Florida Football Friday Final: Gators even more shorthanded ahead of Florida State season finale

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Image Credit: GatorsFB on Twitter

The Florida Gators have fought a war of attrition this season. Even as the locker room rallied behind head coach Billy Napier over the latter two thirds of the campaign, the bodies available for Napier and his staff to utilize in practice and on game days continued to dwindle significantly.

Entering preparations for the Florida State Seminoles already down four starting defensive backs, Florida lost a fifth starter as redshirt freshman Aaron Gates went down with a season-ending knee injury against Ole Miss last week. He had stepped up massively for the Gators, particularly over the last few games while beginning to come into his own as a playmaker and sure-handed tackler.

Gates now joins redshirt senior safety Asa Turner along with cornerbacks senior Jason Marshall Jr., junior Devin Moore and sophomore Ja’Keem Jackson as secondary players who will not play for Florida again this season.

“I would say that we’ve managed the injuries as of late pretty well,” head coach Billy Napier said.

Luckily, the Gators’ improved play on the back end has not entirely been on Gates’ shoulders. Redshirt seniors Trikweze Bridges and DJ Douglas, plus sophomores Sharif Denson and Dijon Johnson, have all stepped up their play in the latter stages of the season.

“DD has impressed me with his toughness. DD is playing through injury. He’s in there every day in the training room working his way through it, stepped up in a major way,” Napier said. “… DD has really grown up in my eyes. He’s matured. I have a ton of respect for him just in terms of where he was at when I first met him to who he is as a young man today. He’s grown quite a bit. … Don’t underestimate Trikweze Bridges, the position flexibility. What an incredible finish to his career. Scouts are very high on him here in the last couple weeks.”

Napier this Wednesday also said that redshirt junior right guard Damieon George Jr. and sophomore linebacker Grayson Howard are effectively questionable for the FSU game. George ultimately played last week after similarly being listed as questionable, while Howard has missed the last two games due to injury.

Both players had stepped up massively of late playing some of their best ball in a Gators uniform.

The ‘Noles, sitting 2-9 on the season with multiple blowouts at the hands of Power Four opponents, have clearly been through their own struggles this season. Still, UF has its own problems with which to deal — primarily being nowhere near full strength for Saturday night’s game.

“I have my own grass to mow,” Napier said when asked about FSU’s struggles. “My yard is big, has a lot of weeds in it. I have my own issues.”

Blocking out the noise

Florida has spent the last two weeks directly affecting the College Football Playoff. Not earning a bid to the expanded 12-team field, mind you, but rather eliminating LSU and then Ole Miss from national championship contention.

Coupling that on-field success with one recruiting win after another, Napier and the Gators are being praised up and down across the college football world. That’s something the program has not experienced across an extended period since he took over three years ago.

Even though Florida is an uncommon two-touchdown favorite on the road at FSU this Saturday, the coach has ensured his players and staffers are not buying into the hype.

“We’ve been pretty good at ignoring the noise and having the right combination of humility and enthusiasm,” he said. “… OK, you experience some success, can you handle that? Can you ignore the hype? Can you have the right mix of humility with that? That’s the key.

“We have a pretty big number of players that have been on the grass and on the sideline when these guys have beaten us the last two years. That will contribute [to the focus]. Do we have enough maturity to get ready to play again? That is mental, physical and emotional because it requires a lot of every person. I’ve challenged every part of our team.”

To that end, Napier did not shy away from calling Saturday’s showdown “the most important game of the year,” and he made sure to clarify that was not coach speak simply because it was the next game on the schedule.

“I do think there’s a ton at stake here. We have to realize all that comes with this game, big-picture wise,” he said. “… We got to make sure we understand here the significance of the game and the impact of the rivalry, not only for our program and our players and the people within these walls, but all the Gators out there that have had to deal with things for the last two years.

“We get it.”

Notes & quotes

Napier on freshman LB Myles Graham: “Myles Graham has a bright future in front of him. … Oftentimes, I catch myself going, ‘Man, who was that?’ It was Myles. His football intelligence, growing up in a football family, then his running back background [helps]. He has good instincts, vision, understanding for the game. He’s a three-down backer. He can play on all third downs. He’s one of our best special teams players. Myles has impressed me with how bright he is, [how he] retains information. Obviously missed a big portion of the spring having the surgery; I think he’s getting into a rhythm now. He’s going to have a good career here.”

Napier on redshirt freshman OL Bryce Lovett: “Bryce has position flexibility. He probably could play all five [positions]; he could play left tackle, both guards, right tackle, center. Bryce is a guy who developed late; he’s kind of a late-bloomer. … He’s still very young. At that position, the nutrition, the strength and conditioning, the weight room [are important]. … This coming offseason will be a big piece of the puzzle for guys like Bryce. There’s a long list of guys that fit into that category.”

Napier on extra practices afforded to the team for being bowl-eligible: “Everybody throws out this big, ‘You get 15 more practices.’ We will not practice 15 more times; I can promise you that. … [Instead, we see it as] a little bit more of a reward for the players. It’s another opportunity to create momentum for the program. A lot of our redshirt players that will be able to play in the game will be big. You try to pare the workload. These guys have been grinding. It’s not like it used to be. We will build a schedule that will be [focused on] getting healthy, lifting weights, getting bigger, stronger, working on fundamentals. … If I told our guys we were going to practice 15 times for one game, that wouldn’t go over well, right? … The practice environment will be more about just kind of trying to peak for the game.”