Quarterback Luke Del Rio (shoulder) will miss Florida's noon ET matchup Saturday against South Carolina in The Swamp on Senior Day, Gators head coach Jim McElwain said Monday.
“He’ll be out for a while," McElwain added. "There’s another MRI going on.”
Asked whether Del Rio's injury is season-ending, McElwain replied, “I don’t know that. We’ll see once we get everything read. It’s bad, man. When you can’t lift your duffel bag up, chances are something’s hurt. Right?”
With Del Rio as the starter in Florida’s 31-10 loss at Arkansas, the redshirt sophomore signal-caller completed just 19-of-37 passes for 229 yards and two interceptions. In the past three games since returning from a sprained MCL, Del Rio has thrown just two touchdowns against six picks.
McElwain said Del Rio suffered his shoulder injury during the second quarter against Arkansas and added that Del Rio's second interception of the day - a wobbly pass intended for Antonio Callaway - was due to his shoulder injury.
"Looking back, hindsight is 20/20," McElwain said. "At halftime of that ballgame, I think speaks to the belief of our team and the toughness of Luke. But sometimes you have to be honest. He was banged up. Played that way. And, you know, looking at myself in the mirror, we should have made a change at halftime, and yet part of the reason we didn’t, obviously, we didn’t know the severity of it.
"He's a tough guy. Never said anything."
Now, the Gators must decided whether graduate transfer Austin Appleby or one of the two freshmen, Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask, will start this weekend against the Gamecocks. Asked whether it'll be an open competition in practice this week, McElwain replied, "Yep. We'll figure out."
"With that, we’ll go with all three guys," explained McElwain. "Obviously, Austin will take the first snap at practice today. Someone asked about the rookies? We’ll see as the week goes on where and how we’ll play those guys. But right now, moving forward, that’s what we’ll do. It’s an opportunity for a lot of guys because of these injuries, and also an opportunity for some of the guys at their other positions to really step up. To communicate is going to be huge. We’ll get back at it today.”
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Meanwhile, linebacker Jarrad Davis (ankle) will "probably be out" for Saturday's contest after re-aggravating his injury against Arkansas. McElwain confirmed that linebacker Alex Anzalone will be out for an extended period of time with a broken arm. Anzalone underwent surgery Monday.
In both Davis and Anzalone's absence this weekend, freshman David Reese, redshirt freshman Kylan Johnson, senior Daniel McMillian, freshman Vosean Joseph and walk-on Cristian Garcia will step in at linebacker, McElwain said.
Center Cameron Dillard (knee) also remains sidelined with his injury he suffered in Fayetteville. ITG has learned that Dillard is expected to miss at least the remainder of the regular season and possibly more time.
Defensive end CeCe Jefferson (foot) will be a game-time decision, while wide receivers Tyrie Cleveland (leg) and Chris Thompson (concussion) are "highly questionable." Running back Mark Herndon (hamstring) is out for Saturday's contest.
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