Notebook: Muschamp updates his team

Injury Updates

Thursday night provided all Florida Gators football fans a score when Vernon Hargreaves had to be carted off of the field with a knee injury. Will Muschamp later calmed those nervous feelings with a statement released saying tat Hargreaves had a bone bruise and that the sophomore cornerback would be day-to-day for the time being.

Hargreaves will not take part in practice on Friday night. He’ll stay back with a couple of other players who are nursing injuries to get treatment at the football facilities, where the team has a better facility to administer treatment.

Freshman Thomas Holley has a sports hernia — an injury dating back to his high school playing days — and will not practice today.

Freshman tight end C’yontai Lewis has a thigh contusion and will also miss practice on Friday.

 

Quarterback Update

 

Will Muschamp confirmed that Jeff Driskel is far ahead of the rest of the quarterbacks in terms of being ready to play and on the depth chart. Muschamp is very pleased with how Driskel is leading the team and with his performance early on in camp.

“He’s completing over 70 percent in the first four practices. I just think he does a good job making decisions from the gun. Very pleased with his progress. He’d probably be over 75 percent. He had a couple of drops last night. He’s had a couple of drops through camp. Timing has been very good. He’s thrown the ball well. He’s making very good decisions in the run and pass game.”

Behind Driskel, it seems that Will Grier and Treon Harris are fighting for the backup job. Muschamp plans to put the two freshmen passers into some live situations (taking the red non-contact jerseys off of them) — similar to what he did when Jeff Driskel and Jacoby Brissett were batting for the starting job two years ago.

“I think Will and Treon both are very athletic guys and we probably will make them live at some point in some scrimmage as we move forward.”

 

Mix and Match the Offensive Line

 

Muschamp had nothing but praise for his two starting tackles D.J. Humphries and Chaz Green as well as his starting center Max Garcia.

Humphries and Green are both coming off of injuries but appear to be ready to give Florida two anchors on either side of the line of scrimmage.

Garcia is adjusting well to playing center. He didn’t have any bad snaps during practice on Thursday and Muschamp has been pleased with his overall play this fall.

“I thought Max had probably his best night last night. Darious Cummings and Leon and Jon Bullard and those guys are good players, and I thought he blocked extremely well. We were strictly in three-down [linemen] defensively the first three nights, and we were strictly in four-down, other than one pressure we needed to clean up from the previous three days, last night. We threw a lot at the offensive line in three-down and they handled it very well. And last night, I thought he did a nice job again getting us in the right looks.”

On the inside of the line, Muschamp has confidence in three guys right now. Trip Thurman and Tyler Moore both started with the first unit yesterday and Trenton Brown played with second group but would be the first player off the bench right now at both spots.

It would be more accurate to say those three guys will play guard. Trip right now would be our backup center as well. Need to continue to have Antonio Riles to come on to give us some more depth at that position.”

 

Notes on the new guys

 

Muschamp was very pleased with Gerald Willis and how he has been able to come on to start fall camp.

He has really good block instincts, playing blocks. He has really quick first step. He’s a heavy handed guy, really strong with his hands. He plays with good effort. He’s about 255-258 and he has a very big upside and will help us this year. He’s a guy that’s shown some flashes in the pass rush. I’m very pleased with where he is, just have to continue to handle the instillation.”

DeAndre Goolsby gives the Gators a true receiving threat at the tight end position, something they haven’t had since Jordan Reed played for the Gators.

He made a nice catch on the drive there to start practice. Really good ball skills. He’s up to about 235, gained some girth and strength in his body. More confident, he’s further ahead of the other freshmen because he went through spring. That’s understandable. He’s going to be a guy that contributes for us. As we continue to move through camp, we’ll see how much.”

Follow the Florida Gators on Gator Country, join today.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC

4 COMMENTS