GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Ben Hill Griffin Stadium fell silent on Saturday.
Brad Stewart went down hurt on the field not only once but twice. The safety was cleared to return to the field after the first time, however, after a tackle in the backfield shortly after, Stewart collapsed to the turf in pain, grabbing his left knee.
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Stewart was helped and taken to the locker room.
He was seen after the win over Vanderbilt wearing a brace on his left knee, however, according to Dan Mullen, the injury is not serious.
"He checked out clear with what it is, so he should be OK," the Gators head coach said on Monday.
Apart from Stewart, the Gators came out of the last game "pretty healthy," which is certainly a positive.
The other piece of good news is that Mullen and company are also expected to see two more starters return, after missing the last game.
"Talked to [Jabari] Zuniga, we're hoping he's healthy this week to go," Mullen said. "We held him out last week and hopefully he's healthy to go this week."
Zuniga sprained his ankle against Kentucky and continues to deal with the injury. The talented defensive end has only played in five games, after aggravating his high-ankle sprain injury in both the LSU and the Georgia games - against the Bulldogs he only played on third downs.
The redshirt senior is a boost for the defensive line with his expected return, however, the offensive line is also expected to receive some reinforcements on Saturday.
Brett Heggie missed the game against Vandy due to a concussion.
"He ended up coming in with headaches during the week," Mullen explained. "And so he didn't play and we'd expect him back this week. He wasn't on the report as being 'out' this week, so they expect him to be able to go this week."
In Heggie's absence Ethan White stepped up and did well on his first start as a Gator. But Heggie's possible return will allow Florida to play around with the idea of still redshirting the true freshman this season.
No timeline for Franks
Feleipe Franks, as one would expect is not set to return this season. However, it could be a long time before he is seen in a Gators jersey.
Franks, who suffered a broken and dislocated ankle against Kentucky at the beginning of the season, had surgery on his ankle in late September.
Mullen says Franks' recovery is moving along well, but don't expect him to return quickly.
"He's out of the cast. But no, it's going to be a while for him," Mullen said. "It'll be fortunate if we can get him back for spring practice with the type of injury he had. It's not, that's not always one that is an exact date I'm thinking, from dealing with some of those in the past. But it would be good if we can get him back for spring practice, but I don't know if that's possible."
Tough Road Test for Florida
The No. 11 Florida Gators will travel to Missouri to face a tough challenge in Barry Odom's team.
"They're averaging 40 points a game at home, they're undefeated at home, I think they've blown out just about everybody that's come in there," said Mullen. "Got some talented guys on defense, I think they have an excellent defense, can create a lot of problems for you, give you a lot of different looks in what they do defensively.
"Obviously, offensively, they have some good skill position, great tight end, great running back, good offensive line, they're able to be balanced. We got to see them play their backup quarterback, a lot of people have this year. But I'd imagine after being out a couple weeks that they'll get their starter back as well."
GATOR CHOMPS
Prefer to play early on the road?
“With game time, the benefit…We’ve had some late road games this year. It’s not as much the concern of sitting around the hotel all day. You’re in a different hotel. Sometimes they’re really nice, and sometimes they’re not as nice. It’s kind of like…It’s Captain Obvious. For your hotel choices. It’s more of the travel and getting home. I think it’s the wear and tear when you’re playing multiple games, getting home at 4 o’clock, 4:30 in the morning. Takes a toll on guys both physically in football and mentally in academics. I don’t think that’s always that healthy. I’m glad we’ve had a bunch, we’ve gotten home, had the night road games. It’s great to have an early road game.”
What went into Dameon Pierce getting more involved early
"He was on the field when we called those plays, to be perfectly honest. Greg rolls those guys through. I got on everybody, I wanted to get everybody in the game earlier. I wanted to get, I think we're better that way, you know? Of getting guys in. Some of the games we haven't rotated guys in fast enough and early enough in the course of the game, and I wanted to get guys in there early. He was in there, and he caught it too, which was good. I mean he's not the biggest target to throw to. But he did a good job catching and it was a really good run after the catch as well. So it was really more that and me getting on the coaches, the individual coaches about wanting guys rolling into the game early and being into the flow of the game early. I think at times this year we haven't done a good enough job."
On College Football coaching landscape after Arkansas Chad Morris was fired on Sunday
"You know, that's more a question for probably Scott [Stricklin] than me, right? I'm worried about winning this week so I don't add to that list in my Year 2 too, so I guess we can see. I'm sure Scott's evaluating how I do this week. No, I'm joking. It's not funny for those guys. I think one of the things, and it's a tough deal. And I think it's a tough profession that we're in. It's a difficult profession. I think one thing, I think people, you don't always look at who it affects. It affects a lot of people. It affects an entire coaching staff who moved their whole family, packed, picked up their whole family to move to a town. It affects young kids who, not just my dad, but there's a lot of them. It's not like, 'Oh, just the head coach got fired.' I mean usually there's going to be 15-20 that get their life, had picked up their whole family, their life, they're invested and now it has to be uprooted and moved again and they have to deal with that situation. So I think it is a very, very difficult deal. But I always say that being a college football coach is, it's a way of life more than a job. When it's a way of life, your entire family has to be invested in that because it does, it has its toll on everybody. I mean, it’s a shame. I know Chad. Chad’s a good guy. I’ve known him since he was at Stephenville High School. And really a good football coach. I feel for him and his family and all the coaches’ families that are there. That’s a tough deal. You know, it is what it is. It’s a high-profile, high-pressure job that we’re in and people expect results. I guess that’s become the norm.”
How to do get Kadarius Toney more touches?
“Well, we find different ways. We found a couple different ways the other day, you know. We have him in the pass game, getting it. The thing is we have a lot of depth at receiver. And as you guys have seen, it’s not always in the pass game. It’s like, ‘Ok, just get this guy the ball.’ We kind of take what the defense gives. It’s not like we have a lot of plays that are designed just to get a specific receiver the ball. We have ways to move people around to where we can expect to get them the ball, but still, if they give you a certain coverage -- we call this play, the ball is going to go here, or if they run this defense, it will go here, of this defense, it will go there – so we try to do the different things I think we did the other day. Move him into the backfield, throw him a reverse pitch, try to get him a screen, those type of things. We saw the other day, when he gets the ball, exciting things happen.”
On the QB Room with Feleipe Franks returning next year, Kyle Trask playing well and Emory Jones in the mix.
“I'm just trying to get us through this week and get a win this week so we haven't even thought about that or addressed that. Our focus is on this game. I think those are things you address when you get little [inaudible] of what's going to happen after a player leaves. We'll do that in December and January.”
