It's only mid-July, but UF's secondary just took a major hit.
Rising junior safety Dorian Munroe, the probable starter at strong safety opposite Major Wright, has suffered a torn ACL in his right knee that will require him to have surgery and miss the entire 2008 season.
Fellow safety John Curtis also suffered the same season-ending injury to his left knee. This is the third tear in Curtis' left knee, on which he has had two prior surgeries.
"Dorian and John were having tremendous off-seasons," UF coach Urban Meyer said in a statement. "I'm confident Dorian will battle through the rehabilitation process and come back a better football player. John has suffered through multiple knee injuries, and the medical staff along with John and his family will need to evaluate his long-term future with football."
Munroe's loss will also hurt the Gators on special teams. He led the team with 13 special teams tackles last season.
With Munroe out, the door is wide open for incoming freshman Will Hill to step in and earn the starting role opposite Wright. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Hill was one of the top-rated safety prospects in the country.
Others who may start include Ahmad Black and Moses Jenkins, two cornerbacks who could see a position shift due to the sudden thinness at the safety position. Bryan Thomas, a natural safety, should get more playing time as well.
GATORS ON TV: UF and Sun Sports have signed one of the most lucrative media rights deals in the country, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal.
The deal would pay the University Athletic Association about $10 million a year for the next 10 years, and it would give Sun Sports - a Fox Sports affiliate - multimedia rights to everything from local TV, broadband and radio to corporate partnerships.
Those rights would also include tape-delayed football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and Olympic sports.
The deal could be a sign that an SEC channel in the vein of the Big Ten Network is not on the horizon.
