Florida Gators starting quarterback Luke Del Rio went down with an apparent knee injury in the final minutes of the third quarter. A dirty hit on Del Rio by North Texas defensive end Joshua Wheeler resulted in a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty, but Florida lost a lot more on the play.
Del Rio was down on the field for several minutes while the Florida training staff attended to him. His ACL was the main point of concern for the trainers as they did several checks on the field.
Head coach Jim McElwain took the field to check on the injured quarterback, but he wasn’t done there. Instead of heading back to the Florida bench when he was done, McElwain decided to head the opposite way.
He arrived at midfield ready to give the officials and North Texas head coach Seth Littrell a piece of his mind. Soon the discussion turned into yelling, which turned into animated yelling by McElwain and a clearing of the North Texas bench. McElwain was warned and sent back to the Florida sideline, but he was out there long enough to make his point.
“I took that low hit on Luke awful personal,” said McElwain. “I care about these kids. They’re mine.” He said he feels responsibility to take up for his players when things like that happen.
Del Rio was assisted off the field and into the locker room. While he was in a great deal of pain on the field, he looked to be walking mostly under his own power.
Following the game, McElwain said things weren’t looking promising for the injury. “Luke is getting his leg looked at right now, it doesn’t look great,” he said.
There is no timeline yet on Del Rio’s return, but for now the Gators will prepare Austin Appleby to take his place. “I’m excited for those opportunities if that’s what happens,” said McElwain. He said Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask will also prepare this week.
Based on my orthopedic training, what the replay showed was a severe valgus stress injury on the knee joint which means at least a sprain of the medial collateral ligament. At worst it would be a tear of the medial collateral ligament (MCL), tear of the anterior collateral ligament (ACL) , bone contusions, and a tear of the menisci. Take your pick. It’s all bad, and we are faced with LDR missing the all-important Tennessee game and at worst, missing the whole season.
Austin Appleby needs our support, and I’m hoping he can get it together, but the few throws I’ve seen him make, were grossly off target. What little he as shown us, I’m not encouraged. Maybe the Gators can run the ball effectively and play insane defense. That’s hoping for the best.
Watching the end of the Georgia-Missouri game – whoa Jacob Eason has got it for a true freshman playing his 3rd game. I’m scared to think how good he can get. The Gators don’t have anyone comparable. Maybe we can develop Trask now.
Hard to tell what the injury is. Hopefully it’s a sprain. While he got hit from the side low, he also let his knee bend as he fell back. I think sometimes the cleats can hold a foot in place and make it worse. I hope he’s alright. Personally, if he needs to be replaced I’d use Appleby and Trask. Appleby’s record of 19TD’s and 19 interceptions scares the crap out of me! Trask offers up a few things Tenn can’t prepare for-plus he’s a run threat. We might just need to pound the living hell out of them with the run game and play good “D” Go Gators.