Swampcast talks Florida football, Florida basketball, UF at NCAA Gymnastics championships

In this week's Swampcast, Kevin Brockway and David Whitley of the Gainesville Sun are joined by Sun colleague Noah Ram to discuss the Florida football spring game and Florida gymnastics at the NCAA Championships.

Both Brockway and Whitley thought that freshman quarterback D.J. Lagway looked poised in his Florida Gators debut, though Whitley pointed out that it's still Graham Mertz's team.

Lagway went 12 for 21 for 173 yards with 2 TDs and an interception, while Mertz went 15 of 27 for 243 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception.

"You had to come away impressed," Whitley said. "But you also have to come away realistic in saying yeah, it's still Mertz's team."

Later in the podcast, Ram discussed UF's chances in the NCAA Gymanstics Championships, which start Thursday night in Fort Worth, Texas. Florida is one of eight teams remaining looking to advance to Saturday's Final Four.

Ram admitted expectations were lower coming into the season with the graduation of Trinity Thomas and Kayla DiCello taking a year sabbatical to train for the U.S. Olympic Team. This weekend, Florida faces long odds to unseat two-time defending national champion Oklahoma. Ram pointed out that Aly Raisman and John Roethlisberger, who will call the NCAA Gymnastics finals for ESPN this weekend, think this could be the best of Oklahoma's recent national title contending teams.

"That's what Florida is going against this weekend in Fort Worth," Ram said. "It will be really tough. It's a daunting task but I think the fact that Florida is there and the four seed they should advance to the final."