The Florida Gators football team reported to fall camp on Wednesday and with that came media day for the Gators football coaching staff and players.
Head coach Jim McElwain was first up at the podium, where he addressed several key topics about his football team heading into camp as the Gators prepare for the football season.
GatorCountry.com will have in-depth coverage of everything that McElwain and the team said on Wednesday but here’s a quick notebook to catch you up on what McElwain had to say at his press conference.
- McElwain says that linebacker Antonio Morrison is well ahead of schedule and will be out at practice but will not be in contact drills.
- Tight end Jake McGee is full go for practice according to Florida Gators football coach Jim McElwain
- Defensive tackle Thomas Holley is still out dealing with a hip injury.
- Mac going with the Nick Saban approach as the Gators will start with split practice. The veterans will go first followed by the younger players.
- Sad news to report that defensive coordinator Geoff Collins lost his father on Monday and tight ends coach Greg Nord lost his mother last weekend.
- Mac continues to say that he’s looking for a quarterback that will make others around him better. Mac says that he’s in no hurry to name a starter.
- This season McElwain says he wants to be around everyone and not just focus on offense or defense. He says that it’s important for players to see that.
- McElwain “I find myself migrating to the quarterback room.”
- McElwain says that Antonio Morrison had two surgeries on the knee. Mac says that he doesn’t know when Morrison will play. No timeline.
- “When you see guys roll of the bus a lot of them have significantly changed their bodies,” McElwain says when asked about Grier and others gaining weight.
- Florida Gators football coach Jim McElwain says that he will argue that Hargreaves is the best defensive player in the country.
- Mac says he wants to have eight guys that can play on the offensive line. He wants some swing guys. Says needs 3-4 new guys to step up.
- The Gators really liked what they saw out of Kelvin Taylor this spring.
- McElwain says that he’s not a believer in one guy carrying the load at running back. He wants to have the hot hand be fresh in the fourth quarter.
- “There isn’t a game, an event, a thing that we would do where we would expect a participation ribbon,” Mac says.
- McElwain on Antonio Callaway- “we need explosive playmakers and he’s a guy that fits that.”
- McElwain says that both quarterbacks fit the system that the Gators run.
- Players are told that they are a starter on special teams before they are a starter on offense or defense.
- Vernon Hargreaves will play on special teams in the return game according to McElwain.
- Trip Thurman needs to be able to work at all five spots but will start off at guard.
- Mac says he needs to find a way to get his best five on the field on the offensive line.