you should see him inside outside in the back field short intermediate down the field I think he's going to be more of an allaround receiver this year we didn't see many of these catches like this from Trey Wilson last year he's going to be used in this fashion more this year so certainly you can see you know based off of that I don't want to make too much of a of a uh too much of a deal about a fall Camp big play here but from a player like him that we were already already expecting big things out of as you can see here to me it looks like it's first team offense versus first team defense I'm guessing you know I did see pup Howard on the field there in the background sharf Denson who I expect to start at nickel could be a mix you know I don't want to take too much of who he's going against but Sharie Denson I think is going to start there so you know but you got your first you got your quarterback gr Merz puts the ball where turns out only Trey Wilson can get it so look as I said don't want to make too much about it but at the same time those are the type of things you expect to see from Graham Merz Trey Wilson their second year together here in the Florida Gator offense all right so let's expand on the passing game a bit let's go back to the wide receiver room somebody who's going to help Trey Wilson so defenses can't just focus on him you heard Wilson say hey defense is going to make adjustments well he's going to need some help here's Billy Napier on transfer wide receiver Elijah Bader he's a part of a receiver group you know that is man it it is extremely competitive you know I think we have after some of those guys that have played a lot of football you know Trey Chim khil you know then you kind of get into that next tier of player um and all those guys are are doing great um and that that's one of the positions on our team where some of the roles are to be determined uh but I do think that a badger has made progress and it showed up I think yesterday is where I was like okay I can kind of see um you know he is explosive he is athletic uh he can run after the catch he has a vertical threat to his game uh and he's got play strength and he's got length you know he's he's 61 guy but he's got great great length so um yeah I like the look in his eye you know he's not scared to work he's got a smile on his face uh he told me last night you know um I could tell he was getting comfortable you know he made a few plays and I said hey he said man this is uh the humidity is different right he said I'm used to that sun but I'm not used to that humidity so he he said hey look this practice is uh a lot more intense and a lot faster maybe the ones I've been a part of in the past there we go so it is going to be different for Elijah Badger and getting comfortable is my main takeaway there from what Billy AER had to talk had to say about Badger and look of course getting comfortable in the weather too it sounds like so we all know we all know living down here in the South this humidity is a bit different I remember gr Merz talking about it last year as well saying in the 101 interview I had with him about you know swappy the swap certainly is a great term for all the humidity you have to deal with here uh in our great state of Florida so uh but to me getting comfortable for a logic Badger that's that to me that's the only question surrounding him how fast can he get up to speed in this new offense for him to for him to become comfortable and for him to become the weapon that I think we know he can be it's not a stretch here to say Elijah badrick can be a huge weapon for this Gator offense that's why he was so heavily coveted by by you know for for us following the transfer portal back in the spring this was the guy that we as a fan base identified we want him in this receiver room we've seen it but it's been proven elsewhere he's played a lot of college football played a lot of snaps he has more production than someone like Ricky peaw who also came in from Arizona State made his presence felt right away but he also was a better player in year 2 at Florida than year one Florida needs that impact right away this season from Badger and it may not be there game one versus Miami but it needs to be there early in the season you know we'll see who the starting three wide receivers are when Miami comes to town but there's a thought it will be Wilson DK and khil Jackson as Badger catches up but I think if that's still the case and I think that this going to be a battle of Jackson and Badger as we lead up to the first game of the season early season as well that Badger before all said and done still needs to be at least third in the amount of touches the wide receivers get know looking back at that chart from earlier we know the staff will script plays to get an inexperienced player to ball in his hands so if Badger still trying to figure out the Playbook early in the season getting comfortable in the offense I'd expect to see some manufacturers touches but it's going to be you know for the for full effect and for full effect early in the season it's going to be up to Badger to get himself comfortable in the offense but I think when it's all said and done by the time the 2024 season ends Badger is going to be in that group of Wilson DK as the top three you I'm not trying to slam khil Jackson I'm glad you know he's a gator and making that transition from playing quarterback in high school to wide receiver I expect him to be better in his second full season getting experience as well but given what we have already seen from Badger I know it wasn't at Florida I know a lot of people will slam it's in Pack 12 or whatever Arizona State Pack 12 been pretty good football to me lately so but he's done it and he shows explosive he show as B you heard Billy Neer kind of explain the allaround weapon he can be it's catch after the run it's being a vertical threat there's a special team's threat is there there's well so to me it's just going to be all about how fast Badger can get ingrained in the offense how fast can he learn the offense because I think he's a weapon just waiting to happen to help Trey Wilson to help Chim R DK to help Graham Merz in this offense and to wrap it back around you're going to need these guys to help make up the LW for montro Johnson in the Run game there's a a lot to like about that room still but I still believe you know Billy Napier is truthful in what he says about learning to adapt and learning to change I do think changing your offense a bit is in that list of items and I think we've seen the changes there by hopefully relying more on auss Callaway getting more speed on the field with Wilson K DK certainly setting personal records this offseason and then the recruitment of guys like tank Hawkins Abrams you can see the vision there I've put that out there before but you can see some changes in the offense now hopefully it we'll be able to make up for whatever the timetable is for montro Johnson it may not be anything we'll see when it gets to it but you probably expect him to miss a game or two early in the season so you're going to need this passing game to step up even more all right there you go like I said heavy heavy offensive influenced episode here of Gator breakdown bringing you the latest the unfortunate news montro Johnson going down with an injury hopefully not too serious when it's all said and done and then expanding on it expanding on this offense with the receivers of Trey Wilson and Elijah Badger I expect to hear their names a whole lot this fall for the Gators all right that'll do it for this episode of Gator breakdown I am your host David W you can find me on social media Gator Dave guys and girls out there thank you for joining me on this episode of Gator's breakdown