Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Garbage cans, chairs and a center fielder.

All three surfaced when the Gators resumed practice and discussed how they managed to stay sharp physically and mentally during a two-week layoff. In 2020, you rely on any teammate that can help.

In a span of about 72 hours earlier this month, the Gators transitioned from the shock of a last-second loss at Texas A&M to another stunner: all team activities paused because of a COVID-19 outbreak following the trip to Texas.

Suddenly, rather than preparing for a return to the Swamp to face LSU on Oct. 17, the Gators parted ways to quarantine and restrict any additional spread of the virus. The two-week layoff forced the Oct. 24 game against Missouri to be pushed back to Saturday, meaning when the Gators run from the tunnel on Halloween night, they will not have played in three weeks.

"It's nothing we've never done before,'' Gators quarterback Kyle Trask said. "Obviously, it's a little different. But we're just treating it like a bye week."

In their time away, the Gators remained close to the game and each other via Zoom meetings and film sessions. But working out and maintaining muscle memory had its challenges.

Linebacker James Houston tackled the predicament early in his own head.

"What you did for those two weeks? Were you in the house, sitting on the couch, eating chips and watching TV, or were you working on your craft and getting better and improving every day,'' Houston said. "There's a quote I live by: you're either getting better or worse. I don't like worse, so I chose to get better."

Houston lined up garbage cans, placed heavy balls on top of them, and imagined they were 300-pound Southeastern Conference offensive linemen. They didn't exactly move like Georgia's offensive line, but Houston was at least able to work up a sweet practicing his swim move.

Whatever it takes.

"You just gotta kind of be creative,'' Houston said. "I set up pads, I put chairs in the way, I had little balls on top of garbage hands to try to help work my hands. It's a lot you have to be creative if you're really interested in your craft and want to get better, you're going to find a way."

Running back Malik Davis turned his bedroom into a mini backfield. He pushed his bed aside, set up a chair and pretended it was Trask, and then duplicated the moves he makes on certain plays.

What he lacked in space he made up for in imagination.

"For running backs, for anyone on offense, when you run plays, you can run them on air,'' Davis said. "We did as much as we could at home."

Meanwhile, Trask did his usually studying of the playbook and game film, but it's hard to get much throwing practice in while stuck in an apartment. Trask went outside for that.

Fortunately, his girlfriend is a college athlete as well. Not quite on the level of Gators tight end Kyle Pitts, but as the center fielder on UF's softball team, Jade Caraway can catch a pass. That's not all.

"She's got a nice little arm,'' Trask said.

The No. 10-ranked Gators did their best to make a difficult situation manageable. The mystery now is how will the layoff impact them on Saturday night when they host Missouri.

UF head coach Dan Mullen spoke positively about the energy and effort the team showed when it returned to practice this week. He planned to gradually increase the pace as the week unfolded, aware of how no one within the program – coaches or players – had experienced such an extended break in the middle of the season. There is nothing normal about it.

Meanwhile, a byproduct is the constant juggling of personnel based on COVID-19 protocols in place for those players who were infected and those forced to quarantine through contact tracing. Each week is unpredictable.

"You've got to be able to hit the curveball," said defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. "Sometimes it can be maybe a day in advance and sometimes it may be 30 minutes before. Whenever that happens, you just have to adjust to it. You take the players available and you work to get them better."

Mullen didn't provide specifics on the number of players available Saturday other than to say they will have the minimum 53 available according to SEC guidelines.

Missouri is coming off a win over Kentucky in which it ran 92 plays to the Wildcats' 36. That is a scenario Florida wants no part of Saturday night.

Trask said watching games the past two weekends instead of playing was not easy. Still, the Gators managed the COVID crisis as best they could and are eager to move past another strange chapter in 2020.

"I think it's just how you look at it,'' Trask said of the layoff. "Obviously, it's frustrating after a loss. You want to get back out there and get a victory. But on the other hand, it gives you time to reflect on what you did wrong and what you can do better going into your next game.

"That's what we did, like I said, we treated it like a bye week after obviously watching the film from A&M, picking apart what we could get better on and just trying to improve from there on out."