This is why we can't have nice things;
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- With news of
seven players suspended for the season opener against Michigan breaking on Sunday, GatorBait.net stops to take a look at the impact it will have on the Florida Gators.
The Following Players Are Out:
WR
Antonio Callaway
OT
Kadeem Telfort
DE
Keivonnis Davis
DE Jordan Smith
DT
Richerd Desir-Jones
LB
James Houston
LB
Ventrell Miller
The Impact:
There are four positions that will definitely be hurt considerably by the loss of these players.
*** Wide Receiver ***
The first is obviously wide receiver. While Florida's receiving corps has been touted as one of the best in the nation, those projections are based largely on potential.
Callaway is the only proven superstar in the group, though slot receiver
Brandon Powell has been fairly productive throuhgout his time at Florida. The issue for Florida is that Callaway, as of now, was the only player that opposing defensive coordinators absolutely had to gameplan for at receiver.
As a sophomore, Callaway constantly faced double-teams and opponents shading safety help his way throughout games.
What that did was make it much easier for some of the other receivers -- many of whom are the promising youngsters that have people so high on the group overall -- to find space to work in. Without Callaway, Michigan's defense probably doesn't need to scheme as much to cover weaknesses in a secondary that replaces a ton of starters.
Moreover, Callaway was a key figure in the return game as an explosive punt returner. Florida has the players to replace him and still be OK, but the Gators just aren't as dangerous without him on the field. There are no two ways around it.
*** Offensive Tackle ***
Florida is in serious trouble if either of its starting tackles goes down with an injury now in fall camp. Both
Martez Ivey and
Jawaan Taylor have already dealt with minor bumps and bruises that have sidelined them for at least one practice.
The depth at tackle hasn't emerged in fall camp yet like the Gators would have hoped.
Telfort was one of the players that Florida was hoping it could rely on as a key backup at tackle after he enrolled early this spring. He had put together a decent start to fall camp and appeared to be the next guy up at tackle.
Stone Forsythe has been the backup at right tackle, but he was passed by backup do-it-all lineman
Tyler Jordan when Ivey and Taylor exited the lineup in the last few practices. Forsythe's just not quite ready yet.
Florida's fine if it can stay healthy at tackle against Michigan. If not? Things get dicey very, very quickly.
*** Defensive End ***
This is the one spot where Florida should be able to absorb the blow of the suspensions relatively well despite losing two guys that were projected to contribute going into fall camp.
Davis hadn't quite had the light come on early in camp before sitting out some, while Smith, on the other hand, had a few very productive days as an edge rusher.
The good news is defensive end is Florida's deepest position.
CeCe Jefferson,
Jachai Polite and
Jabari Zuniga have been three standouts on the edge, while
Antonneous Clayton has also shown promising signs of development.
It'd definitely help if
Jordan Sherit was fully cleared to play by the opener, but either way Florida should be OK at end.
*** Linebacker ***
The linebacker spot is much, much trickier than some of the other spots. Florida only felt comfortable with four linebackers entering camp, needing a few of the four freshmen who arrived to contribute.
Nick Smith is out with a knee injury currently, and now Miller and Houston are suspended. Both Miller and Houston were in the two-deep, on the strong side and weak side, respectively.
With them out, Florida's linebacker depth chart behind the top four looks like this: walk-on Cristian Garcia, little-used redshirt sophomore
Rayshad Jackson and true freshman
Lacedrick Brunson.
The Gators need to stay healthy, because they probably won't feel very comfortable rotating any of those three in against the Wolverines.