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With injuries piling up for Florida, Jim McElwain quips about playing 8-man football
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If only Florida and LSU could play 8-man football this Saturday.
Gators coach Jim McElwain joked about that idea during Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference, referencing how banged up his team is heading to Baton Rouge. The coach released an extensive injury report Monday, which mostly featured players out for the game.
“We’ve been (thinking of) playing with 8-man football like in Montana,” McElwain quipped, citing a football league in his home state. “Nah, we will put 11 out there. You come to schools like this for games like this, and it will be a good opportunity for us.”
One important player who might suit up is sophomore defensive end CeCe Jefferson, who returned to practice this week.
“CeCe is a team leader, which is rare for a guy that age,” McElwain said. “That’s pretty cool. He’s a guy that wants to play, he will give everything he can to get out there.”
If he can go, Jefferson would play an important role in slowing down the Tigers’ dynamic running back duo of Leonard Fournette and Derrius Guice. They’ve rushed for 803 and 881 yards, respectively, this season, and McElwain referred to them as “thunder and lightning.”
“They are for real. Great SEC backs,” the coach said. “They will play this game well beyond this conference.”
No. 23 Florida (7-2, 5-2) travels to face No. 16 LSU (6-3, 4-2) in a technical “home” game at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Marcus covers SEC football for Saturday Down South.
