Gators defensive back Aaron Gates, No. 13, is eager to get back on the field in Saturday's season opener. (UAA file photo)
Gators Notebook: Gates Discusses Comeback, Napier on UF-FSU, Remembering Phil Maggio
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida's promising finish to the 2024 season included an unfortunate loss: a season-ending torn right ACL for defensive back Aaron Gates, who had emerged as one of the Gators' top defensive weapons.
Gates went down on the second play of Florida's win over Ole Miss on Nov. 23, an experience that felt all-too-familiar for the redshirt sophomore from Moreland, Ga. Aaron Gates
"I just took it as an opportunity to make a great comeback,'' Gates said after practice on Wednesday night. "A long recovery process. I'm just excited to get back on the field."
Gates suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in his final season of high school. Still, he signed with the Gators and before the injury to his right knee, Gates was playing the best of his collegiate career. He had two forced fumbles, an interception and four tackles-for-loss at the time he was hurt.
Considering the timeline, most expected Gates to return this season but not necessarily by the start of the season. But there he was in preseason camp, shedding the knee brace and taking part in Florida's scrimmages as if he had never been injured.
"He's had an incredible road back,'' UF coach Billy Napier said recently. "He's been a really good example of how you attack the rehab process."
Gates went to work the only way he knows how: like a player hungry to get back on the field. He said he was off his feet for about three months after surgery, but once he was cleared to resume intense workouts, he attacked the process.
Early in preseason camp, he decided to take off the knee brace and wear a protective sleeve instead.
"I'm kind of going by feel,'' he said. "I felt the brace was kind of holding me back a little bit."
Gates is uncertain if he will wear a brace in Saturday's season opener against Long Island University, taking an approach based on how he is feeling that day. He is eager to pick up where he left off after an offseason defined by countless hours of rehab.
His past experience has him optimistic about the future.
"Going through it before definitely played a big role,'' he said. "It was easier mentally to handle it, knowing what to expect."
The mission was clear: "Building yourself back up mentally to know that you are still that same guy that was on the field,'' he said.
*** RIVALRY RESPECT:In his first appearance of the season on the weekly Southeastern Conference media teleconference, Napier answered a few familiar questions Wednesday about his team and Florida's preparation for Saturday's season opener against Long Island University.
But his most notable response came to a query from a reporter doing a trend story on how SEC coaches viewed the importance of maintaining significant nonconference rivalries with the SEC going to a nine-game conference schedule in 2026.
Napier had been asked the question many times since taking over the Gators, and while the SEC's recent announcement altered the future schedule landscape, Napier remained firm in his stance.
"If they told us we had 11 conference games, we would still play Florida–Florida State," Napier said. "It's one of -- if not the greatest -- rivalries of all time, and a pretty special opportunity for both teams each year."
Gators quarterback DJ Lagway on the run in last season's win at Florida State. (Photo: Katie Park/UAA Communications)
Other than for the COVID-adjusted 2020 season, the Gators and Seminoles have played every season since 1958. While the business of college football has shifted dramatically since Napier took over the Gators in 2022, some games are more than games.
They are rivalries that have tied generations of fans together through the decades. Napier gets it.
"That game is historical in relevance,'' he said. "And certainly it's not going away. Not only would our people not let that happen, but I know their administration, their alumni, their fan base, would feel the same way. I mean, we're going to play that game regardless."
*** RIP COACH MAGGIO: Phil Maggio played for the Gators in the mid-1960s and after a successful run as a high school coach at Plant High in Tampa, returned to Gainesville to join Charley Pell's original staff at Florida. He spent the first season as a graduate assistant, but in 1980 as the Gators made the greatest one-season turnaround in program history, Maggio was elevated to offensive line coach.
He spent the rest of the 1980s in that role, highlighted by his role as architect of the Gators' famed "Great Wall of Florida" offensive line. When future NFL All-Pro Lomas Brown was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round -- many consider Brown the greatest offensive line in program history -- he signed a photo that Maggio kept on his office wall at Florida Field.
"To Coach Maggio: Thanks for the loyalty and time. It paid off."
Maggio died Aug. 21 in Gainesville at 80. You can visit his memorial page if you would like to leave a memory for his family.
He spent the rest of the 1980s in that role, highlighted by his role as architect of the Gators' famed "Great Wall of Florida" offensive line. When future NFL All-Pro Lomas Brown was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the first round -- many consider Brown the greatest offensive line in program history -- he signed a photo that Maggio kept on his office wall at Florida Field.
