Gators get more bad injury news: Webb, Wilson done for the season

Tre Wilson (3) scores a touchdown against Samford (Gator Bait Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:

When it comes to injuries, it seems the Florida Gators (4-4, 2-3 SEC) take one step forward and two steps backwards lately. Monday, Billy Napier announced that quarterback DJ Lagway’s injury isn’t as bad as originally thought to the point he might have a shot at playing Saturday when the Gators face No. 5 Texas (7-1, 5-1 SEC) in Austin (12 noon, ABC).

Tuesday, Florida’s 247Sports site reported that sophomore running back Treyaun Webb will undergo surgery next week for a fractured tibia that will end his season. Wednesday, 247 reported that sophomore wide receiver Tre Wilson has undergone surgery that will keep him sidelined the rest of the year.

Webb, whose best game was eight carries for 41 yards in the Gators’ 45-28 win over Mississippi State, has only played in four games, so he will be able to take a redshirt. His 4-game totals were 21 carries for 93 yards and a TD.

Wilson had surgery on his hip by a specialist in Chicago Tuesday. Wilson was expected to build on last year’s 61 catches for 538 yards and six touchdowns for an All-SEC caliber season, but he has played in only four games this year. In his four games, Wilson caught 19 passes for 286 yards and one touchdown.

At his Wednesday evening press conference, Napier could update Lagway’s status as well as that of corners Devin Moore and Dijon Johnson, both injured in the Gators’ 34-20 loss to Georgia. At his Monday press conference, Napier said both could possibly be able to suit up and play against Texas.

SEC BASKETBALL

The No. 21 Gators (1-0), 97-83 winners over South Florida in their Monday night season opener, will face Jacksonville (1-0) in their home opener Thursday night. In the win over South Florida, four Gators scored in double figures led by Walter Clayton Jr. (29) and Will Richard (25). Scoring 13 each were Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin and sophomore Alex Condon. Jacksonville scored a 78-65 win over Trinity Baptist in its season opener, led by Stephon Payne III, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Despite a bad, 5-25 shooting night from the 3-point line, the Gators hit 28-38 on their 2-point shots including 15-21 in the second half. Offense wasn’t the problem just as it wasn’t last year. The Gators do have plenty of room to grow defensively after giving up 13-27 from the 3-point line.

SEC Basketball

No. 2 Alabama (1-0): Seven players scored in double figures led by Mark Sears with 20 in Bama’s 110-54 win over UNC-Asheville. Friday: Arkansas State (1-0)

No. 16 Arkansas (0-0): Today: Lipscomb (1-0); Saturday: No. 8 Baylor (0-1)

No. 11 Auburn (0-0): Today: Vermont (1-0); Saturday: at No. 4 Houston (1-0)

Georgia (1-0): Freshman Asa Newell had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shorts to lead Georgia to a 83-78 win over Tennessee Tech. Sunday: Texas Southern (0-1)

No. 23 Kentucky (1-0): Oklahoma transfer Otega Oweh scored 21 points to lead the Wildcats to a 103-62 win over Wright State in Mark Pope’s head coaching debut at UK. Saturday: Bucknell (1-0)

LSU (0-0): Today: Louisiana-Monroe (1-0); Sunday: Alabama State (0-1)

Mississippi State (1-0): Josh Hubbard scored 26 in Mississippi State’s 95-60 win over West Georgia. Friday: Georgia State (1-0)

Missouri (0-1): Mizzou was outscored by 18 by Memphis in the second half in an 83-75 loss. Saturday: Howard (0-1)

Oklahoma (1-0): Jalon Moore scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Oklahoma past Lindenwood, 93-60.

Ole Miss (1-0): Jaylen Murray’s 24 points led the Rebels to a 90-60 win over Long Island. Friday: Grambling (1-0)

South Carolina (0-1): The Gamecocks were shocked by low major North Florida, 74-71. Friday: South Carolina State (1-0)

No. 12 Tennessee (1-0): Zakai Ziegler had 13 points, nine assists and two steals to lead the Vols to an 80-65 win over Gardner-Webb. Saturday: at Louisville (1-0)

No. 19 Texas (0-1): The Longhorns lost their season opener to Ohio State, 80-72. Friday: Houston Christian (1-0)

No. 13 Texas A&M (0-1): The Aggies were shocked by unranked UCF, 64-61, Monday night. Friday: Texas A&M-Commerce (0-1)

Vanderbilt (1-0): Boston College transfer Devin McGlockton scored 24 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in Vandy’s 102-63 win over Maryland Eastern Shore. Sunday: Southeast Missouri State (0-1)

COUNTDOWN TO FIRING DAY

Extinct Species List

Mike Houston, East Carolina: The immediate response to the firing of Joe Houston was ECU scored 56 points to blow the doors off Shirley Temple. ECU is 4-4 and could go bowling because the next two games are against Florida Atlantic and Tulsa. This will be one of the more attractive Group of Five jobs. The guy they want is Joe Sloan, the offensive coordinator at LSU, a former ECU quarterback.

Will Hall, Southern Miss: The guy they want is Bill Clark, who won at Jacksonville State and UAB, but he may say thankee but no thankee. Next on the list is Brennan Marion, the offensive coordinator at UNLV.

Mike Bloomgren, Rice: The average freshman has an SAT score of 1550. What that tells us is Rice has to find a coach who can scour the country to find enough smart guys who would be interested in coming to play for a dead end program that has rotten facilities.

