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Tennessee football at Florida: Five Gators to watch for against Vols

By Caleb Calhoun

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 07: Lamical Perine #2 of the Florida Gators celebrates a touchdown during the game against the Tennessee Martin Skyhawks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 07: Lamical Perine #2 of the Florida Gators celebrates a touchdown during the game against the Tennessee Martin Skyhawks at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on September 07, 2019 in Gainesville, Florida. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images /

If there is any chance of Tennessee football upsetting the Florida Gators Saturday, these are five players the Volunteers need to watch for.

The idea of a 1-2 Tennessee football team beating the Florida Gators in The Swamp on Saturday seems insane. However, one thing that has made it intriguing is the questionable health, or even confirmed absence, of a few key players on the roster.

At this point, the Vols are in much better overall shape the UF, and that wasn’t the case just two weeks ago. Now, that’s highly unlikely to make a difference given what we’ve seen at the start of the year, but it’s still a fact worth pointing out.

After all, Tennessee football has shown marked improvement since that horrific Week One loss to the Georgia State Panthers. It even came through in their close loss to the BYU Cougars. And while they have significant strengths to exploit UT, Florida does have weaknesses.

Still, it’s highly unlikely that Rocky Top is going to pull off this upset. Only injuries and health are making this a factor. As we get set to look at the key Gators in this game, those issues have forced us to alter the people we initially planned to name here.

However, that doesn’t mean the Vols should take them any less seriously, and we mean these players specifically. Florida has a long history of surprise heroes stepping up to win in this game, which is a big reason it’s hardly even a rivalry anymore.

Offensive and defensive players will be key in this game for Florida. Now, it is true they are a defensive-reliant team at this point, as there are numerous elite playmakers on that side of the ball. And this list will reflect that. But it doesn’t mean Dan Mullen’s offense can be ignored.

Jeremy Pruitt is still trying to take that next step with his second team after this horrendous start, and as they continue to show improvement, he could have a chance to pull off a shocker by keeping an eye on these players. There is lots of talent all over the field for Florida, though.

So where is it concentrated the most? Who could be the guys to deliver another nightmare for the Vols? Let’s break them down here. These are the five Florida Gators to watch for when Tennessee football visits them on Saturday.

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