Florida DB Jaydon Hill practicing after season-ending ACL surgery last season

Florida Gators defensive back Jaydon Hill is back on the practice field after tearing his ACL during fall camp last season, according to Gators head coach Billy Napier. The knee injury sidelined him for the entirety of the 2021 season, and will look to make an impact on defense once he’s completely healthy.

Coming out of high school, Hill was four-star recruit, per the On3 Consensus, from Bob Jones High School in Alabama. He committed to Florida in September of 2018, choosing the Gators over 33 other reported offers.

Before his injury last season, Hill was the presumptive starter alongside Buffalo Bills first rounder Kaiir Elam at the position following a true freshman season that saw him compile 14 tackles while breaking up seven passes in 12 appearances.

Roman Harper makes bold prediction for Florida vs Kentucky

Roman Harper knows who he is picking between Florida and Kentucky this weekend. The former Alabama safety and current SEC Network analyst joined the Paul Finebaum Show on Wednesday, where made a bold prediction about who will come out on top.

“Going into the season, everybody had Kentucky over Florida, and I probably did too,” Harper said. “But after one game, I’m completely off of that. Florida is gonna win this game, and I think they’re gonna win it pretty handily, too.”

Harper went on to say he thought the Wildcats looked “a little bit softer” up front on both the offensive and defensive line. That is what he ultimately believes will be the different, as he predicts Kentucky to have trouble both establishing the run on offense and stopping it on defense.

“If you wanna win this game, you’ve got to do it up front,” Harper said. “Kentucky looked a little bit softer — and I hate using that word — but they were not as physical running the football. …That is not what I’m used to seeing out of a Kentucky offensive line. Also, they lost some production on the defensive side of the ball. So I anticipate Florida really dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. With the run game at Florida of the running backs to the quarterback and defensive line.”