re: Florida - As the swamp burns - Updated 2023 Deeprig continues to fan the flames

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You're kind of an idiot.

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Maybe I over-estimated your intelligence.

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Nothing gets older than counterpunchers squaring off against one another for 100 pages.

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The fear is real in the Jawja fans this off season.

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Matt, stop feeding the monkeys.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Two players coach Dan Mullen intimated would be with the team by the beginning of this week have not yet returned to the team, and the outlook looks a bit less clear on both.

Nickelback John Huggins missed the team's first four practices of fall camp with what UF officials said was a "family issue." After practice on Monday, Mullen wasn't able to provide much more clarity.

"I have to check with him with the family situation," Mullen said, asked for an update on his status.

Huggins was expected to be a key part of the Florida defense, serving as the primary backup to Trey Dean at nickelback during spring practice. But he played well enough to potentially contend for a starting spot himself or allow Dean to move around in the secondary if that helped the Gators get their best starting five on the field.

One option that has been floated quite a few times by analysts and fans has been Dean potentially drifting back to safety, another spot that remains a bit unsettled on the roster. Dean wouldn't be tasked with covering shiftier slot receivers then, able to take more full advantage of his instincts and length in the back end.

But until Huggins returns, that obviously isn't a possibility. For now, Christopher McWilliams is backing up Dean at nickeback in fall camp.

The other player Mullen had anticipated being in the program sometime this week was freshman signee Arjei Henderson. Mullen said at the team's media day on Thursday the plan was for him to join the team over the weekend. That didn't happen.

Now Henderson's arrival date looks a bit more uncertain.

"Even though we worked, most of the university and most everybody else that deals with all that stuff hasn't," Mullen said. "He is still finishing a class actually.

"Arjei won't be updated for a couple; he's still taking a class. So whenever the end of that class is. But I don't think that's for like, we wouldn't; I don't think they're expecting him, honestly, until the first day of school. It should happen well before that, but that transition, like it wouldn't be a whole lot of... it would just kind of be like, 'Hey, I'm here,' but end of training camp type of deal."

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