McElwain concerned about Antonio Callaway injury status

Antonio Callaway set a career high with 129 receiving yards on five catches last week in a 45-7 win over Kentucky but sustained a quad injury.

“I’m a little nervous about with his leg.” Head coach Jim McElwain said on Monday. “We’ll see how that plays out as it goes on.”

Callaway’s 78-yard touchdown in the first quarter against Kentucky was his second touchdown in as many weeks, the second time in his career that the receiver has hauled in touchdowns in consecutive weeks. Callaway leads the Gators in receptions (13), yards (201) and touchdowns (2). Callaway has also been Florida’s primary returner on special teams, returning six punts and two kickoffs this season.

The Gators opponent this week is the Mean Green of North Texas, a team that went 1-11 last season. Florida likely could afford to have Callaway rest this week, but don’t bring that up to McElwain.

“You don’t be cautious. Once you’re cautious that’s when you run into problems that goes for anything you do in life,” McElwain said. “You can’t go into anything being cautious because as soon as that happens that’s when bad play happens that’s when you play OK.”

McElwain’s policy is that injured players must be able to practice by Wednesday if they wish to be cleared to play in the game that week. Callaway will miss practice on Monday but has not been ruled out for the game.

If Callaway does in fact miss a game with the quadriceps injury the Gators would turn to CJ Worton, who returned to the field last week following an ankle sprain. Worton caught two passes for 19 yards.

“Getting C.J. back I thought was good,” McElwain said Monday. “He played like it was his first time playing, I thought he was a little tentative but he came up with a couple of big catches on third down and that was good to see.”