Sophomore wide receiver Antonio Callaway (quad), the hero of Florida's 28-27 victory over Tennessee in The Swamp last season, is "questionable to probable" for the No. 19 Gators' road matchup in Knoxville against the No. 14 Volunteers at Neyland Stadium on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.
"You know, he got around pretty good today," Florida head coach Jim McElwain said after Wednesday's practice. "I'd say take him off the doubtful list and put him questionable to probable as we go. We'll see how that thing goes. He's got to be running 100% for us to put him out there. I know how much it means to him."
Meanwhile, quarterback Luke Del Rio (sprained MCL) is "still hurt," per McElwain. Del Rio is expected to miss the next couple of weeks with his injury while backup Austin Appleby starts in his absence.
A reporter on Wednesday asked McElwain whether Del Rio would play Saturday, and the Florida head coach chuckled and then replied, "You're beautiful." Earlier Wednesday on the SEC teleconference, McElwain said Del Rio would travel with the team this weekend.
"Obviously he’s spent a ton of time down in the training room," McElwain said Wednesday morning. "Came out to practice the other day and signaled and was there kind of in all the game plan things. So that room, you know, and you hear me talk about that, the room itself is the same. In other words, those four guys are in there going through the install and he’s preparing himself just like he’s the starter. And that really is what you expect from that position, and the guys around him, the team, they know he’s there. And we’ll take him on the trip for part of that reason. You know, we travel four quarterbacks and he’ll be a guy."
Senior linebacker Daniel McMillian is "still banged up and probably very, very questionable to doubtful" to play Saturday, per McElwain. McMillian suffered a high ankle sprain in against UMass in the season-opener but has played through it.
Without McMillian, Florida would be short on some depth at linebacker, with freshman linebacker Jeremiah Moon (thumb) already sidelined. Redshirt freshman Kylan Johnson (leg) missed Monday's practice but is expected to play this weekend. Florida's depth chart listed him as the second-string strongside linebacker behind McMillian.
Freshman wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland (hamstring) "should be able to go," according to McElwain. Cleveland missed the North Texas game with his injury.
"He hadn't been practicing much anyways," McElwain said. "It's kind of tough, right? But he ran through it. Did some special teams things for us, which was good."
Earlier Wednesday on the SEC teleconference, McElwain said that Callaway "tried to go a little bit" during Tuesday afternoon's practice - a day after the second-year Florida head coach listed Callaway as questionable for this weekend.
"He kind of ran around there a little bit," McElwain said Wednesday morning. "I know he'll do everything he can to play, but as you probably know, guys have to practice on Wednesday and they've got to be able to show they can go. The one thing I will never do is put someone out there that isn't able to really go produce. Time will tell, but I'm expecting him to have at it, but we'll know a lot more after today's practice."
Despite missing the North Texas game with his quad injury, Callaway remains Florida's leader in receiving yards through three games. In two home contests against UMass and Kentucky, he's combined for 201 yards and two touchdowns on 13 catches.
Callaway made himself acquainted with plenty of Tennessee fans in last year's meeting, when he caught a 63-yard touchdown pass on 4th and 14 to lift Florida to a 28-27 lead with 1:26 remaining. The Gators would go on to win their 11th straight contest in the rivalry.
Thank you for reading this Inside the Gators article. To discuss it, please visit the Alligator Alley Forum.
------
SIGN UP & GET FREE MONTHS ADDED TO YOUR MEMBERSHIP. THERE'S NO COUPON CODE, JUST CLICK THE APPLICABLE LINK
If you have NEVER been a member before, new Users Click Here
-----
