Four Gators come off injury report, one player ruled out for Tennessee
The Florida Gators issued an updated injury report Friday night along with No. 8 Tennessee. It’s the third of four injury reports that will be released before the Vols (4-1, 1-1 SEC) host the Gators (3-2, 1-1) Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN at Neyland Stadium.
UF had a total of five players listed as questionable on the first two injury reports with no changes made Thursday. Four of those players were removed on Friday and have been cleared for the game, while the last one was ruled out against Tennessee.
Florida starting left tackle Austin Barber is good to go this weekend along with defensive lineman Joey Slackman and safeties DJ Douglas and Byrce Thornton, who has started the last two games. All four players had been questionable this week along with safety Asa Turner, who was downgraded to out on Friday.
Turner has been sidelined since getting injured in the season opener, while Tennessee will be just the third game played for Slackman (Miami, Texas A&M). UF coach Billy Napier revealed what happened to Barber during his radio show this week.
“Austin got banged up in practice Tuesday, wasn’t able to practice on Wednesday. And then obviously, it’s to be determined based off of the progress that he makes Thursday, Friday,” Napier said. “But we listed him as questionable, and I would say that’s probably pretty accurate. If he’s able to play, he’ll play. He wants to play this one pretty bad.”
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The Volunteers also had four players come off their injury report on Friday, receivers Bru McCoy (probable), Dont’e Thornton (questionable) and Squirrel White (probable) and defensive back Christian Harrison (probable), while Ben Bolton (doubtful) has been officially ruled out.
A total of 10 Gators will be out on Saturday and Tennessee is down three players. Florida has more players sidelined this week than any other SEC team, with nine players out for Oklahoma and seven for LSU (potentially nine).
Napier addressed the injuries his team has dealt with this season.
“We’re deeper than we’ve ever been, so I don’t think we necessarily have felt it as much. I think we’ve been able to kind of make it work,” he said. “We’ve had some guys really step up. Tank Hawkins last week, it was a big week for him. He rose to the occasion. So, I think the depth maybe allows that to be less of a factor. There’s less dialogue about it. But I would say right now we haven’t had an inordinate amount of injuries.”
Florida Gators injury report
| Player | Position | Status |
| Asa Turner | DB | Out |
| Ja’Keem Jackson | DB | Out |
| TJ Abrams | WR | Out |
| Marcus Burke | WR | Out |
| Kahleil Jackson | WR | Out |
| Treyaun Webb | RB | Out |
| KD Daniels | RB | Out |
| Devon Manuel | OL | Out |
| Tony Livingston | TE | Out |
| Jamari Lyons | DL | Out |
Tennessee Volunteers injury report
| Player | Position | Status |
| Jourdan Thomas | DB | Out |
| Edwin Spillman | LB | Out |
| Ben Bolton | LB | Out |
