The substantial task of replacing both starting safeties is coming together for Florida.
Cody Riggs, a redshirt junior who has played mostly cornerback, appears to have grabbed one of those spots. That gives the Gators one answer to the question of who will succeed NFL draft picks Matt Elam and Josh Evans.
“Cody has distanced himself. Past that, we’ve got to get better,” coach Will Muschamp said. “We need more consistent communication, playmaking ability, leveraging the ball in the run game and directing some traffic on the back end. We need to improve.”
The other main contenders for a starting safety job are senior Jaylen Watkins, junior Jabari Gorman, redshirt freshman Marcus Maye, redshirt sophomore Valdez Showers and sophomore Brian Poole.
Young quarterbacks: Florida is inexperienced at quarterback behind starter Jeff Driskel, but the backups seem to be moving forward.
Tyler Murphy, a redshirt junior, is taking first-team snaps while Driskel recovers from last week’s appendectomy. Murphy is in line for the No. 2 job, and the battle for third string appears to be between redshirt freshman Skyler Mornhinweg and true freshman Max Staver.
“Max has got a live arm. I think he’s done some really nice things,” Muschamp said. “Skyler’s been a guy that’s progressed well, but you see some of the big throws that Max can make. He’s swimming right now, but because of the situation he’s been able to get more reps maybe than we would have before.”
Driskel has yet to practice but could be back by the end of the week.
Injury updates: Running back Matt Jones no longer is suffering from a viral infection and now needs to regain his conditioning and strength in order to start practicing. He has started doing light workouts after losing 8 to 10 pounds due to the illness.
Starting offensive guards Jon Halapio (pectoral) and Max Garcia (back) might return late this week or early next week.
Offensive lineman Roderick Johnson, from American Heritage, has a minor knee issue and likely will miss a day or two. Defensive tackle Leon Orr sprained his thumb and was expected to be back Monday.
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