Florida QB Luke Del Rio ‘likely’ out vs. Tennessee Week 4

[News Bot]

Tennessee’s defense won’t be at 100-percent for its huge SEC East showdown with Florida next. As it turns out, neither will the Gators’ offense. Probably. In the third quarter of Florida’s win over North Texas Saturday, starting quarterback Luke Del Rio went down with an injury to his left knee… North Texas player hits Luke Del […]

Source: CollegeFootballTalk.com

 

[DRU2012]

Word by noon Sunday (after a night immobilized and on ice) is that not even an actual tear in the acl: Classified now as a sprained mcl, what is commonly referred to in non-medical terms as a "strained knee"--prognosis not exact but not even CLOSE to "season-ending", more like "2 to 3 weeks" for a young man in top level athlete's conditioning--given modern first class care, equipment and determined rehab. This is relatively good news, of course--that'd be BETTER news if its timing hadn't put it on the weekend JUST BEFORE THE TENNESSEE GAME!
Sigh...this Vols team is beatable, and I would have given us better-than-even odds of being the ones to come out of it still undefeated had the injury NOT occurred.
It happened when it did, though, and tempered our chances both practically and psychologically: We will be at least less threatening offensively, less able to stretch-the-field--which in turn likely makes them feel less vulnerable, that their under-manned defense faces a less difficult task.
Our D will hold down the score--but will an Appleby-led Gator offense be able to do enough to outscore the Vols' own so far sputtering squad? Especially with just 1 wk of fulltime practice with the first team?
Well, at least his by-all-accounts skill-as-a-running qb may come in handy...

 

[Leakfan12]

I hope Del Rio comes back before the LSU. Let's face it, the UT game would still be difficult if Del Rio was playing though UT hasn't done that well against weaker opponent at home. I hope Appleby is ready.

 

[DRU2012]

I hope Del Rio comes back before the LSU. Let's face it, the UT game would still be difficult if Del Rio was playing though UT hasn't done that well against weaker opponent at home. I hope Appleby is ready.

Like you (and everyone else here I imagine), I can't forget what happened when we lost our "promising young QB LAAT season: "Nosedive" on offense--which in turn put mega-pressure on and ultimately just wore DOWN our D.
This years D is even better, deeper and more experienced--but still will need a certain minimum reliability and efficiency outta at QB, no matter who is in there. Hence, the experience and seeming calm of Appleby given first nod as backup, one assumes (despite more long term "upside" to BOTH freshmen qbs--especially Trask from what little I've seen of 'em so far).
We DO have depth AND talent cross the board at RB, which will only help the likely gameplan that aims to shorten the game, score, rely on our D to keep THEM off scoreboard--but STILL gotta "score enough to win", and that's gonna take enough of a threat from our passing game to make the rest work. Appleby didn't look bad in his little-more-n-a-quarter of step-up-and-GO this past weekend--as good or better than Luke on (what was for the latter) an OFF week, anyway...which MIGHT be enough with our running game (which the Vols'll no doubt be KEYING on this game), but Appleby will HAVE to throw it some, complete a few med-to-long ones to loosen things up for our RBs.