Florida’s Jaydon Hill suffers season-ending injury

Florida cornerback Jaydon Hill is out for the 2021 season after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee, per 247Sports. Hill had 14 tackles and broke up seven passes in 12 games last season.

“Jaydon Hill tore his ACL, he’ll be out for the year,” Florida head coach Dan Mullen said. “Very unfortunate when you’ve got to deal with injuries. It’s really a tragedy the amount of work these guys put in, how hard they put in.”

He was a presumptive starter alongside Kaiir Elam at the position and recently discussed how much he has progressed while at Florida.

“When I got here, honestly, I couldn’t even draw up a play besides Cover 3. I knew one defense, Cover 3,” Hill said. “But my game has progressed tremendously, my mindset off the field, in meeting rooms. Now I can draw up offensive plays, defensive plays and match them.”

This is Hill’s second torn ACL. He tore the same ligament in his right knee during his senior year of high school.

A young Gators defense just got even younger

Hill was one of just five players returning on the defensive side of the ball for Florida. This situation adds additional uncertainty to the mix.

“There will be a bunch of guys. You’re still in training camp, so there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for guys coming in,” Mullen said. “We have [Missouri transfer Jadarrius] Perkins transferred in, going to have an opportunity. You have Avery Helm, who I think is going to be extremely talented. Might just have to accelerate his career to get him on the field. Ethan Pouncey coming off the surgeries, really kind of getting back to the player we thought he could be.”

The Gators secondary needs all the help it could get after a disappointing year last season. They gave up 428 yards per game, which was ninth in the SEC, and 30.8 points per game, which was eighth in the conference.