During his first radio show of the season Florida Gators football coach Dan Mullen confirmed that backup defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe is injured.
Mullen did not give a full status update or specify what the injury was but Conliffe posted on social media that his season was over.
“Obviously with Elijah Conliffe getting hurt that hurts a little bit,” Mullen said when asked about depth on the defensive line.
The Gators have some depth and two returning starters at both nose tackle and defensive tackle.
Conliffe wasn’t a starter but he had been a contributor in the past and was getting a lot of reps in Florida’s normal rotation along the defensive line. He was expected to play a lot this season and be a meaningful contributor. The Gators still have
“We have a lot of the interior, most of our interior D-line is back this year,” Mullen said. “You’ve got Kyree Campbell back, you’ve got Adam Shuler back, you’ve got Luke Ancrum back, TJ Slaton is back. Who am I missing? Marlon Dunlap is back. So we’ve got a lot of guys back at that position.”
The Gators have also cross-trained Zach Carter at multiple positions along the defensive line and he will get a lot of playing time in 2019.
“Zach Carter has grown into a guy that can be really flexible, can play inside and outside. So that’s a big plus for us as well. That’s really exciting for us. At that spot, though, it’s a spot where I think we’re deeper this year than we were last year, which is really good.”