Perhaps no player on Florida’s roster has progressed more over the past couple of years than redshirt freshman cornerback Avery Helm.
A four-star recruit out of Missouri City, Texas, Helm tore his ACL late in his junior season in high school. That injury forced him to miss the playoffs that year as well as most of his senior season.
When he enrolled at UF prior to the 2020 season, he was down to around 155 pounds and still trying to regain strength in his leg.
Because he needed to add strength, he didn’t play during that season until the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma.
A year later, he’s listed at 180 pounds and has started every game this season.
“I never lost confidence in [my knee],” Helm said. “It’s just the strength part, getting back stronger. I already have a strong frame. I have a big frame. I just don’t weigh a lot. The power was the main problem but, you know, [Nick] Savage, he pushes people very hard in the weight room to get me where I am now.”
Aside from a couple of series against South Florida, he’s played well this year. He’s broken up a pair of passes and made six tackles.
Helm said that he’s seeing himself improve rapidly as he plays in games.
“I feel I’m growing at a fast rate week by week, just off the in-game experience,” he said. “You won’t learn it until you’re in it, so I feel that’s what really is helping me out a lot.
“I have to say probably the biggest thing I’ve done learned was just getting comfortable on the field, just getting comfortable going out there because, last year, I didn’t get many reps in-game, so I had to get comfortable with the crowd and not really being able to hear. Communication is a big thing when we play, and that’s the main thing we’ve been focusing on in practice a lot, so it’s all coming a lot easier.”
Helm faced his biggest challenge last week. The coaches trust Kaiir Elam to lock down his side of the field, which allows them to devote extra defenders to Helm’s side of the field if they feel like they need to.
With Elam sidelined with a sprained knee against Tennessee, Helm and true freshman Jason Marshall started the game against an offense that likes to throw deep balls and operate at warp speed.
Helm held his own as UF’s top cornerback in the game, providing tight coverage throughout the night and breaking up a pass.
Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said he wasn’t nervous about sending Helm and Marshall out there against the Volunteers at all. They earned his trust through the way they played in the first three games.
“Because of the amount of time they played in those games, I was really comfortable with those guys playing, and they really did a good job,” Grantham said. “When you talk about the shots, explosive plays, it wasn’t on the corners. Our corners did a really good job. They stayed on top of routes, they competed, and they’ve gotten better every week. I think Coach Jules [Montinar] has done a good job with those guys, and I think those guys have responded to him, and I think they’ve embraced the challenge.”
As he alluded to earlier, communication has been one of the biggest hurdles that Helm has had to clear. The defensive calls and adjustments are much more detailed in the SEC than they are in high school, and the deafening crowd noise at home makes communication a major challenge.
Helm said that he and the rest of the young defensive backs are learning the focus it takes to be an effective communicator on the field.
“While we’re on the field, we make sure we communicate at a high rate,” Helm said. “We make sure everybody is on the same page because Coach Grantham says as long as long as we’re communicating, as long as we’re on the same page, it’s going to play out. So, we just make sure we’re on the same page, and everything falls together.
“I really think the best thing about the way we communicate is all the guys in the room, we all get along. We all want to see each other win. So, when you want to see the person you’re playing next to win, it’s easy for you to communicate with them, it’s easy for you to make sure everybody’s on the same page. It’s just a great vibe on the field. Everybody, we’re running around balling.”
That sure beats what he was doing at this time last year.