Notebook: McElwain updates Tabor, Lewis, injured Gators
During Jim McElwain's Thursday press conference, the Florida head coach touched on a number of topics, including the statuses of cornerback Jalen Tabor, tight end C'yontai Lewis, freshmen receivers Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells, and wide receiver Antonio Callaway while also providing an injury report.
As far as Tabor and Lewis, both players will return to Thursday's practice as planned as the Gators will begin game preparation for UMass. Both players will miss the Sept. 3 season-opener after being suspended for a practice altercation last Tuesday.
"We talked about it as a family and our expectations, off we go," McElwain said.
As for whether sophomore wide receiver Antonio Callaway, who was found not responsible for his Title IX sexual assault hearing conducted by the school, would miss any games this season, McElwain didn't have an answer. It's an issue he's reiterated in the past that would be left up to the university.
"Yeah, we're still working through some things," McElwain said.
McElwain also briefly discussed freshman wideouts Cleveland and Wells, who have missed practice time this fall with hamstring injuries. Both players were arrested in July for criminal mischief and property damage involving a BB-gun incident on campus.
"Those two guys are obviously going through some things and dealing with some things," McElwain said, "but they'll be back."
McElwain also touched on the status of injured junior wide receiver C.J. Worton (high-ankle sprain). Worton has missed more than a week of practices with his injury.
"C.J. Worton is still, as we talked about last week, he'll still be out," McElwain said. "I've been a little nervous because obviously he's been out for such a long time, yet the old, dreaded high-ankle sprain. Exactly what that means I don't know other than the fact that it's not low. But it surely seems to take some time to get back and yet the one thing we do is we've got great doctors, we've got great trainers. We never push anybody back before they're ready, and that'd be the case there, and we miss him."
Redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Kavaris Harkless (hamstring) returned to practice Monday, while redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Andrew Mike (hamstring) is returning Thursday. "We'll get Andrew Mike back today. (Jordan) Cronkrite, the rest of the guys," McElwain said. Cronkrite (concussion) has missed recent practices after getting a "little banged up" in last Friday's scrimmage, according to McElwain.
MORE NOTES FROM MCELWAIN’S PRESS CONFERENCE
--McElwain went in-depth on what will go into the first day of UMass prep: “Today is really our first introduction to what we’re gonna do moving forward next week. There’s a lot of things that we’ll kind of do from a routine standpoint, work situations with the crowd noise to get our guys kind of used to that. After practice we’ll do the routine that we would normally do on a Friday, actually. We’ll meet at the Gator head, go up and do our Friday meal, how we kind of go about that. ... We’re going to come back over here now and get into game prep. Do some introductions, go special teams, pressures, red area and take a look at our opponent coming up.”
--During his Thursday presser, McElwain also shared his thoughts on recent practices: "I thought Tuesday they really came crisp, fresh, saw our speed kind of come back a little bit. That was good. Wednesday practice as far as back-to-back the finish was outstanding in how we closed out the practice the way we were working against each other and working to get better was great. I didn’t feel like we got off to a fast start, which is a point of emphasis for us, obviously the importance of how we come out mentally and start fast on both sides of the ball. I thought we were a little sloppy. Overall we really finished well."
--The topic of sophomore CeCe Jefferson playing at defensive tackle was once again a topic of discussion Thursday. Jefferson currently weighs 265 pounds at 6 feet, 1 inch. "We'll see," McElwain said. "He's a guy [against] certain offenses, I think he is going to be maybe more effective in there, where for certain offenses he may be more effective on the outside based on what we're seeing that given week. ... CeCe obviously can do it from both sides, both the end and inside and his size like I said depending of what you’re kind of going against his isolation on the inside can be really effective against the right personnel.”
EIGHT GATORS ON COACHES’ PRESEASON ALL-SEC TEAMS
The SEC announced its coaches’ preseason teams on Thursday, and two Gators – linebacker Jarrad Davis and cornerback Jalen “Teez” Tabor – were named to the first team.
Overall, eight Gators were named to the conference’s teams. Offensive lineman Martez Ivey, defensive end Bryan Cox and punter Johnny Townsend were named to the second team, while offensive tackle David Sharpe, safety Marcus Maye and cornerback Quincy Wilson were selected to the third team.
Notable Gators snubs include defensive tackle Caleb Brantley and wide receiver Antonio Callaway in the specialist category.