GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida football will definitely be without one defender on Saturday, but that number could increase to two.
Rush end Jeremiah Moon left the game early against Georgia with a foot injury, the same foot that sidelined him for spring. Meanwhile, Amari Burney suffered a knee sprain in the contest.
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"Jeremiah Moon's going to be out for a little bit here with a foot injury," Gators head coach Dan Mullen said. "Amari Burney's going to miss, he's doubtful this week but we'll see. We should get him back before the end of the year."
The good news for the Gators is that no one else was banged up in the game against the Bulldogs.
Jabari Zuniga and Jon Greenard, both who returned to action against UGA after suffering ankle sprains earlier in the season, emerged from the game without any major issues.
During the loss on Saturday, Zuniga appeared to aggravate his injury, limping off to the sideline. He was restricted to just third-down snaps after that. However, things seem to be good to go for the defensive end.
"Our guys that came into the game with a bunch of bumped-up, bangs, bruises, we came out pretty healthy with those guys," Mullen said.
On the depth chart this week, Zach Carter is now behind Greenard at the Buck position, replacing Moon; Burney is still on the depth chart.
Moon ranked fifth on the team with 31 tackles - he also recorded 6.5 tackles for a loss, 3.0 sacks, two pass breakups, three quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery.
Look to see Mohamoud Diabate feature more at the BUCK position moving forward, while James Houston and Ventrell Miller should see more reps at linebacker if Burney is not ready to compete by this weekend.
Bouncing back
Florida will look to bounce back quick from Saturday's disappointment.
As the Gators stressed after the loss to Georgia, there is still a lot to play for.
“I think we have a lot of great leaders on this team. We’re not going to let this negatively affect us," quarterback Kyle Trask said. "I think we’re going to do a great job of taking the positives away from the game and seeing what can we learn from this tough game and just move forward.”
According to Mullen, he will learn more about this team during practice on Monday.
"Just the look at the desire and the competitiveness in their eyes. I'm fired up to practice. I can't wait," said Mullen. "Let's get a great plan together, put guys in position, get out there and practice, get better and find a way to go win."
"The biggest thing for the leaders on the team is just to make sure everybody’s heads are still up, everybody is still focused on the big games we still have in front of us," senior captain and wide receiver Josh Hammond said. "No body really wants to lose and guys are definitely down after the game. Think a lot of guys are just competitive and ready to get back out there and try to get ready to take on Vandy and take the bad taste out of our mouths."
"We still do have a shot at the SEC East title, but none of that matters if we don’t take care of our business and go 1-0 every week from here on out," said Trask. "That’s our biggest focus right now.”
Gator Chomps
On returning home
"Great game for us to get back home here in the Swamp. We haven't been here in quite a while, you know, so great to get back home. I know, uh, I think last time we played here, boy, the Gator Nation really came through, had an unbelievable atmosphere, helped lead us to a victory. We need that same effort out of the Gator Nation, coming in, packing the Swamp, creating that unbelievable home-field advantage. It's the Saluting Those Who Serve weekend, which is pretty special to honor people. I think we're so fortunate here in our country to have the freedoms that we have to go live your dreams and go do what you do. To recognize our armed forces around the world, that, they make sacrifices, personal and family sacrifices to allow us the freedom to live our dreams is very, very special.
What kind of impact has the “GameDays,” the HBO in the regular season had on recruiting so far for you guys?
“We’ll find out on Signing Day, I guess. I don’t know. I think the positiveness, I think a lot of people are looking at our program in a very position light. And I think, you know, it shines – maybe a lot of people who maybe haven’t gotten to see our program, get to see what a positive place, what a great place it is. Get to see, not just about the program, but also about the University of Florida. I lot of people probably don’t know. You are looking at a top 10 team in football and a top 10 academic school. A lot of people don’t know that.”
FSU decision on letting go Willie Taggart
"Well we live in an instant-gratification society, right? As you guys are all on Twitter right now, not reading my quotes in tomorrow's paper. You know what I mean anymore? It's how fast can anything happen. So sometimes that stuff happens. I've never been an athletic director and had to make that decision. I think it's always tough. I've never been a big fan of, I mean I've always thought of finishing out seasons. I was, I've never been on that side of it. But on the other side, even, I would never take, when I was coaching a team, I would never take a call until the regular season was over from anybody else, because that team, everybody just deserves that year. And you finish up the year and you see where you're at from there."
Any clarification from the SEC on what looked like a botched call on third down for Georgia touchdown?
"Like I said, I have tremendous respect for our officials. And I think our officials do a heck of a job on the field. You know what, everybody knows that ... and they have one of the toughest jobs, right? Because, listen, both fan bases don't like them after a game usually, right? Everybody is mad at those guys for something (laughs). And, you know, they make mistakes during the course of the game, the on-the-field guys. And I've been in this league long enough that I understand all of that. I talk to the guys; I make mistakes, players make mistakes, they do, that stuff happens. But I've not gotten any word. We've asked. You'd have to ask them, right .... that decision was made in Birmingham on that play so I've asked, I haven't heard of anything from them. I guess you'd have to ask what their motive is for that, making the decision the way they did -- in Birmingham. That had nothing to do with on-the-field officials."
On Richard Gouraige's play
“He did a pretty good job. We’re looking at those, I think you look the two, other than the two young guys on the O-line, the two freshmen on the O-line are growing, developing and they’re getting reps and they’re going to be good in the future. We try to not put too much on individually on either one of them. They’re both developing nicely. I think Richard’s doing a really nice job because we ask him to play multiple positions for depth purposes. I think it’s going to really help him out long term.”
