It appears the setback suffered by Brenton Cox this summer isn’t nearly as bad as some in Athens would lead you to believe.

While he’s been a member of Dan Mullen’s Florida program for several years now, Cox is apparently still a topic of conversation in Athens, which only goes to show how deep the rivalry between those two schools runs.

During his first media appearance of fall camp on Thursday, Mullen provided some good insight into Cox’s status as the talented Gator defender is working his way back from an offseason surgery in June.

“Yeah, I mean we expect him to be back, I don’t know if we’re gonna let him go 100% right on day one, but he’s gonna be out there practicing right away,” Mullen shared. “Building him up right now, with the time that he’s missed, building him up, getting ready back to being 100% in, not just the foot injury, but his in training and conditioning, all that stuff.”

In addition to those comments, Mullen shared his high expectations for the redshirt junior after Cox started all 12 games for the Gators in 2020.

During that time, Cox registered 41 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss and four sacks. He had to sit out the 2019 season after transferring from Georgia.

“You know, I expect big things out of him this year because I thought he had a really solid year last year,” Mullen added on Cox. “Now a second year in the system, more experienced, more veteran guy, an older guy, having to learn, look at what he did well importantly last year and how to how to build off of that. I have tremendous respect for Brenton because you’re looking at a guy that highly profiled recruiting guy. People had all kinds of questions about him.

“He’s come in here and then I think SEC academic honor roll since the day he stepped on campus. Handles his business at an extremely high level in the locker room, in the classroom, and on the practice field. I mean, the effort and what he was able to do the year he knew he couldn’t play to come out every day, work at better be a team guy give the team a great look and excel in the classroom. I think shows a lot of the character and the type of person that he is and, you know really why he fits being a Florida Gator.”