Gators Lose More DBs to Injury, Relying on Freshmen vs. Mississippi State

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- The Florida Gators were already missing multiple starters in the secondary with corner Dijon Johnson out for the season due to a knee injury and nickel corner Aaron Gates out for a significant amount of time with an upper-body injury.

On Saturday against Mississippi State, the injuries continued to pile up.

Corner Cormani McClain, a game-time decision, and safety Jordan Castell, who was on the injury report earlier in the week, are both unavailable for Saturday's homecoming game due to undisclosed ailments, forcing Florida to start inexperienced players Jamroc Grimsley and Alfonzo Allen Jr. in their places.

It didn't stop there.

In the first quarter, Florida saw two more veteran defensive backs go down with nickel corner Sharif Denson suffering a lower-body injury and corner Devin Moore both going down on the game's first drive.

Denson was seen dressed out on the sideline after his injury but without his helmet, while Moore was seen on the sideline with a sling on his right arm.

As a result of the injuries, and some struggles in coverage by Grimsley, Florida is turning to three true freshmen in J'Vari Flowers and Ben Hanks III at corner and Lagonza Hayward, alongside veteran transfer Micheal Caraway Jr., at nickel corner.

Flowers was previously tabbed as the Gators' third corner after Johnson's knee injury against Miami.

"I think the guy's very instinctive," head coach Billy Napier said on Oct. 1. "I think he's played a lot of football. He has play strength. He's got some density to his frame, and I think he's got recovery speed. He's extremely fast. This guy's one of the fastest guys in the country."

Hayward has been primarily a special teams and reserve defender for Florida, but the former four-star's performance in fall camp gave Florida hope he would be an instant-impact player.

"2 is on his way," Denson said of Hayward in camp. "I try to push him every day, but personally, I feel like he's way ahead of where I was when I first got here, as far as, like me playing STAR. He's already a bigger body, so it's just gonna be just the minute details because STAR is, like, mentally, it's a little bit challenging. So he's just a freshman, so he gonna get it down, but he's definitely on the way."

Hanks III, a legacy player, made his first appearance on Saturday after missing the first six games of the season. He previously made a name for himself on the team for his growth in the weight room from spring to fall camp.

“Like his body, he came in and he was little, I said ‘hey bruh you got to get in that weight room’. I ain’t gonna lie, like, he’s just been taking meetings and stuff seriously," Castell said on Aug. 6. "He’s another young guy who sits behind me and he’s just a guy that loves to learn.”

With all of the aforementioned injuries, the Gators will have to rely on the youngsters for a significant portion of the rest of the season.

Florida leads 10-7 with 11:02 left in the second quarter at the time of publishing after a 19-yard touchdown rush by Jadan Baugh.