Tyrie Cleveland, Florida’s leading receiver and top offensive playmaker, has been ruled officially out of Saturday’s game against LSU, UF coach Jim McElwain announced after practice Wednesday.
McElwain said Cleveland has done everything he can to rehab his high ankle sprain, but it’s not well enough for him to play Saturday.
“To this guy’s credit, he was in there working his tail off trying to get back to play,” McElwain said. “It’s one of those deals when you go through that, he’d do anything to go out and get on the field and I think that speaks not only for him, but for a lot of guys on this team just wanting to go play.
“But the one thing is, when you’re truly hurt the thing you can do is make it worse and prolong it. I’m a believer that when it’s right and it’s ready, he’ll be out there. So he’ll miss this game and yet he’s doing everything he can. I just can’t say enough about that.”
Cleveland sustained his injury in the fourth quarter of last Saturday’s victory over Vanderbilt.
Cleveland, who caught the game-winning 63-yard touchdown pass on the final play against Tennessee two weeks ago, is the Gators’ leading receiver with 15 catches for 326 yards. He’s averaging 21.7 yards per reception.
With Cleveland out, McElwain said it could create more opportunities for slot receiver Dre Massey, who will move to outside in certain formations against LSU.
True freshman defensive tackle Kyree Campbell also has been ruled out of Saturday’s game after undergoing a minor procedure on his knee earlier this week.
“I think there’s an outside chance he might be back next week based on what he had done,” McElwain said. “He had it cleaned up and should be in pretty good shape.”
Starting defensive tackle Khairi Clark, limited in the Vandy game with a calf injury, is still not 100 percent but is expected to play Saturday.
Davis is definitely an outstanding freshman rb who really needs to have the ball in his hands a lot on Saturday. Has anyone heard why we haven’t seen Adarius Lemons in action? He really looked impressive in his H.S. game film.
Seider said in another article on SEC Country that he’s just not picking up the complex offensive system enough to warrant playing time. Based on his academic struggles in high school, that’s not surprising. Unfortunately he’s playing on special teams so he lost his red-shirt as well.
Another article on this site says Lemons hasn’t grasped the offense yet.