Florida Football: Elam, Pierce, Trask impressive in preseason

Florida football players in NFL preseason

Multiple Florida football alums took the the field Saturday for NFL preseason action including Kaiir Elam, Kyle Trask, and Dameon Pierce.

Kaiir Elam

Elam felt underused at times while at Florida. He was frequently asked to play further off the ball than many fans would have liked.

Drafted by Buffalo in the first round, Elam had a really good first week of training camp and then a quiet second week.

As a result Elam was listed on Buffalo’s 2nd team on the depth chart heading into their preseason game against Indianapolis.

Any concerns Buffalo fans had about Elam were quieted with his performance.

Elam was noticeably physical, solid in pass coverage when challenged, and looked every bit the part of a first round draft pick.

Elam did have an injury scare towards the end of the first half and was checked out for a head injury, but he was cleared.

Dameon Pierce

We’ve let our thoughts known here at Hail Florida Hail that Dameon Pierce was criminally underused by Dan Mullen.

The NFL world is starting to wonder as well why Pierce literally never had more than 15 carries in a single game under Mullen.

Pierce has all but secured the starting running back job for the Houston Texans and his first run of the night showcased everything Gator fans wish they had seen more of.

Pierce ended with five carries for 49 yards.

Malik Davis

Davis went undrafted in the 2022 NFL draft and signed with Dallas.

Listed as the 4th running back on the initial depth chart, Davis needed a good showing Saturday to give himself a chance to make the roster.

Davis did well for himself, gaining 51 yards off of 8 attempts.

Kyle Trask

When Trask was drafted by the Buccaneers in the 2nd round, reaction was mixed.

Many Buccaneer fans were unhappy Tampa took a QB when the window to win a Super Bowl is now and Tom Brady is already in town.

Gator fans knew though that Trask has all the tools needed to become a great NFL QB.

He has the size and build, he has poise, and he scans the field in a way that so many college QBs don’t.

But after being behind Brady and Blaine Gabbert last season, eyes have been locked on Trask during training camp to see if he is the guy that can take over when Brady retires.

Early reports from camp haven’t been the greatest, and the Buccaneers even had to delete a Tweet showing a Trask interception because the comments were so toxic.

So the biggest storyline for Tampa’s preseason game against Miami was the performance of Trask.

Evaluating his performance is complicated.

Trask finished 25 of 33, for 258 yards and a touchdown.

At his best Trask was scanning the field, and throwing accurate deep balls that we saw over and over in Gainesville.

Trask also had back-to-back possession at the end of the first half where he threw an interception while being tackled (granted it was a very flukey catch to cause the interception), then was stripped of the football for a touchdown.

One could argue Trask should have just taken the sack on both plays.

He ultimately led a drive to give Tampa a chance to win, but the potential winning field goal clanked off the post.

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