10:04 pm | September 10, 2018 | Go to Source | Author: Robbie Andreu
The Gators are hopeful starting middle linebacker David Reese will be back in time for Saturday’s game. He missed the first two games with an injured ankle. He’ll be re-evaluated later in the week.
Reese’s return could be significant. He’s a strong run stopper and the Gators are coming off a loss to Kentucky in which they gave up 303 yards rushing.
“A guy that’s played, that has experience and adds depth and lets you roll players through is certainly going to help,” UF coach Dan Mullen said. “He’s a guy that’s on the leadership committee, so he brings something. I’m not going to say that him coming back is the answer, but it certainly is not going to hurt.”
Bye-bye Lemons
Mullen confirmed disgruntled sophomore running back Adarius Lemons is no longer on the team. Lemons announced on Twitter from the locker room Saturday night that he was transferring to another school.
“Yeah, he’s not going to be a part of the program anymore,” Mullen said. “We’ll wish him the best. We’ll sign his release for wherever he wants to go, and support him however he does. He’s going to stay in school and finish up the semester academically and try to get himself eligible to transfer.”
The FG that wasn’t
Mullen said he still has not received any clarification from the SEC on the field goal in the third quarter against UK that appeared to be good but was ruled wide right by one of the officials under the goal post.
“Steve Shaw does a tremendous job,” Mullen said of the SEC’s head of officiating. “Anything that we have questions or concerns about, we send to Steve. He usually gives a very detailed response, and I really respect that.
“One thing I’ve always seen with Steve is he’s very honest. If he thinks there’s a mistake, he’ll tell you, ‘I thought it was a mistake,’ and if he doesn’t think there’s a mistake, he’ll tell you why he doesn’t think it was a mistake or why it was done.”
Status quo on OL
At this time, there are no lineup changes planned on the struggling offensive line, Mullen said.
“We’ll see,” he said. “If other guys press. That’s one of the things I want to see. I’m not going to shuffle if other guys aren’t pressing in practice. If I turn on that practice film, and if you’re not better than the guy that’s in there, how can I put you in the game? So until I see somebody press in practice that they’re deserving of more reps or deserving of sharing time or rotating guys through, then I can’t do that.”
Lighting up Chauncey
UK fans have been merciless in their attack on defensive back Chauncey Gardner-Johnson on social media for predicting the Gators would stretch their winning streak over the ’Cats to 32 game last week.
Gardner-Johnson is OK with it.
“I don’t worry about it,” he said. “They got their win, they got in and out. It’s still early (in the season), so we aren’t focused on that any more. Colorado State this week. Got to go in and prepare for this game and get all the freshmen ready to play this week and be ready to roll.”
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