Jon Sumrall had a little more optimism on Monday about Vernell Brown III, but Florida still doesn’t have a firm answer on whether its standout receiver will be back for Saturday’s game against South Carolina.
Brown sat out the Week 5 loss at Mizzou after hurting his knee in Florida’s Week 4 win over Ole Miss. He was downgraded to doubtful on Friday night before the game and never ended up taking the field in Columbia.
The Gators felt that absence. Without one of their top targets, Florida managed only 17 points in a 45-17 defeat and never really looked like the same team through the air.
Still, there was a positive note from Sumrall’s session with reporters on Monday: Brown has been cleared to practice and is able to run.
“He has the ability to run, but we’ve got to see how confident he is to cut it loose,” Jon Sumrall said.
That doesn’t mean he’s a lock to return. Sumrall said Brown remains uncertain for Florida’s Week 6 home matchup with South Carolina, set for 12:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
Brown has 17 catches for 271 yards and 2 touchdowns this season. He also had an MRI early last week that showed he did not suffer a long-term injury, but even after that encouraging result, Sumrall said a return timeline was still unclear. A week later, the status is still up in the air.
Getting Brown back would obviously give Florida a major lift as it looks to recover from the loss at Mizzou and avoid back-to-back defeats.
In Other News...
Missouris Offense Is Suddenly Passing An Early SEC Stress Test
Missouris offense has already been tested in a way that says plenty about where this team might be headed in SEC play. Even with injuries and a reshuffled cast around it, the Tigers have been moving the ball with real purpose, a notable development in a league where early defensive pressure tends to expose any weakness fast. The bigger picture around college football this fall has included all kinds of offensive identities, from old-school schemes winning at Northwestern to Texas leaning on defense, but Missouris improvement has stood out because it has come while the roster has been forced to adapt.
The challenge is still part performance, part personnel. Running back Ahmad Hardy has not played this season after a gunshot injury, which has pushed more responsibility onto transfer quarterback Austin Simmons and a group of new receivers. Even with that burden, Missouri has found ways to keep the attack on schedule and productive, a good sign for a team trying to prove its offense can hold up as SEC defenses get tougher and the season wears on. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Defense Just Silenced A Major SEC Concern
Missouris 45-17 win over Florida was about more than another lopsided SEC result. It also came with a sharp answer to one of the leagues more persistent concerns, as the Tigers defense kept Floridas ground game from ever settling in and made the Gators play uphill for most of the afternoon. Missouri was cleaner at the point of attack, better on the perimeter and more reliable in space, the kind of performance that can change how a defense is viewed over the long haul.
Jadan Baughs early burst offered Florida a brief sense of possibility, but Missouri quickly took that away by closing off the outside-zone lanes and finishing tackles with much more authority than it had shown at times earlier this season. For a defense that had been waiting for a statement against the run, this was the kind of tape coaches can point to with real satisfaction, even if the bigger question now is whether it can stack another outing like it. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou's Oxford Trip Just Got More Intriguing For One Big Reason
Missouris Week 7 trip to Ole Miss already had the look of one of the SECs most appealing midseason games, and the latest scheduling update only adds to the intrigue. The Tigers and Rebels are set to meet Saturday, Oct. 17, at 2:30 p.m. CT at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, with the SEC saying the game will land on ABC, ESPN or SEC Network once the weekend slate is complete.
Its a matchup between ranked teams, with Missouri at No. 14 and Ole Miss at No. 9, and it should come with plenty of attention beyond the standings. The quarterback angle alone gives it extra weight, with Missouris Austin Simmons set to line up opposite Ole Misss Trinidad Chambliss in a game that could carry a lot of SEC implications before the afternoon is over. [Read more 🡒]