WR Elijhah Badger emerging as deep threat and what else Florida football learned from its win over UK

Florida football is getting closer to playing the complementary football head coach Billy Napier has been striving for since he first took over as coach.

The Florida Gators (4-3, 2-2 SEC) scored 14 points off turnovers, established the run and generated big plays downfield in the pass game from freshman quarterback DJ Lagway in its 48-20 win over Kentucky at The Swamp on Saturday night.

Florida built a 27-13 halftime lead against the Wildcats and maintained it, helping Napier improve to 15-17 overall and 8-12 in the SEC during his UF coaching tenure.

“In this league, each part of your team is going to have to go blow for blow,” Florida football coach Billy Napier said. “Every matchup is different. There is certain spots on your team where maybe you’re at a disadvantage or certain parts of the team where you’re at an advantage.

“I thought we fed off each other at times tonight. That’s an important part.”

Here are three things Florida learned from its win over the Wildcats:

Florida football WR Elijhah Badger emerging as a consistent deep threat

Bager had three catches for 148 yards against the Wildcats on Saturday night. An Arizona State transfer, the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Badger made catches of 58, 50 and 40 yards to help set up three UF touchdowns. Badger appears to be developing a nice rapport with Lagway.

“Badger had an unbelievable day, some elite catches,” Napier said. “Finished one off there on third down. But just his ability to make the contested catch, the vertical threat, and then obviously DJ laid those in the basket.”

Florida football can establish the run against a tough front seven

Kentucky entered its matchup with Florida ranked third in the SEC in run defense, allowing just 89.3 yards per game. But even without starting running back Montrell Johnson Jr., the Gators had success on the ground, rushing for 197…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/wr-elijhah-badger-emerging-deep-110335435.html

Author : The Gainesville Sun

Publish date : 2024-10-20 11:03:35

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.