Gators’ defensive lineman Jamari Lyons is out for the season after suffering a broken during Florida’s first scrimmage of fall camp, head coach Billy Napier confirmed on Monday afternoon.
“Jamari Lyons broke his ankle, and he’ll be out for the season. And obviously our thoughts and prayers with him,” Napier said.
The redshirt sophomore appeared in all 12 games last season including one start, totaling 20 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss across 198 snaps. Lyons served as a critical depth piece in 2023, logging the 4th most snaps amongst Florida defensive tackles. The 6’3.5, 305-pound Cocoa, Florida native was expected to see a similar role in 2024.
In 2022, Lyons appeared in three games and redshirted, totaling two assisted tackles.
“I think it’ll be important for those guys to help Jamari, because Jamari is one of our best, he really cares,” Napier said on Lyons.”It was really inspirational, to some degree. The entire team was on the field, which I’ve never seen in my entire coaching career – guy gets hurt, and everybody knows it’s, it’s a pretty good injury. But we got all 132 and on the spot there to support him as he rode off the field. So I think that’s an indicator that these guys are doing something, right, that there is that type of connection.”
Florida’s depth takes a hit with Lyons out for the season, but the Gators have improved their depth at the position under Billy Napier. The Gators will lean on Joey Slackman, Caleb Banks, Kelby Collins, Cam Jackson, and Desmond Watson for production in 2024. This also provides an opportunity for younger guys such as D’Antre Robinson, Brien Taylor, Michai Boireau, or Tarvorise Brown to see the field early on in their Gators career.
The most challenging part of this loss is that Lyons could play both nose tackle and three technique, almost splitting the two positions equally last season.
“I think the biggest thing was Jamari could play nose and end; he had some position flex,” Napier said on Lyons. “You’re going to see Michai Boirea more, Kelby Collins more, and then we’ve got some guys that can develop there: Brien Taylor, D’Antre (Robinson), Tarvorise (Brown). That’s an area where we’ve got some players; there’s some depth there. But I think those roles will be a little bit different. There will be some adjustment. But the biggest thing was Jamari can play nose and end. That’s where we’re going to have to shuffle the deck a little bit. We can also move Sapp over there. He’s played some end before in the past.”