Dan Mullen provides Florida injury update, reveals player lost for season

Florida made it through Week 1 of the college football season mostly unscathed from an injury standpoint. The Gators were without four defensive lineman — Lamar Goods, Jalen Lee, Jaelin Humphries and Chris Thomas — in their opening game against Florida Atlantic.

Dan Mullen met with the media Monday to discuss this week’s game against South Florida. The Gators will at least have two defensive lineman back for Saturday.

“We did not have any injuries coming out of the game, which is very fortunate,” Mullen said on Monday. “Hoping to get — Lamar Goods is back this week on the defensive line. Jalen Lee is going to be questionable, we’re not sure. He’s right on the edge there of being ready for this game on the defensive line. Having four interior d-lineman out, that was tricky in game one. Hopefully we can get two of them back this week. Jaelin Humphries and Chris Thomas will both be another week or two.”

Lee has a chance to start Saturday at defensive tackle. And while Goods, Humphries and Thomas are not starters, the added depth is necessary once SEC play starts.

Florida is not escaping without major news on the injury front, though. The Gators will be without a second-year defensive back for the rest of the season.

“Kamar Wilcoxson is going to miss the year. He had a knee surgery, so he’s going to miss the rest of the season,” Mullen said.

A redshirt freshman, Wilcoxson injured his knee right before the season opener. He isn’t the only cornerback missing this season; Jaydon Hill is out for the year after tearing his ACL in fall camp.

Florida quarterback competition

Florida started a a bit of a quarterback controversy in its season-opening win over Florida Atlantic.

Emory Jones, Florida’s starting quarterback, was outplayed by redshirt freshman Anthony Richardson, and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum questions whether it’s a positive for the Gators moving forward.

“I sat in a meeting,” Finebaum said on a weekly radio appearance on WJOX in Birmingham, “and heard Tim Tebow talk about [Richardson] for an hour on Friday afternoon. And Tebow had to do it somewhat carefully, since he was really talking about himself about 16 years ago. … Whether it’s a good problem for Dan Mullen to have or not, I don’t know. But they are bountiful at that position.”

Jones waited four years for his chance to be Florida’s starting quarterback, making it a complicated situation. Formerly a four-star recruit, Jones, a redshirt junior, was forced to sit behind two different quarterbacks in his time with the Gators, first serving as the backup to Feleipe Franks, then holding a similar role behind Kyle Trask.

In his first-career start, Jones completed 17 of 27 pass attempts for 113 passing yards, one passing touchdown and two interceptions. Richardson, who came on late in Saturday’s contest, only completed 3 of 8 passes for 40 yards — but his seven-carry, 160-yard, one-touchdown rushing performance left fans eager to see more. That, according to Finebaum, is what begs the question of “whether it’s a good problem” for Mullen.