Already down to a scant few playmakers on offense, the Florida Gators may be without another key one Saturday night against Texas A&M.
True freshman slot receiver/wildcat quarterback Kadarius Toney, UF’s most explosive offensive player, is listed as highly questionable for Saturday’s game with injuries to his shoulder and shin.
“Speaks to his toughness, he got banged up in the first quarter (against LSU) a couple different spots and finished the game,” UF coach Jim McElwain said Monday.
Four other starters — safety Nick Washington (shoulder), wide receiver Tyrie Cleveland (ankle), safety Chauncey Gardner Jr. (ankle) and offensive guard Brett Heggie (concussion) — also could miss Saturday’s game. All four are questionable or doubtful.
All five injured starters, along with reserve outside linebacker Jeremiah Moon (ankle), were held out of practice Monday.
“(We’ll know) nothing for sure until Wednesday,” McElwain said. “But all those guys will be out of practice today and then we’ll see kind of where we move forward with that as the week kind of progresses.
“There’s a good opportunity for guys as we go, and this is nothing new. This is part of playing in this conference, this is part of being in the SEC, it’s part of playing football. So, we’ll put plans together to help the guys around them be successful.”
Cleveland, UF’s leading receiver and best deep threat, missed the LSU game after sustaining a high ankle sprain late in the Vanderbilt game two weeks ago. If he and Toney can’t go Saturday, the Gators will be without their two biggest playmakers in the passing game.
If Toney is out Saturday, the wildcat quarterback role will be filled by junior slot receiver Dre Massey.
“He’ll be ready to go,” McElwain said.
If Toney, Heggie, Cleveland, Gardner, and Washington miss the A&M game along with the nine suspended players, it could get ugly in The Swamp. And I am not talking just about the play calling by Nussmeier. That would be in a much uglier category.
Coaching doesn’t control injuries, but coaching is absolutely responsible for running a system where talent and depth at key positions are not developed year after year. This coaching staff has never developed talent at any skill position.
After the spring game I think Toney should have been coached up to play quarterback. Frank’s I just don’t believe is the answer. I don’t see a bowl game in the making. Horrible play calling,
We are probably looking at 4-7 or 5-6 if current trends continue and I don’t see them stopping. A once proud and successful program continues its decline into the mud.
Mike Winter talking to himself. You must be living this new more anonymous posting system.
I agree. Didn’t Saban start a true freshman QB? Isn’t Texas A&M starting a true freshman QB? The coaches seem scared to open up the offense. Playing not to lose will make you a loser.
Football is a tough game and injuries are a part of it. But we seem to have had more than our fair share of them over the past few seasons. I am starting to wonder just how good is our strength and conditioning program?
lol @ we.. you ain’t filling anyone. Hope FSU isn’t paying you too much because your chat room trolling game really needs week.
A lot of people are criticizing the play calling by coach Nuss this week. I actually thought his play calling was much better against LSU than it has been in previous games, bearing in mind especially that he has limited weapons to employ with his best receivers (Callaway and Cleveland) unable to play, his best rusher (Scarlett) unavailable and the need to keep Franks healthy by not allowing him to run much. There were a lot of first down passes in the first half, that kept LSU’s defense off balance. Finally, questioning our strength and conditioning program as a possible cause for the team’s injuries seems misplaced to me also. Neither Cleveland’s ankle nor Toney’s shoulder and shin injuries would have been prevented by any kind of different strength and conditioning. The same applies to Del Rio’s shoulder injury. More than anything else, this loss was the result of a missed extra point and the defense’s inability to get off the field.
Toney probably should have been the starter day one. Mac continues to use a pro style offensive. This is not working well in college today. Update your system or move on.
What an idiot, it is not a good opportunity for the team, and of course if their replacements were better they would have the spot. Now a good opportunity is when say Bama clears the bench because they have the game well in hand. Now if as I understand it we have QBs who can’t get the play set quick enough how about going to a rotation, SOS has done than in the past, perhaps he can do it again.
Defense, LSU scored 17points. We have one veteran player in the secondary, no veterans at linebacker 4 good defensive linemen. Its hard for me to call out the defense this year especially this game. Can’t deny missing starters on offense. I saw numerous times during the game any rhythm Frank’s had was replaced by wildcat. In the second half run until LSU stop it. Then play action, or dummy a deep shot to back them off.
Dre Massey? Where have I heard that name? Oh, yeah. That’s who Mac was talking up all summer as the next big playmaker. I’ve seen so little of him that I was starting to think he transferred. Seriously, where the hell has he been all year? Is he on Mac’s s**t list or something? Maybe we’ll finally get to see what he can do, if he doesn’t get injured this week.
I’ve been asking that question for 4 weeks!! He was in to return the initial kickoff, never seen again. So weird. He must not be that good if he is not being used as a weapon.
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Give K.T. a shot at QB.
He’s hurt. Recovering from surgery.
Ground Hog Day all over again, by the time the FSU game rolls around, Gators injury report will be longer than the faces on most fans.