After the No. 6 UF football team thumped Western Kentucky 49-3, UF coach Urban Meyer gave some humbling news by saying that senior offensive tackle Phil Trautwein could miss the rest of the season.
Trautwein suffered a stress fracture in his right foot Wednesday.
"There's a chance Traut's done for the season," Meyer said
Trautwein was one of the leaders on a veteran offensive line and was voted to the All-Southeastern Conference preseason team by the media.
However, so far Trautwein's absence has not been noticed. The Gators' offensive line didn't give up a sack, and freshman offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey was solid in his debut.
But even Pouncey admitted that UF fans would be surprised about the consistency of the Gators' line without Trautwein.
"We prepared a lot," Pouncey said. "I've never been in an atmosphere where we prepared so much. Back at Lakeland (High) I thought we did a good job, but compared to here Lakeland is nothing. All the guys are ready and we just went out there and played football."
But there's still little doubt that losing Trautwein hurts.
"It definitely hurts. Hopefully we get him back soon," senior center and team captain Drew Miller said. "He's been helping out. He took us through extra film time. He's just doing his job as a leader right now."
SLIDING TEBOW: Quarterback Tim Tebow did something he's not used to on Saturday - step out of bounds on a run play.
"That's something that we taught (Tebow) ," Meyer said. "It's a marathon not a sprint. He has a lot more games left to play."
Even Tebow, while offensive coordinator Dan Mullen has admitted his quarterback doesn't love the idea, is willing to follow orders.
"It's not really my nature to run out of bounds," Tebow said. "It never has been too much, but you just try to obey the coaches and do what they say."
ABSENCES: Redshirt freshmen Jacques Rickerson and Lawrence Marsh as well as sophomore Brandon James were not dressed, but Meyer said they will all play next week.
EXCUSE ME:
Tebow played great, but he did have one mishap in the postgame press conference.
"It's definitly great to get in there and play a team like Western Carolina," he said. "Or Western Kentucky, excuse me. It's not like we're just going out there and playing a nobody."
