Damien Jacobs did not lose just a teammate on the practice field when Dominique Easley was injured on Tuesday.
He lost a friend.
Jacobs, who is Easley’s roommate, took the senior defensive tackle’s season-ending knee injury especially hard.
“It was a heartbreaker,” Jacobs said. “It was probably one of the worst things I’ve been through, just losing him and losing that presence.”
That presence takes more than one player to replace.
Sophomore Jonathan Bullard moved inside against Kentucky and played his best game at Florida, coach Will Muschamp said. He worked at defensive tackle during training camp in preparation for a potential injury along the line.
The work paid off. Bullard recorded three tackles and 1.5 sacks against the Wildcats.
Arkansas awaits Florida on Saturday at 7 p.m. with the second-ranked rushing offense in the Southeastern Conference. Razorbacks freshman running back Alex Collins, who Florida recruited, leads the SEC in rushing yards.
Easley addressed the team before it departed for Lexington, Ky. The message was simple. Now, with a hard-nosed Razorbacks offense arriving in the The Swamp, there will be plenty of action for the defensive line.
“He just told us just never take anything for granted,” Jacobs said. “Because he never thought that on the Tuesday of practice, that would be his last play in college. He just wanted to tell us to take advantage of every opportunity.”
Jacobs recalled the scene last Tuesday afternoon when Florida lost its best interior lineman and emotional leader.
As Florida turns its focus to Arkansas, the pain still lingers.
“He was just in shock. Just mostly in shock,” Jacobs said. “He can believe it now, but at first he couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream.”
Kicker burns Gators: Joe Mansour captured the envy of kickers everywhere when he outran Ronald Powell and Loucheiz Purifoy to the end zone in Commonwealth Stadium. The Kentucky kicker caught Florida by surprise with his 25-yard scamper on a fake field goal during the first quarter.
“I was pretty jealous of him, I’m not going to lie,” Florida kicker Austin Hardin said. “Every kicker wants to go run a touchdown. We actually — it was funny — I think it was during halftime or after the game all the kickers went up to him and congratulated him and were like, ‘Man, you just lived out our dream.’”
Hardin finds himself in the midst of a disappointing start. He has made only four of his seven field goal attempts.
The redshirt freshman, in his first season replacing Caleb Sturgis, missed a 53-yard attempt on Saturday. The kick followed a Florida timeout after the play clock had dwindled too low.
With junior punter Kyle Christy struggling as well, Muschamp put his special teams on notice last week by opening up both starting spots.
Hardin has the kicking job for now, and a former teammate in his corner helping him adjust to the job.
Sturgis, now kicking for the Miami Dolphins, visited the Gators before they faced the Hurricanes in Miami. The back-to-back Lou Groza Award finalist has texted Hardin in the early going this season. Sturgis not only imparted knowledge about life in the NFL, he gave Hardin a simple how-to lesson for this season.
“His main message is to continue to stay confident and calm,” Hardin said.
“Just take it kick by kick like I’ve been doing.”
Follow Adam Pincus on Twitter @adamDpincus.
Austin Hardin attempts a field goal during Florida’s 24-7 win against Kentucky on Saturday in Lexington, Ky. Hardin has made four of his seven tries this season.
