Dan Mullen Updates Anthony Richardson and Kaiir Elam Status After Florida Gators Win Over Tennessee
GAINESVILLE, FL—The No. 11 Florida Gators pulled away in the second half to cruise to a 38-14 win over the Tennessee Volunteers. And they did so without arguably two of their most dynamic playmakers. Redshirt freshman quarterback Anthony Richardson and junior corner Kaiir Elam were both held out of the Saturday night win.
Richardson has now been sidelined for two straight weeks, the result of a tightened hamstring he suffered running in an 80-yard touchdown versus USF in a week two win. Like last week versus Alabama, Gators head coach Dan Mullen says Richardson as available tonight against the Vols, but only in an emergency scenario.
"What happened with that is, again, with a hamstring deal... he was much improved, they looked. We got him, we built him up to speed. Got him going full speed on Friday with his MRI. Talking to the trainers and then got him full speed, he was fine. Some acceleration, deceleration stuff he started; he was a little bit tight with still.
"So we kind of met with the medical staff, went in with the plan, which was, again, 'we think he's definitely cleared to play, you know. If we can get through this week with him in a backup role, he could be, we think it's 100% moving forward.' And so I think we're 100% now."
For the past two Friday's, the Gators have gotten MRI's done on their electric young passer, before making the decision to keep him relegated to a backup only role. Having been able to now go two weeks without running him, allowing him two weeks of healing time, Mullen says there is no plan to wait and get another MRI next Friday.
"I mean [he's] 100% starting on Monday's practice."
Redshirt junior Emory Jones is the Gators starter, but he had been rotating in and out with Richardson through the first two games. Receiving all of the quarterback snaps the past two games, Jones has flourished, going 39-55 (71%) for 404 yards, two touchdowns and one interception through the air, as well as 34 carries for 221 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Still, having Richardson available too allows the Gators to keep defenses on their heels with two duel threat quarterbacks. Through his only two games, he went 6-11 for 192 yards and two touchdowns through the air, along with 275 yards and two touchdowns on 11 rushes.
"I think he understands," Mullen said of Richardson accepting the time off. "One of the things, and give Garrick credit, [passing game coordinator] Garrick McGee credit with those guys, just their maturity and how to understand the position, how to handle the game. Of be happy for each other, know the situations that we're in. Know when I'm ready to play, how to prepare myself.
"I mean, Anthony, he wants to be out there playing. But I think also having the maturity of understanding, 'Hey, I'm dangerous when this, these are some things that make me dangerous, and if I'm not doing those things, better get myself to be 100% so I can go do those things.'
"Because any time you deal with that, like I keep saying, all the sudden I'm with the trainers, if we go from, 'Hey, he can back up for us and really not miss a game as a backup' to 'if we had pressed it he could have been out for six weeks.' Now we're looking at we lose our backup. We lose everything about it. So we were very fortunate he didn't have to go in the games the last two weeks and he'll be ready to go."
On the other side of the ball, the Gators were without top corner Kaiir Elam. He suffered a lower body injury versus Alabama and was held out primarily as a precaution. In his absence, young defensive backs Jason Marshall and Elijah Blades received more playing time, with Marshall starting opposite Avery Helm.
With the Gators gearing up for a road trip to the Kentucky Wildcats and an offense averaging 284 passing yards per game, having Elam back will be crucial.
"Hopefully Kaiir should be back this week," predicted Mullen Saturday after the Tennessee game. "He'll be, what do they say, like, probable this week. And talking to him, hoping he's probable for this coming weekend, you know, so that was a tricky deal, you know. I mean, you're playing with like, a hole.
"I mean you're looking out there, and I mean, you're talking about playing with a secondary, I mean a lot of the guys, a bunch of them weren’t even on the roster last year, out there playing. You know, that was a position where we're now paper thin, you know, we've already lost two guys, a couple guys, two guys for the year. Pat Moorer is gonna be out for another two weeks, you know, so that's a third guy, and then Kaiir down, so I mean you're just, you're down big numbers there, but hopefully Kaiir gets back healthy this week, add some depth to the secondary for us.”
Comments