Gator Football News and Notes from Week Two of Practice

Injury report

As most everyone has heard by now, two more players went down with ACL tears: OG Jim Barrie and LB Brendan Beal.  Both were expected to contribute, but neither was going to start.  It’s a hit on depth, but not much more than that.

In other injury news...Emmanuel Moody has been slowed by a thigh contusion.  Louis Murphy has been in a boot recently with a mild ankle sprain, but he’s out of it now and back to jogging.  Senior OL Jason Watkins, freshman S Will Hill, and sophomore DB Moses Jenkins have missed time with minor concussions.  Junior CB Markihe Anderson and OL Maurice Hurt have missed some time with wrist injuries.

Freshmen DLs Omar Hunter and Matt Patchan are close to being ready for contact drills.  Chris Rainey appears to be completely healed from his groin issue that he had been dealing with since track season.  Percy Harvin is able to go through drills despite his heel injury but was held out of Wednesday’s scrimmage.

DT Torrey Davis is not injured, but he hasn’t been at practice either.  Urban Meyer has said Davis will not be playing against Hawai’i because in addition to his academic issues, he’s gotten himself into some off-field issues too.

Offensive backfield

Kestahn Moore, as I expected, will be the starter at running back on Aug. 30.  However, Meyer plans on having him line up at fullback some to keep him on the field as much as possible.  He’s the best blocker among the running backs, so it makes sense.  It also gives the tiny guys like Brandon James and Rainey someone to pave the way while giving Dan Mullen a fullback who can both run the ball and catch passes.

Meyer has already said Moore has been a dynamic player for the offense this offseason, so I don’t think he’ll just be an early-season placeholder for Moody like many people I know seem to think he’ll be.  He averaged over five yards a carry last year, so as long as he quits fumbling, he’ll be a big part of the offense.

Neither Cameron Newton nor John Brantley has taken a firm grasp of the backup quarterback position.  It’s an important question because Meyer has already said he wants to go back to a two-QB system to lighten the load on Tim Tebow.  Who plays backup won’t likely be settled until right before the first game.

Most people I’ve seen around the ‘net expect to see Newton regardless in some of the 3rd-and-short situations this year to take some pounding for Tebow.  Considering he’s noticeably bigger than Tim, I’d say it rings true, but we’ll see.

If Brantley takes the No. 2 job, I don’t know that those substitutions will happen, because having Tebow as your No. 1, Brantley as your change of pace guy, and Newton as your hammer makes f