All offseason, Florida‘s quarterback battle was one of the primary topics of conversation among Florida fans. There were doubts about Aaron Philo, and some thought Tramell Jones had a much higher ceiling. The concern was whether Philo was simply a player who happened to know Buster Faulkner’s offense better than Jones. Three games into the season, Philo has done everything needed to run a successful offense.
On Saturday, he passed a massive test that should instill confidence moving forward. Philo’s final stat line was 15 of 22 passing for 204 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Just like his interception against FAU, the one he threw on Saturday once again bounced off the hands of his intended target and into the arms of a defender.
So much was made coming into last night about the fact it was his first SEC road start. Philo looked good against FAU and Campbell at home. How was he going to handle life on the road at Auburn? Let’s just state it was Auburn taking a timeout to avoid a delay of game at home and not Florida.
Sumrall talked about the mentality that Philo has and why it suited him well to make his first road start. He said, ‘I thought he handled it really well, you know. He’s got a little bit of, like, a cowboy mentality, man. Like, he’s tough as nails. He don’t talk a whole lot just to talk, he ain’t that type of dude, but he ain’t gonna back down or nothing. Like, I can tell watching him, just how he carries himself, I got a lot of confidence, and our team has a lot of confidence in him, just because that’s the way he’s wired. He’s a tough, blue-collar, chip-on-your-shoulder type of guy.’
What has been notable about Philo is that, for all the concerns about his arm strength, which were valid concerns based on the limited game film available on him, his ADOT, or Average Depth of Target, to this point has been 9.0 yards. Of quarterbacks with at least 50 dropbacks to this point in the season, that’s still top half in the country. By comparison, DJ Lagway had an ADOT of just 8.1 yards last year.
