Mertz visited Lexington in December 2022 when Kentucky was looking for its starting quarterback for the 2023 season
DALLAS – For much of December 2022, the word around Lexington was that Graham Mertz would transfer from Wisconsin to Kentucky and the Wildcats starting quarterback in 2024.
Mertz was linked to the Wildcats as soon as he entered the transfer portal following his junior season at Wisconsin and visited Lexington, further fueling speculation.
Instead, UK signed NC State transfer Devin Leary to be its starting quarterback leaving Mertz to head south to Florida and join the Gators.
Just how close was Mertz to becoming a Wildcat?
“I enjoyed my time in Lexington. I think that the entire coaching staff they were they was fantastic, but ultimately, I mean, the recruiting process in the portal was what, like 18 days, so there was a lot, a lot of conversations, a lot of visits. Ultimately, I went down to Florida, and I fell in love with Florida, so that was the was the decision for me,” Mertz told the Cats’ Pause at SEC Media Days Wednesday. “But I love Kentucky, man. It was a fun town, a great city. Going back there to play this year was fun.”
Kentucky’s recruitment of Mertz came while UK head coach Mark Stoops was in the process of finding a new offensive coordinator as he fired Rich Scangarello following UK’s 2022 regular season finale and in January re-hired Liam Coen, who left Kentucky again following the 2023 campaign.
“That was kind of the selling point; they didn’t have it at the time, and I knew Florida did,” Mertz said of being recruited by Kentucky without an offensive coordinator.” At the time, I needed stability, and coming from a place where we had a coaching change at Wisconsin, I needed that stability of knowing who’s going to be calling the plays, what’s the offense going to be, how are we going to grow and develop that kind of thing. So I fell in love with Florida.”
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