Luke Del Rio saw his man and flung the ball toward him.
His receiver ran under it and hauled it in, falling after the 53-yard reception in the first quarter of Florida’s 32-0 win over North Texas.
It was the second time in as many weeks that Florida fans erupted after a long pass play, but there were two main differences.
First, this pass didn’t end in a touchdown. Second, the receiver who made the first play was Antonio Callaway.
But on Saturday, it wasn’t Callaway. He didn’t play in the game due to a quadriceps injury. And in this week’s game at Tennessee, he may be held out once again.
“We’ll see what happens,” coach Jim McElwain said of Callaway’s injury. “He’s hurting pretty good.”
The player on the receiving end of the 53-yard hookup was true freshman Josh Hammond, and come Saturday in Knoxville, the Gators may have to turn to him again.
He played in Callaway’s place against North Texas.
Some other replacement options include senior Ahmad Fulwood, junior C.J. Worton and freshman Freddie Swain, though the three of them combined have produced less yards in three games than Callaway has in two.
Despite missing the North Texas game, the sophomore still leads the Gators with 201 receiving yards and is tied for the team lead with two receiving touchdowns.
He first became an established threat last season against Tennessee when he took a fourth-down catch 63 yards for a game-deciding touchdown. Regardless, McElwain said he’s going to be extremely cautious with bringing his star receiver back.
“I’m not going to put a guy out there on half a leg,” he said. “Life is too short, and there are other people who will step up and play.”
No second-string QB:
With Luke Del Rio ruled out for this weekend’s SEC East bout against Tennessee, redshirt senior Austin Appleby is Florida’s presumed starter.
A graduate transfer from Purdue, Appleby has touted his big-game and big-stadium experience in the past, as he played in 17 games with the Boilermakers and started 11 of them.
His understudies, though, won’t have the same credentials.
Backup quarterback duty against Tennessee will fall to either Feleipe Franks or Kyle Trask, who are both true freshmen.
Franks was a four-star recruit who Florida flipped from LSU while Trask was a career backup at his Texas high school.
Neither has played in a college game.
McElwain said on Monday he hasn’t made a decision on who he’ll turn to if Appleby goes down, adding that he’ll decide sometime this week.
“We’ve got to make sure that Feleipe and Kyle are ready,” McElwain said.
Containing Dobbs:
A season ago, Tennessee quarterback Joshua Dobbs led the Volunteers in passing yards (83), rushing yards (136) and receiving yards (58) against the Gators. McElwain knows his team can’t expect to win with a repeat performance.
“I’m sure in their minds this is a walk in the park for them and probably should think that based on how we performed against them a year ago,” he said.
“We’ll see.”
Linebacker Jarrad Davis is also aware of Dobbs’ success, saying that he hasn’t forgotten what Dobbs did a season ago.
“Last year he put a hurting on us pretty bad,” Davis said.
Still, he was confident in Florida’s defense. Through three games, it leads the SEC in total defense, scoring defense and sacks.
“We put ourselves in a lot of bad situations last year,” Davis said.
“We’re going to try to ensure that we don’t do that this year.”
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Florida receiver Antonio Callaway celebrates after scoring a touchdown during UF's 45-7 win over Kentucky on Sept. 10, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
