Gator Country

Florida Gators defensive end Kedric Johnson played in 25 career games but was not able to play this season after suffering an injury in fall camp. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey

Three scholarships were officially freed up during Florida Gators coach Will Muschamp’s meeting with the media on Friday.

A fourth that folks had been counting also was discovered after the news conference. Cole Gilliam, a former walk-on who was awarded a scholarship, will graduate before next season.

This means the Gators will enter spring practices with 60 scholarship players. That’s counting eight early enrollees, meaning the Gators have 25 spots left to fill to reach the NCAA limit of 85.

In other words, counting early enrollees, Florida’s Class of 2013 could include a total of 33 signees.

The three scholarship include two players who also will be graduating in defensive end Kedric Johnson and receiver Stephen Alli.

“Kedric may play somewhere next fall. I need to continue to talk to him about that,” Muschamp said. “Stephen Alli’s going to go to graduate school, possibly still here at Florida and may help out around in the operations or in the weight room with the program.”

The third is offensive lineman Tommy Jordan, who will apply for a medical exemption. He can retain financial aid but will no longer be eligible to play at Florida or count against the scholarship total.

“(Jordan) had a bad shoulder coming in,” Muschamp said. “Obviously playing offensive line in the SEC isn’t great for a bad shoulder.

“We appreciate those guys’ contributions.”

The eight players that enrolled in classes this month are linebacker Alex Anzalone, defensive tackle Darious “Bear” Cummings, defensive lineman Joey Ivie, linebacker Daniel McMillian, offensive tackle Tyler Moore, receiver Demarcus Robinson, linebacker Matt Rolin and running back Kelvin Taylor.

Muschamp spoke specifically about Cummings being able to help along the interior of the defensive line and the possibility of Taylor making an early contribution as well.

Still, Muschamp said it was way too early to tell which newcomers will be able to have an immediate impact when spring practices beginning in March.

“A lot of playing as a freshman, and I’ve said it before, is maturity,” Muschamp said. “How they handle being away from home, how they handle being in a new environment, new coaches, different terminology, different schemes, all of those things and how they manage and handle those things.

“Over this next offseason and into spring, I’ll certainly be able to answer that question a lot better.”

The Gators’ spring scrimmage, known as the Orange and Blue Debut, is scheduled for April 6.

About the author

MikeCapshaw

Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting.

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