Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain spoke to the media on Friday before the Gators second scrimmage. GatorCountry brings you a quick notebook to recap the press conference.
General Notes
- Thursday’s practice had great energy, the older guys were leading the young guys well.
- Friday’s scrimmage will be in the evening to prepare the players for the nighttime environment.
- Fan Day will be in the indoor facility and the players will be interacting with fans more than they have before.
- The team has higher expectations and comfort level coming into this season compared to last season.
- Steve Spurrier is providing an extra set of eyes at practices and has been pointing out some small things that need to be worked on.
- Brandon Powell, Chauncey Gardner, and Dre Massey were mentioned as guys working in the return game.
- Jim McElwain on Dre Massey, “He can throw it, he can catch it, and he can run it.”
Suspensions
- McElwain on Teez Tabor and C’yontai Lewis’, “These are good guys and good teammates.”
- Tabor and Lewis will be back with the team on Thursday.
Injuries
- Duke Dawson will play limited minutes in Friday’s scrimmage.
- Chris Thompson is going to get his leg checked on and won’t play in the scrimmage.
- Andrew Mike is being held out with a foot injury that is not season ending.
- Kevaris Harkless is being held out of the scrimmage.
- Johnny Townsend injured his thumb on a Jugs machine.
Quarterbacks
- Luke Del Rio’s command at quarterback is the main thing that McElwain looked at when choosing him as the starter.
- Del Rio has shown an understanding of what McElwain expects at the quarterback position.
- Del Rio is excited about being named the starter, but knows he still has work to do.
- McElwain is proud of how the other three quarterbacks reacted to Del Rio being named the starter.
Defense
- Jeawon Taylor, Joseph Putu, and McArthur Burnett have emerged in the secondary.
- McArthur Burnett came to Florida at 157 and is now 187.
- McElwain said he doesn’t talk about Nick Washington enough because he is not flashy, but very consistent.
- He is a little concerned with Cece Jefferson’s size playing inside, but said Jefferson has a lot of natural strength.
- Cece Jefferson is having a great camp.