Fall camp notebook: Week two

The Florida Gators began their second week of fall camp Monday morning. Head coach Jon Sumrall met with the media after practice to discuss injuries, the offensive line, a standout on defense and the quarterback competition.

Here’s our week two fall camp notebook.

Injury report 

Redshirt sophomore running back Kelvin Jimenez is out for the foreseeable future with a contact injury sustained in practice Saturday.

Redshirt junior tight end Evan Chieca will miss at least a week of practice. Sumrall said it’s not a long-term injury and described the decision to hold him out as more “precautionary in nature in regards to how we’re treating him.”

Freshman defensive lineman Kendall Guervil has reaggravated a knee injury he originally suffered in high school. The extent of the injury is not known at this time, but Guervil is not practicing.

Sumrall also indicated the following players are currently limited with soft-tissue injuries: defensive lineman Kamran James, safety Kaiden Hall, tight end Jaylen Jordan, running back Duke Clark, wide receiver Marquez Daniel and cornerback CJ Bronaugh.

“Those last set of guys and Chieca are guys that I don’t foresee them being out for any game action, barring something that doesn’t go right,” Sumrall said. “But they’re guys that right now have some sort of limitation in practice. Some could be back in a couple days, some could be back in a week or two, but don’t see any other being out for a game week as of right now. So, nothing substantial. Just normal wear and tear for training camp.”

At Friday’s practice, the media observed sophomore wide receiver Dallas Wilson working off to the side on the JUGS machine rather than participating in individual drills. Sumrall explained that it was part of Wilson’s “deload day,” indicating there was no setback.

“So in our ramp-up plan for Dallas, we had a yardage for Wednesday’s practice we wanted, a yardage for Thursday’s practice we wanted, and then a deload day for Friday’s practice. He still went about 4,000 yards on Friday, he practiced, we cut back a lot of the individual reps and scaled back certain things he did to make sure he still got the right number of team reps. And then Saturday he was full-go, didn’t miss anything.”

Florida’s staff will continue to closely monitor Wilson’s workload.

Sumrall needs consistency from offensive tackles 

Florida’s offensive tackles remain in the middle of a competitive battle for playing time. While each player in the room has flashed throughout the offseason, consistency will ultimately be the deciding factor.

“When you see them flash and all of them at their best, they are more than good enough. But being more than good enough half of the time with an O-line is not very good,” Sumrall said. “They all have done really good things. Emeka (Ugorji) had a great spring and has been really solid. Eagan (Boyer) is super athletic and plays with great hat speed, and in the run game is ultra physical. Caden (Jones) has a lot of time on task and has played some here. He’s a bit experienced in nature. Bryce (Lovett), there is multiple guys, Dice is playing there. Fletcher Westphal is back. There are a number of guys that are options. It’s who will play consistent winning football. All of them are capable. You see it at times where that guy looked good. You can’t be good some of the time. You have to be good all the time.”

Sumrall also noted that Lovett is playing both guard and tackle.

Overall, Sumrall is pleased with the growth of the offensive line, calling its progress “significant.” However, he acknowledged the group still has work to do before he is comfortable with where it stands.

Lights come on for LJ McCray 

LJ McCray hasn’t yet lived up to the expectations that came with being a former No. 1 defensive line recruit, but that time could be coming soon.

McCray looks like a different player entering his third season, adding 21 pounds of lean muscle while improving his top speed from 18.50 mph to 20.31 mph. He’s noticeably more explosive despite weighing 277 pounds.

“You look at just the frame and he’s a very impressive individual. He has committed himself to the weight room and to his nutrition plan, and he’s living just better away from the building in regards to sleeping and recovery and certain things it takes to grow and develop,” Sumrall said.

McCray power cleaned 365 pounds over the summer, a sign of the progress he’s made in the weight room.

“It’s amazing how much more confident you can become as a player when you’ve committed to making yourself better in the weight room. Because he walks around with a little different edge about him right now. He plays like he’s believing what he can become, and so it’s exciting to see it come to life for him. The lights have come on for sure, and excited to see him continue.”

McCray is expected to compete for playing time at defensive end alongside Kamran James and Emmanuel Oyebadejo.

Quarterbacks embrace competition 

Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. are competing for Florida’s starting quarterback job, but the competition hasn’t gotten in the way of their relationship. Instead, the two quarterbacks have pushed each other throughout the offseason while maintaining a strong relationship.

“They’re awesome for each other. Both of them want to be the starting quarterback. If either one of them did not, then we have a real problem,” Sumrall said. “They are both competitive in nature, they both want to be the guy… they are both in a great spot, they compete with each other well, they lift with each other in the same rack, they encourage each other, they challenge each other, they compete with each other, but nobody rises because you push another guy down.”

The competition is exactly what Florida wants out of its quarterback room. Rather than being intimidated by the other player’s success, the expectation is that Philo and Jones Jr. use it as motivation. One will eventually win the job, but that won’t change the approach for either quarterback.

“I want our quarterback room to be motivated by other people’s success, not intimidated,” [coach] said. “Somebody will go out and take the ball in game one, and I expect the guy who does to still be humble about his approach and work his tail off, and the guy who doesn’t, I expect him to know, ‘Hey, I’m a play away from being put in the game,’ and prepare like a starter because you never know when your opportunity is coming.”