Carter's Corner: Gators Move Past Milton, More Tidbits as Saturday Night Showdown in Knoxville Looms

Gators head coach Billy Napier is 1-1 against the Vols during his time at UF. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)

Carter's Corner: Gators Move Past Milton, More Tidbits as Saturday Night Showdown in Knoxville Looms

Thursday, October 10, 2024 | Football, Scott Carter

By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — While many areas of the state are dealing with the impact of Hurricane Milton on Thursday morning, the University of Florida community escaped a significant hit from the storm.

The Gators are scheduled to practice on Thursday and then depart on Friday afternoon for their Saturday night showdown against No. 8 Tennessee at Neyland Stadium.

Florida head coach Billy Napier spoke Wednesday about the most difficult challenge of preparing for Hurricane Milton. It had little to do with football.

Instead, it was keeping his players informed about Milton's potential impact with many of their families located in the storm's path.

"You try to keep them up to date as much as you can, you know, a couple of times a day," Napier said. "And obviously, we have our athletic department, our operations people meeting with the university leadership, so a couple of times a day, we're able to give them kind of the latest news and information."

It's going to take time for the calm after the storm to return as Florida recovers from a second major hurricane in three weeks. Still, life goes on and that means another busy weekend for the Southeastern Conference slate.

Here are some current items that might be of interest to Gators fans heading into the Tennessee game:

— The Gators released a promising initial player availability report on Wednesday night for the Tennessee game ...

ICYMI, initial player availability report for #Gators at Tennessee — Most notable is WRs Eugene Wilson III and Aidan Mizell not listed, and S Asa Turner and DL Joey Slackman upgraded to questionable ... pic.twitter.com/6uvB9WyEJr
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) October 10, 2024

— Tennessee coach Josh Heupel is impressed by the way Florida quarterbacks Graham Mertz and DJ Lagway are playing:

"Their quarterbacks are playing at a really high level,'' Heupel said Wednesday. "Smart, efficient football. You know, they've done a good job of running the football here, understanding the style of game that we're gonna get into. I mentioned communication. We gotta do a great job with all those shifts, spread and motion; formation, variation, all the eye candy. We gotta handle that extremely well."

Here is more from Heupel's appearance on the SEC media teleconference via Nick de la Torre of On3.com.

— Gainesville Sun columnist David Whitley writes about importance of Tennessee game to Napier's future in his latest column.

— Could a win at Tennessee alter the narrative around Napier and the Gators? That is the question posed in this story by Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times.

— The Gators' defensive performance against UCF provided much-needed optimism writes Edgar Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel.

— Gators LB R.J. Moten played perhaps his best game at Florida in the victory over UCF. Graham Hall of 247Sports writes about Moten's time at UF and some of his ups and downs ...

R.J. Moten's first season at UF didn't quite go according to plan. After suffering a broken hand in 2023, he moved to linebacker from safety, forcing him to learn a new position in order to make an impact with the #Gators.

Through five games this year, it's clear the move was a… pic.twitter.com/jlme3DwVIf
— Graham Hall (@GrahamHall) October 8, 2024