During the beginning weeks of the offseason, Inside the Gators will take an in-depth look at how last season went for Florida's 2016 signees who redshirted with our Redshirt Report series. Today, we focus on how last season went for linebacker Jeremiah Moon.

During his first few months on campus as a 2016 summer enrollee out of Hoover (Ala.) High School, Florida freshman linebacker Jeremiah Moon was getting acclimated nicely to the college level.

Not only did Moon add necessary bulk to his frame, but he impressed the coaching staff with his play on the field in fall training camp – enough so to warrant playing time in a small role during the first two games of the regular season. As a second-stringer at strongside linebacker for much of camp, Moon was in line to avoid a redshirt and possibly make an impact down the stretch during his first season as a Gator.

However, during the third week of practices into the regular season, Moon suffered a fractured hand in a drill in practice and needed surgery for the injury. After undergoing his procedure, he was sidelined for a considerable amount of time.

“He got to play in the first two games as a true freshman, and I was very excited. We were all excited for him,” said Moon’s father, Gregory Moon. “Then in the third week of practice, that’s when he fractured his hand and he had to get a couple pins put in. That kind of dampened his spirits, especially with all of those games remaining. He got well and he healed up and started to get into practice and game shape. I think he was kind of disappointed that things went the way they did, because he got a taste of the game.