Colleges

Gators wait for news on injuries to Caldwell, James

By ANTONYA ENGLISH, Times Staff Writer
Published September 10, 2007

GAINESVILLE - Florida's SEC opener against Tennessee could be marred by injuries to several key players.

Senior receiver Andre Caldwell has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, kick returner/running back Brandon James has a sprained ankle and reserve safety Bryan Thomas also has a sprained MCL.

Coach Urban Meyer said Sunday he did not know the extent of the injuries or whether the players would miss Saturday's game.

"I don't have a final word, but obviously there's some concern there," Meyer said.

Running back Jarred Fayson left knee injury is expected to play, Meyer said, but receiver Percy Harvin has tendinitis in his knee after battling Achilles' problems throughout the preseason.

STRUGGLING DEFENSES: There has been a lot of talk about Florida's young, struggling secondary, but Tennessee isn't any better. Florida is 62nd nationally in pass defense, the Vols are No. 89.

So with the Gators ranked No. 22 nationally in passing offense (280.5 yards per game) and the Vols No. 25 (273.5), it's safe to assume Saturday's game could turn into an offensive shootout. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow leads the SEC and is second nationally in pass efficiency (228.2) and leads the league in total offense (333.5 yards). Keeping Tebow in check will be a focus of the Vols' preparations.

"We played better in the second half," UT coach Phil Fulmer said Sunday of the Vols' win over Southern Mississippi. "In the first half, we gave up too many yards on plays that we could have done something about - busted plays and assignment issues that we must correct as we go into this game with Florida."

POLL DROP: The Gators fell one spot in the AP poll to No. 5.

GAINES OUT: Tennessee cornerback Antonio Gaines is expected to miss the game. Fulmer said because of federal privacy laws, he wouldn't release the nature of Gaines' injury, but described it as "significant."

DID YOU KNOW?: Since UF's 33-20 win over Tennessee in 1997, no quarterback has won his first career start against UT in the past decade. Since that game,Jesse Palmer, Rex Grossman, Ingle Martin and Chris Leak lost in their first career start against Tennessee. Danny Wuerffel (1993) and Doug Johnson (1997) are the only two to win in their first career start against the Vols since 1990.

Antonya English can be reached at english@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 9, 2007, 21:08:50]