As Jordan Reed neared the end zone, he left the ground, and the ball left his grasp.
Georgia defensive back Sanders Commings recovered Reed’s fumble in the end zone, ending Florida’s chances of victory in Saturday’s 17-9 loss in Jacksonville.
Despite the turnover with the game on the line, the Gators still have faith in Reed.
“The guy was trying to make a play,” coach Will Muschamp said.
“I’m never going to disrupt a guy from trying to make a play.”
Reed, who leads Florida with 30 catches for 355 yards this season, has shown a tendency to jump to make plays since switching to tight end. Against Texas A&M on Sept. 8, Reed caught a second-quarter pass, ran 5 yards, hurdled a defender and tacked on 25 more yards.
“It’s been working for him,” Jeff Driskel said of Reed’s jumping. “He makes plays. He’s a playmaker. He tried to do a little too much. ... Unfortunately, (he) fumbled the ball. But he’s a great player, and we want the ball in his hands.”
Replacing Patton: Solomon Patton is done for the season with a broken bone in the upper half of his left arm, opening the door for Andre Debose.
Instead of phasing Patton’s signature jet sweep out of Florida’s game plan, offensive coordinator Brent Pease said Debose could assume Patton’s role as the Gators’ change-of-pace speedster.Patton has carried 14 times for 140 yards this season.
“Debose can do it,” Pease said. “He’s been kind of the guy that’s taken some reps on it. When [Patton] got hurt, that definitely kind of threw a twist on some things for us.”
Debose has not touched the ball much offensively this season.
The junior has just three rushing attempts for 7 yards and one catch for 5 yards, which came against Georgia on Saturday.
“Andre needs to step it up a little bit and help us in some situations,” Muschamp said.
Debose’s reps have been limited to the return game.
He currently ranks fifth in the Southeastern Conference with 24.1 yards per kick return and eighth with 9.3 yards per punt return.
Debose holds the school record for most kickoff return touchdowns with three but has yet to reach the end zone in 2012.
On Sept. 22, a reporter asked Muschamp why Debose had not been more involved offensively.
Muschamp replied: “He just needs to practice better. If he practices better, he’ll play more.”
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Junior Solomon Patton is tackled by Georgia safety Shawn Williams during UF's 17-9 loss on Saturday at EverBank Field. Patton suffered a broken left arm on the play.
