The Florida Gators have four spring practices under their belt but are currently in the middle of the University’s weeklong spring break. The team practiced on Saturday, March 11th, and will report back on Sunday, March 19th.
The time off draws some concerns relative to conditioning and overall setbacks, but Billy Napier and his staff have protocols to get the Gators through spring break without causing any major hinderances.
“We’ve got protocol with Mark {Hocke} and Joe {Danos} and that staff, part of the equation too is we’ve got a lot of guys that are rehabbing, maybe need treatment so, you know covered all that this morning pretty extensively with the staff and certainly with the players just now,” Billy Napier said after Saturday’s practice. “We’ve done this before, but I do think your point, is a great point and it’s important they remain active. We’ll have prescribed work for those guys each day, certainly the guys that need treatment and rehab will be the same way.”
Napier may have experience with this process, but it’s new to most of the players on the team.
“Yeah, so it’s, like, kind of new to us, you know, we ain’t never had spring ball and then went on break like that, so I guess it’s a big challenge for us to stay on top of it, you know, because it’s like we’re coming back in and pressing resume, so we have to stay on top of it, keep our bodies, you know what I’m saying,” defensive back Jaydon Hill said after Saturday’s practice.
“Like the DBs, we, for instance, not coming back and taking no back steps,” Hill said.
Junior defensive back Jason Marshall is a fan of the weeklong break in the middle of spring practices.
“It’s pretty good,” Marshall says. “We come in first week and then spring break, so we get time to rest our bodies and then once we come back Sunday, hit it hard again.”
Florida has a handful of players such as Devin Moore, Kamari Wilson, Cameron Carroll, and Jalen Farmer that have spent time in a non-contact jersey this spring, often times working off to the side. This time off may be beneficial for the players that are recovering from minor injuries and aren’t participating in many live reps.
I’m sure there’s going to be some rust to knock off when the Gators hit the practice field for the first time back from spring break, but Napier and the strength and conditioning staff seem to have a detailed plan to keep Florida in good shape moving forward.