As Florida and FAU’s Sept. 4 matchup draws ever closer, both teams will welcome The Swamp’s deafening roar after ending last season with a whimper.

The Gators tossed away their shot at the college football playoff with a pair of one-score losses last season before a dispirited bowl defeat against Oklahoma. Meanwhile, after trailing Marshall by just one game in the Conference USA East Division through most of the season, the Owls sputtered into mediocrity by dropping their final two regular season games and losing the Montgomery Bowl to Memphis.

Along with the opportunity to make amends for last season, Saturday’s season opener marks a long awaited return to capacity crowds, a number of fresh faces, and most importantly for both teams: a pair of new quarterbacks.

Dan Mullen’s first depth chart of the season confirmed what Gators fans have known for months — Emory Jones will start under center for UF. FAU’s quarterback competition was more contentious, but Willie Taggart ultimately elected N’Kosi Perry to lead the Owls out of their roost and into the Swamp.

Mullen discussed his expectations and concerns for both quarterbacks Monday afternoon.

Perry attracted offers from across the country as the seventh-best dual threat quarterback in the 2017 class, but he elected to stay in the Sunshine State with Miami. After redshirting his first season, the Ocala native made an immediate impact during his freshman campaign in Coral Gables, throwing for over 1,000 yards in six starts for the Hurricanes.

The Vanguard High grad was reduced to just three starts in 2019, but Perry turned in a number of impressive displays, including a 422-yard, four-touchdown performance at Virginia Tech. Still, after riding the bench and watching Miami phenom D’Eriq King toss touchdowns for fun, Perry elected to make the 30-minute trip up I-95 in search of more game time.

Despite taking a step down in stature, Mullen acknowledges Perry’s four-star pedigree and impressive collegiate performances to this point.

“You go back and you look, I think he’s got some athletic ability and obviously he has some great size,” Mullen said. “But on top of it he’s a really good passer.”

And while Perry was never the most efficient runner at the U, he finished as the team’s fourth leading rusher and displayed enough athleticism to keep Todd Grantham on his toes.

“You have to respect his arm talent and his size as a pocket guy to be able to see and have that height and that length,” Mullen said. “But you also have to be aware of his athletic ability and his ability to create outside the play.”

However, while Perry contains the ability to cause the Gators occasional headaches on his own, Willie Taggart’s schemes have been consistently foiled by Dan Mullen and his staff.

Taggart was outscored 81-31 across two meetings with the Gators in 2018 and 2019, and Mullen expressed confidence in his experience with the FAU coach.

“Well, I mean you look at that on that side of the ball, you know he’s an offensive guy,” Mullen said. So we know what we’re looking for on that side of the ball and what they did.”

As the headline signature of Dan Mullen’s 2017 class, Jones was recruited to hold down the starting position in Gainesville.

Jones faced surprising competition from a two-star recruit turned Heisman contender last season, but Mullen has consistently affirmed his faith in Jones this offseason.

“Yeah, we put it all in on him. You know what I mean? It’s not like he's a freshman or hasn't been around. That’s part of the experience. He’s played meaningful snaps in each of the last couple of seasons. He’s a guy that I feel pretty comfortable (with).”

Jones is Mullen’s first quarterback at UF with the physical gifts to utilize the entire spread playbook, so this paired with Jones’ two years of experience within the system leaves the Florida offense with an unrestricted offensive arsenal.

The Florida quarterback expressed confidence ahead of his first start as a Gator, and attributed his growth and belief to Mullen’s expertise as an offensive coach.

“It definitely makes me feel good about coach Mullen. That was a reason that I chose to come to Florida, him and his way with quarterbacks. He creates the offense around his quarterbacks, so that’s definitely exciting for me. It takes advantage of all of my abilities.”

Jones now stands just four days away from leading the Gators into their season opener, and the Georgia native has embraced the opportunity to finally live up to his elite billing.

They are so proud of me for just sticking through this and just waiting my turn,” Jones said. “And now it’s about time for me to show the world what I can do. So, I’m excited.”