Jordan Sherit fell to the turf, propped himself up by the elbow and reached for his right hip. When Florida’s trainers arrived, he lied down and tugged at his facemask in pain. He hobbled to the sideline using the trainers as crutches. Finally, he was carted off the field, tightening his face with each movement and giving a thumbs up near the tunnel. But the thumbs up was just sentiment.
He wasn’t OK.
After the game, coach Jim McElwain hinted that Sherit, a starting defensive end, might need surgery. On Wednesday, he confirmed it. Sherit underwent season-ending surgery earlier this week that leaves Florida’s defensive depth in question and puts the final period on the redshirt senior’s college football career. And what a strange career it was.
Sherit came to Florida as a four-star defensive end ranked among the top 250 players in the nation, and had the talent to be a Florida’s breakout star. But each time he got close, injuries derailed him.
“It’s a bad deal, man,” coach Jim McElwain said after his latest injury. Some variation of that word, “injury,” appears in Sherit’s bio on FloridaGators.com three times. One notes how he missed part of last season with a “myriad of injuries.” Another notes he missed time at the end of 2014 with an injury. Then there was the ACL injury he suffered in high school and had to recover from in his first year of college.
His final year of eligibility at UF was looking different. Sherit was making an impact with 2.5 sacks, 23 tackles and five tackles for loss. Then the hip injury happened. And this time, there’s no next season.
“I hate it for Jordan Sherit,” linebacker Kylan Johnson said. “I haven't talked to him since the game, but, you know, all prayers to him."
Sherit’s absence leaves the rotation of CeCe Jefferson, Jachai Polite and Jabari Zuniga — who’s also injured — as potential starters at defensive end. And there isn’t much behind them. Because of UPD’s accusations of credit card fraud still pending against defensive ends Jordan Smith and Keivonnis Davis, only Antonneous Clayton and Zachary Carter remain as backup options on the edge.
Sherit also isn’t alone on the injury list. Starting safety Nick Washington is out with a shoulder injury. Reserve safety Quincy Lenton had a knee procedure and will be out as well. Zuniga, receiver Tyrie Cleveland, left tackle Martez Ivey, safety Chauncey Gardner and receiver Kadarius Toney are all also “basically out” this week, McElwain said.
“It is what it is,” McElwain said of the carnage. “I'm sure there's not a coach in America who hasn't been through something like this or will go through something like this. At the same time, the guys that are here, they play really hard and they've been playing hard.”
On the bright side, Florida’s defense played its best game of the year against Texas A&M. It allowed a season-best 263 yards, which marked the first time Florida held an opponent under 300 yards this season. Florida’s 2016 team did that seven times in 13 games. It remains to be seen whether that will continue without Sherit and the rest of the team’s injured players.
“I think we came a long way,” Johnson said of the defense. “We've got some young guys that's starting to step up, starting to get a hang of things, starting to get used to the speed of the game. But I really think we’re improving as the weeks go by. I mean, you can see it in our numbers."
You can follow Ethan Bauer on Twitter @ebaueri, and contact him at ebauer@alligator.org.
UF defensive lineman Jordan Sherit gets carted off the field during Florida's 19-17 loss to Texas A&M. Coach Jim McElwain confirmed on Wednesday that Sherit underwent season-ending surgery earlier this week.
