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Gators confident in their young corners

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The No. 9 Florida Gators will kick off SEC play at Kentucky on Saturday, however, they will likely do so without one of their top playmakers, CJ Henderson.

Henderson suffered a minor ankle sprain and is now doubtful for the game in Lexington.

“It’s a big loss. One of our best defensive players," said safety Donovan Stiner.

“It’ll be tough. That’s my right-hand man," added cornerback Marco Wilson. "Not having him out there, it sucks, but it gives those young guys an opportunity to get in a real game against an SEC opponent so that’ll be good for them, and I’m sure he’ll be out helping them all week and getting them prepared for the game.”

Henderson is a projected first-round NFL draft pick and would want to suit up for the game this weekend. However, Dan Mullen is not taking any chances with Henderson's health.

“Just as a skilled athlete, sometimes that’s a little trickier,” the Gators head coach told reporters on Monday. “But hopefully he’ll be back pretty quick. We’re going to see how it goes. We’re not going to put him out there unless he’s 100 percent healthy.”

Henderson will be tough to replace. The junior has recorded a pass break-up in both of Florida's first two games of the season and has not allowed a touchdown pass since 2017. He is also the fastest member of the team, according to several of his teammates.

Florida will look to their freshmen trio for help.

“I’m confident in all three of them," said Wilson of the freshman. "They know what they’re doing, they listen all the time during practice and meetings with coach [Torrian] Gray and they try to do the little things right. It’s tough as a freshman, I already know how it is, but I’m very confident in those guys, they can go out there and play, they’re confident when they play and they know their assignment.”

“They’ve came a long way since they’ve been here," said Stiner of the freshmen. "They look up to CJ and Marco, so they’ve been getting ready. They got a lot of playing time this last game, so I know their confidence is boosted also. We just have to go out here this week, and they can build their confidence even more in practice.”

Jaydon Hill, Chester Kimbrough, and Kaiir Elam have all made their college football debut, all having significant minutes against the Skyhawks last weekend.

"One of the things that we talked about was getting them all in the game very early, not just hey, we’ll get a lead and put them in," explained Mullen. "They started right in the second series, we started rolling those guys through. I think they gained that knowledge and that experience of being out there on the field playing with the 1 defense, and so that’s going to help them moving forward.”

They certainly gained experience.

Kimbrough was the first to make an appearance, he recorded four tackles, including three solos; Jaydon Hill had four tackles, with one solo stop saving the shutout, and one pass break; and Elam intercepted a pass in the end zone, recording the first takeaway for the defense this season.

"For a freshman corner to go make that interception, it was a great play," Mullen said about Elam's interception.

"I thought all three of those guys showed improvement from practice to the game and did a good job," said defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.

At this time, Florida's depth chart lists CJ Henderson, Jaydon Hill and Chester Kimbrough with an OR in between of each their names. According to Grantham, they are still working out their plan if Henderson is not ready to play.

"If that happens, we’ll play all three of those guys and see what happens," said Grantham.

The door is even open for a Trey Dean move to corner, since Amari Burney can take over the reigns at STAR.

“Trey’s played corner before, and there’s nothing that says we couldn’t do that," said Grantham. "But I thought the corners played well in the game, and that’s why we recruited them to be here. So we’re going to continue to develop them.”

Florida has long had a tradition of playing freshmen cornerbacks - both Henderson and Wilson were highly regarded during their first seasons in Gainesville. Will another freshman defensive back make their mark this weekend?

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