Moody's dues

The great early season mystery on the Florida football team has been the disappearing act of tailback Emmanuel Moody.

In the final week of preseason practice, it looked like the Southern Cal transfer was on the verge of winning the starting role. Then the season began and — poof — suddenly he was gone.

Now, he's about to reappear, UF coach Urban Meyer said Tuesday.

"We're expecting a lot out of him," Meyer said. "Yeah, we're going to get going."

In the opener against Hawaii, Moody turned his ankle early in the game and played only sparingly, gaining two yards on two carries. In the victory over Miami on Saturday night, Moody did not play even though his ankle was fine, Meyer said.

The other tailbacks failed to generate a ground game against the 'Canes, and now the plan is to get Moody more involved in the offense. The Gators have been working on it during the open date.

Moody participated in a scrimmage Tuesday with other players who have not played much this season.

"He got a lot of work," Meyer said.

Meyer said it's just a matter of Moody becoming comfortable in the offense.

"We're force-feeding it pretty hard core to him right now," Meyer said. "The thing about this offense, people say it's complicated, and it is. There's a lot of stuff to it and it works.

"It's not real hard to turn around and hand it off and the tailback runs into big piles. We expect our guys to learn a lot."

Meyer said Moody's ankle also has been a slight setback.

Now, it's time to get him involved, Meyer said.

"We've all got to get together and do a better job," Meyer said.

SOME PLAYER UPDATES

Meyer updated the media on several players Tuesday, including defensive tackle Torrey Davis, offensive lineman Ron Wilson and defensive tackle Brandon Antwine.

The troubled Davis was held out of the first two games, but now is starting to work his way into the good graces of the coaches, Meyer indicated.

"He's making a little bit of a push," Meyer said. "He's not officially out of the dog house and he probably won't be for a while. But he's at least taking care of himself."

Wilson, booted from the team for a year, also continues to work on his comeback.

"He's doing all right," Meyer said.

Antwine missed last season with a painful back problem that some thought might end his career. Now, he's working on the scout team.

"He's doing some contact, but he's not full go," Meyer said. "That would be a great success story. He's working real hard."

BIG WEEK FOR SOME

Meyer said this is an important week of practice for several players who have been around for a while but have yet to play.

"(Safety) Bryan Thomas, (cornerback) Moses Jenkins and (linebacker) John Jones. ... some guys who have been collecting scholarship checks here and they've got to start contributing and being a part of this team," Meyer said. "And I'm putting a lot of pressure on them. They're all good guys. They've got to perform and go play.

"We've got to give them a chance to go play. This week is big for guys like that."

OH, HENRY

Meyer had high praise for sophomore punter Chas Henry, who is coming off the best game of his career. Henry averaged 45.6 yards a punt and killed one on the UM 1-yard line.

"He's a powerful guy," Meyer said. "The best thing about Chas is his professional approach to college football. If everybody had that I'd be heading home right now and not worried about it. He's such a professional.

"When he came here, he was stiff, very inflexible and he had some issues. I think he's the best punter (in the nation). I've got my punter. I don't want anyone else. He can throw, he can run, he can do a lot of stuff."

THIS AND THAT

The coaches apparently are trying to put a mean steak in sophomore outside linebacker Lorenzo Edwards, who has seen only limited playing time on defense. "He's got a long way to go. He ran down on kickoffs (against Miami) and did a little better. He's a talented guy. Sometimes, it's hard to teach that tiger to bite. He's got to go bite. But he's a great young person and should have a great future," Meyer said. ... Meyer said the excessive celebration penalty that cost Washington a chance to go to overtime with BYU last Saturday was a bad call. "Awful. Horrible. I can't imagine that. We coach that hard. We also coach passion and enthusiasm for the game. The one thing I teach our guys is don't ever embarrass an opponent. You've seen that here before. But if he dives on his teammates and celebrates. ... the minute they take that out of the game, I'm going to go teach golf or something like that," Meyer said.