Possible no spring is a loss for a few Gators

Although spring football has yet to be canceled, just postponed, due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic, it looks very unlikely to happen.

The SEC has suspended all practices and team meetings until April 15, however, conference commissioner Greg Sankey is"not overly optimistic" that things will be back to normal by April 16 for spring football to start.

Spring practice has always been an opportunity for coaches to experiment with rotation, but it is also an opportunity for the younger talent on the team to fight for playing time. Now that opportunity seems to be gone.

Gators Territory takes a look at the few Florida players that will lose out.

CB Trey Dean

Trey Dean was coming into spring practice with a lot of question surrounding him.

After a solid freshman campaign at cornerback, Dean struggled his sophomore season when the staff moved him to the nickel position - replacing Chauncey Gardner-Johnson at the position.

The question headed into the season was: where would Dean line up? Would he return to cornerback? Or would he move to safety?

Dean will not only compete with veterans like Marco Wilson and Kaiir Elam at corner and veteran safeties lBrad Stewart, Shawn Davis and Donovan Stiner for playing time, he will also need to compete with young talent like Jaydon Hill and Chester Kimbrough for playing time.

RB Malik Davis

Malik Davis burst onto the scene his freshman season, however, after two season-ending injuries the running back failed to deliver his usual flair in 2019. However, Dan Mullen told reporters that he was looking forward to seeing a 100 percent Davis this spring - saying that the Florida native was finally 100 percent Davis, both physically AND mentally.

Now, however, will lose out on valuable reps.

WR Jacob Copeland

With Florida losing several veteran receivers to graduation, this spring was an opportunity for Jacob Copeland to make his presence known. Copeland is expected to have a bigger role in 2020, however, reps are valuable when you have such an overhaul at a position.

Redshirt freshman WRs

In the same vein, redshirt freshmen Trent Whittemore, Ja'Markis Weston and Dionte Marks could have also used the extra reps with Kyle Trask.

The redshirt freshmen have all received praise this offseason and with so many holes to fill at the receiver position, each of them had a chance to fight for playing time.

QB Emory Jones

Although Kyle Trask is still the expected starter under center heading into the season, even before spring started, Emory Jones now has a harder task to compete for the job without spring practices.

Mullen also loses an opportunity to work hands on with both signal callers and work on how he plans to use both quarterbacks this upcoming season.

The Early Enrollees

We talk about young talent, the early enrollees are probably the biggest losers. The whole point of this group coming to campus early is for them to be able to attend their first spring practice early and adjust to the college life.

They sacrificed their last semester as a high school student and yet they cannot reap the rewards.

Coach John Hevesy

Not exactly a player but who can argue that John Hevesy is one of the biggest losers with no spring practice.

The Florida assistant is returning almost his entire offensive line unit, losing only center Nick Buchanan to graduation. Although not set in stone, Brett Heggie is the assumed lineman that could slide into center, however, Heggie will not be able to have those extra reps in the position.

With Heggie most likely moving to center, who do you put at guard? Is Richard Gouraige going to slide into left guard with Ethan White at right, while Stone Forsythe and Jean Delance will return to left tackle and right tackle respectively? Or will Forsythe move to right and Gouraige take over left tackle because there is a younger lineman that has stepped up and could fit the left guard role better?

Speaking of which how far along are the younger linemen? Is Michael Tarquin your sixth man off the bench? Is Kingsley Eguakun another option at center?

Then there is the Josh Braun question. Many thought the true freshman had a shot at early playing time this season but now without a spring that looks more unlikely.