The Florida Gators are 11 practices into fall camp and held their first scrimmage last Saturday. Will Muschamp met with the media on Monday to give an update as to how the scrimmage went, an updated injury report, and to fill us in on how the team is progressing through camp as they prepare for the 2013 season.
Injuries
- Matt Rolin and Andre Debose both suffered ACL injuries last week but neither has had surgery yet. They both need to wait until the swelling goes down before they can have surgery to repair the ligaments.
- Rod Johnson had successful surgery to repair his meniscus. Muschamp said that Johnson is expected to be able to practice in 3-to-4 weeks.
- Damien Jacobs aggravated his patella tendon. He is expected to be out for about a week.
- Matt Jones is doing some cardio work and working with the strength staff. Muschamp gets daily updates from the staff and from doctors but doesn’t have a timetable as to when Jones will be able to return to practice.
- Muschamp said that they are in “uncharted waters” with Jones because they do not know how to best handle Jones’ viral infection. They don’t want to push him on the field too quickly and have something come back up.
- Jaylen Watkins has a sprained foot. He will not practice this week but should be back next week.
- Hunter Joyer pulled his hamstring “pretty good” last night according to Muschamp. Muschamp said he would conservatively say that Joyer will miss 10 days with the injury.
- Muschamp said that Jon Halapio is about another week to 10 days away from being cleared for full contact. The team wants to limit what Halapio does in practice, because a pectoral injury is something that can be easily re-aggravated.
- Max Garcia and Trip Thurman have been cleared to practice.
Scrimmage Notes
- Muschamp said that the scrimmage was very productive. He was pleased with the team’s effort and called the scrimmage very physical.
- Each group on offense and defense got around 40-50 snaps. While special teams got between 15-20 snaps in all four phases.
- Kelvin Taylor had several nice runs in the scrimmage.
General Notes
- The team had a two-a-day practice yesterday where they worked on corrections from the scrimmage. They also worked on red zone situations, third downs and overtime.
- Muschamp said he is very pleased with the progress of the team so far. He said the team is not where they need to be but that the team gets better every day and they’re headed in the right direction.
- Muschamp said he texted Jon Bostic, who had a pick-six for the Bears over the weekend, and jokingly said he was surprised that nobody caught him on the way to the endzone.
- Muschamp said he is proud of all of the Gators in the NFL but he hasn’t had an opportunity to watch them play yet.
- Muschamp said that Loucheiz Purifoy would work out at receiver towards the end of this week.
- Muschamp asked the coaching staff who they can count on, not necessarily for August 31, but for the entire season. Muschamp said some younger guys may not be ready now but, athletically, they are guys Florida will need later in the season.
- Muschamp said that he is very pleased with the receivers so far in camp. He singled out Ahmad Fulwood and Demarcus Robinson as two receivers [not just freshmen] that have stepped up saying; “Those are two guys, there is no question, that are going to help our football team and improve our football team.”
- Muschamp listed Robinson, Fulwood, Quinton Dunbar, Solomon Patton and Trey Burton as five wide receivers that have been consistent and productive throughout camp.
- Muschamp said the team is prepared to play without Jones if they need to, but he said Jones is young and will be able to bounce back from this viral infection.
- Muschamp said that Adam Lane has done some nice things. When asked how he compares to Maurice Jones-Drew or Ray Rice, Muschamp said, “He looks like Adam Lane to me.”
- Muschamp singled out Dominique Easley and Darious Cummings as two interior defensive linemen that have stood out.
- Muschamp said that not having Damien Jacobs hurts the team but that it has given Jon Bullard a chance to work inside in the nickel package.
- Muschamp said Leon Orr is doing well. He anchors well and helps the linebackers by taking on double teams and creating lanes.
- Neiron Ball has adjusted to his new role at Mike linebacker. He made a couple of plays and is very athletic for the position.
- Muschamp said he is much more confident in the offensive line this season, mainly because of how deep they are at the position.
- Tyler Moore can play center in an emergency.
- Chaz Green is having a good spring.
- Muschamp said that Trenton Brown is a good football player and he will play for the Gators this season. Brown fits nicely into Florida’s jumbo package.
- Muschamp said he feels very comfortable with all four tackles and the mix of interior linemen the Gators have.
- Florida has 15 offensive linemen on scholarship; Muschamp wants to always have 15-17 on the roster.
- Jeff Driskel will be in full pads this week. Muschamp said he has taken command of the offense and is leading the group.
- Muschamp said that Colin Thompson is developing more and more as a receiver and credited Thompson for being a tough, physical and hard-nosed player.
- Muschamp said they are preaching ball security to Kelvin Taylor. He fumbled last night. Muschamp praised Taylor for being a north/south runner and said he “runs the ball the way we want it to be run at Florida.”
- Valdez Showers has been getting more reps on offense than defense. He is filling into the Omarius Hines role from a season ago. He has experience in high school carrying the football and Muschamp said that Showers is a natural runner. He will work on offense for the next 3-to-4 days and the staff will re-evaluate at that time.
- Muschamp said the staff is preaching tempo because Florida starts the season against four up-tempo offenses.
- Muschamp said the running backs have done a good job of blocking when they know whom to block, but that they need to do a better job of identifying who to pick up.
- The running backs work on blitz pickup with the linebackers every day in practice.