The Florida Gators have 31 departures from the 2022 roster, a number of which won’t be participating in the bowl game or bowl week prep.
This hasn’t fazed Billy Napier and the Gators’ locker room.
“There will be a few positions where there’s some challenges in terms of practice and scout teams and those types of things, but each group has got a solid group of players, we will be ready to go,” Napier said during Thursday’s press conference.
The outside linebacker / edge position is down to just two scholarship players, Antwuan Powell-Ryland and Jack Pyburn.
“We’ve kind of, probably, just tried to work harder, because we know we’re down guys,” Powell-Ryland said during Monday’s media availability. “We haven’t really looked at is in we lost guys, you know, it’s next man up, so, I feel confident in every guy we got right now, so, I don’t look too much into that.”
Cornerback Jaydon Hill views the departures as a positive for the team.
“With all the departures, there has been room for players to step up, so it’s been a lot of players getting in a groove, just getting out there and getting the reps under their belts, getting ready for the game,” Hill said.
“What I see is a lot of players taking advantage of the opportunity they’ve been given. That’s a good thing.”
The running back unit is also down to just two scholarship players, Montrell Johnson and Trevor Etienne.
“It’s been up and down from a team standpoint, but I think this is an opportunity for some young guys, some of the players that haven’t been getting as much playing time, to step up and show that they can step up to the challenge and be a great player,” Johnson said.
Johnson, like Jaydon Hill, sees this scenario as a positive for the Gators.
“Just the depth aspect of the game. Some players need to get more reps because a lot of people have been leaving but it’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing,” Johnson said. “A lot of young players that don’t play are getting those reps and they need it because they’re going to be playing.”
Johnson isn’t worried about the status of his football team.
“The conversation going around is just that we have more than enough players to go get it done in Vegas, to go get the win,” Johnson stated.
The Florida Gators landed in Vegas on Tuesday and Billy Napier met with the media upon his arrival.
“We are going to play with the bulk of our team,” Napier said. “You know, we probably got four or five significant departures: Anthony Richardson, Ventrell Miller, Justin Shorter, O’Cyrus Torrence. Outside of that, the majority of the players that were missing here were maybe a small role on the team in special teams. So, the bulk of our team is here, and we look forward to competing.”
Time will tell if the lack of players significantly hurts the Florida Gators, but the team doesn’t lack the confidence needed to upset the Beavers on Saturday afternoon.