Florida football: Billy Napier makes depth chart changes ahead of Missouri
Last week against Eastern Washington, Florida football head coach Billy Napier made several notable changes to the depth chart. Kamari Wilson and Justus Boone had their first starts and we saw Jaydon Hill get on the field for the first time since 2020.
Heading into Missouri, Napier has once again tinkered with the depth chart with most of the tinkering happening on the defensive side of the ball.
Florida football: Guess who’s back, back again
After missing last week’s game due to a “lower-body injury,” Florida football fan favorite Trey Dean is listed as the starter at safety ahead of Wilson. Napier did say at his press conference that he intends to continue to give Wilson reps on the field, so the snap counts for Dean and Wilson will be worth monitoring.
Boone is back to being listed as the backup defensive end behind Princely Umanmielen. Boone had a decent game against EWU but nothing that would leave Florida Gator fans screaming for him at the start. Umanmielen has flashed at times this season but has also struggled with consistency. College PFF did rate Umanmielen as having the top-rated week-five performance in the country among defensive players, though it would be interesting to see what metrics were used to determine that.
Highest graded defensive players from Week 5:
— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 4, 2022
1. Princely Umanmielen, Florida: 93.3
2. Nathaniel Watson, Miss State: 91.9
3. O’Rien Vance, Iowa State: 91.5 pic.twitter.com/bkLmsNGaHs
Also notable is Hill still being listed as the starter at cornerback ahead of Averey Helm and Jalen Kimber. Hill is coming off an ACL injury and Eastern Washington was his first game back. He missed a couple of early tackles that extended EWU drives and seemed like he was playing conservatively, which is understandable. Like Dean and Wilson, it will be interesting to see how many snaps Hill is given.
On offense, the most notable news is that there is no news. Nay’Quan Wright is still listed as the starting running back and against Tennessee and USF he was the first running back on the field. Wright has been the weak link in the running back rotation and Lorenzo Lingard played well enough on Sunday to earn the right to be knocking on Wright’s door for snaps.
This week's updated depth chart shows Diwun Black and Nick Elksnis on the injured list. pic.twitter.com/f5QBFwuI0m
— Inside the Gators (@InsideTheGators) October 5, 2022
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