There’s not a lot that followed Florida receiver Trevon Grimes from his time at Ohio State.
The sophomore wideout left the Buckeyes following a 2017 season where he caught three passes in two games. He left OSU due to a health issue his mother dealt with back home in Ft. Lauderdale, and he was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA to play at Florida.
He wasn’t the only player to leave the Buckeyes.
Quarterback Joe Burrow, a graduate transfer from Ohio State, landed at LSU and has propelled the Tigers to No. 5 in the latest AP poll.
“Joe’s one of my good friends from back up when I was at Ohio State,” Grimes said. “Before I left Ohio State, me and him were kind of close. We talked often.”
It doesn’t matter how close they were before. Grimes believes his former teammate won’t stand a chance when the Gators face LSU on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
He said the Florida defense is more than prepared after playing against UF quarterback Feleipe Franks in practice.
“Honestly, I don’t think they’re too worried,” Grimes said. “I see every day in practice, they go up against, in my opinion, a better quarterback. So, they’re not too worried about him.”
He wasn’t afraid to throw another shot against Burrow, as well.
“I haven’t really seen any improvement of him, but I’m not really focused on him right now,” Grimes said. “I’ll let the defense handle him.”
Defense confident ahead of LSU
Florida’s defense is one of the best in the SEC statistically. It’s easy to see why after watching it play against Mississippi State last Saturday.
The Gators held the Bulldogs to just six points, all of which came in the first half. MSU struggled to move the ball in the second half, bolstered by four three-and-outs.
It was a performance that helped boost Florida toward the top of the SEC rankings. It is second in tackles (389), tied for second in sacks (15) and first in fumble recoveries (10).
But one moniker Florida’s defensive backs love to boast is “DBU.”
Defensive Back University.
When LSU comes to town this weekend, it will be a battle of the two DBUs.
Safety Donovan Stiner said that the title DBU belongs to Florida.
“We the real DBU so not really worried about it,” he said.
Others, like T.J. Slaton, were more modest and acknowledged that both programs have a strong defensive back unit.
“They both have some very good DBs,” Slaton said. “So, you know, I consider both teams as DBU.”
After playing against Mississippi State, Slaton said Florida still takes the edge. When the Gators take on LSU on Saturday, both teams will put the title on the line.
“You know,” he said. “We the best.”
An improved offensive line
Tyler Jordan had one word to describe the Gators offensive line’s battle with Mississippi State: a dogfight.
“They had a hell of a defensive line,” Jordan said of the Bulldogs. “Like that whole game for us was a dogfight.”
He’s not wrong. MSU boasts the fourth-best defense in terms of sacks. Going into the game with Florida, it had 13 sacks on the year.
Mississippi State only sacked Franks once.
“We knew we were gonna have to grind it out,” Jordan said. “And we’re gonna have to do the same thing this week.”
They will, because LSU’s defense is not that far behind the Bulldogs. In terms of sacks, LSU has 13 and are efficient in flushing the quarterback out of the pocket.
Jordan isn’t worried.
“We can kind of feed from that and go into this game going ‘You know what? We handled these guys last week,’” he said. “‘We can handle anybody else the next week.’”
Follow Jake Dreilinger onTwitter @DreilingerJake or contact him at jdreilinger@alligator.org.
Wide receiver Trevon Grimes (8) is a former teammate of LSU quarterback Joe Burrow. "Before I left Ohio State, me and him were kind of close," he said.