On Life Support

Billy Napier, Florida: Expectations of what happens next with Napier are all over the place. There are still the fire Billy folks who think that losing the next three games will be the end, but there is a growing opinion that Florida won’t dare lose super freshmen like DJ Lagway and Jadan Baugh to the portal in the event Napier was canned. It’s dicey. A statement by athletic director Scott Stricklin that Napier will be Florida’s head coach next year would be helpful, particularly for the 2025 recruiting class.

Trent Dilfer, UAB: Trent finally has a quarterback in former Gator Jalen Kitna. The offense is finally cranking. Will that be enough to punch the ticket for one more year for Trent? Money will be a factor. They really can’t afford to fire him.

Kenni Burns, Kent State: The same school that produced coaching legends Lou Holtz, Nick Saban and Gary Pinkel and was the place that kickstarted the careers of Don James and Glen Mason is 1-19 under Kenny Burns.

Mike Neu, Ball State: The Cards hung with the same Vanderbilt team that beat Alabama and hung with Texas. They beat the same Northern Illinois team that beat Notre Dame in South Bend. Is that enough to give Neu another year?

Stan Drayton, Temple: Stan is a fine assistant coach and a terrific recruiter. He’s  the coach at Shirley Temple, an absolute graveyard. The Owls are 2-6 so far and they’re about to get their doors blown off by Tulane.

Sonny Cumbie, Louisiana Tech: He’s 3-5 this year with one of his losses to New Mexico State. He’s 8-23 in three seasons. Three wins and he stays, two wins and it’s a big maybe. A big factor will be money. Louisiana Tech doesn’t have any.

Endangered Species List

Sam Pittman, Arkansas: If he can get one more win and get the Razorbacks to a bowl game, there is a good chance he survives. Right now, Arkansas has five wins so it’s dicey.

Tom Herman, Florida Atlantic: This is not working out. Herman was a winner at both Houston and Texas but his two seasons at FAU are 6-14 with a 4-game finish that screams out 0-4. They don’t have a lot of money at FAU and that may keep him around another year.

Kevin Wilson, Tulsa: He’s getting paid $1.9 million a year and they expect more than a 3-6 record that includes a blowout loss to UAB. Perhaps an investment in facilities -- Tulsa’s are rotten -- would help. Tulsa is a private school that has some oil money behind it so maybe they raise the money to buy Wilson out, but odds are they’ll give him one more year.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn: The Tigers lost to Vanderbilt at home and there’s every good chance they’ll have a losing record. The natives are restless, but there is no indication from Mr. Yella Wood yet that the big money boosters will pull the plug this year.

Don Brown, UMass: They don’t have any money, they play in a tiny 17,000-seat stadium and they play a lot of paycheck games to fund the rest of the athletic department. If they really want to win some football games they should drop back down to D1AA where they were once a powerhouse.

Jim McElwain, Central Michigan: Old Yeller is 3-5 this season and he’s pushing hard for a third consecutive losing record, which doesn’t settle well with the faithful. If he loses to Bowling Green this week, which is entirely possible, he will be moved to the On Life Support list.

Mike Novell, Florida State: They won’t fire him this year, but if he were willing to leave to go somewhere else they would waive the buyout. Will someone take a chance and hire him away or are the Seminoles stuck for at least one more year.

Ryan Walters, Purdue: The Boilers are 1-7 and barring some unforeseen miracle, they’re headed for a 1-11 season without a win over a Division I team.

Rocky Rahne, Old Dominion: His 4-year record is 19-28. He has yet produced a winning season. The Monarchs are 4-5 right now, needing to win two of three to get some catfish bowl where a pair of bottom feeders get to play a game nobody but the gamblers and most bored will watch.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: If the first College Football Playoff poll holds through the month of November and the conference championship games, then the Southeastern Conference will own one-third of the 12 playoff berths. The first poll has Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Alabama in from the SEC with LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Missouri still in the hunt.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF POLL: 1. Oregon 9-0; 2. Ohio State 7-1; 3. Georgia 7-1; 4. Miami 9-0; 5. Texas 701; 6. Penn State 7-1; 7. Tennessee 7-1; 8. Indiana 9-0; 9. BYU 8-0; 10. Notre Dame 7-1; 11. Alabama 6-2; 12. Boise State 7-1; 13. SMU 8-1; 14. Texas A&M 7-2; 15. LSU 6-2; 16. Ole Miss 7-2; 17. Iowa State 7-1; 18. Pittsburgh 7-1; 19. Kansas State 7-2; 20. Colorado 6-2; 21. Washington State 7-1; 22. Louisville 6-3; 23. Clemson 6-2; 24. Missouri 6-2; 25. Army 8-0

Remaining games for SEC teams in the poll:

No. 2 Georgia: at No. 16 Ole Miss; No. 7 Tennessee; UMass, Georgia Tech

No. 5 Texas: FLORIDA; at Arkansas; Kentucky; at No. 14 Texas A&M

No. 7 Tennessee: Mississippi State; at No. 2 Georgia; UTEP; at Vanderbilt

No. 12 Alabama: at No. 15 LSU; Mercer; at Oklahoma; Auburn

No. 14 Texas A&M: New Mexico State; at Auburn; No. 5 Texas

No. 15 LSU: No. 12 Alabama; at FLORIDA; Vanderbilt; Oklahoma

No. 16 Ole Miss: No. 2 Georgia; at FLORIDA; Mississippi State

No. 24 Missouri: Oklahoma; at South Carolina; at Mississippi State; Arkansas