Florida’s win over Texas A&M this past weekend showed it may have the talent to be a season-long player in the SEC East race, but it also came with a steep price.
Head coach Will Muschamp confirmed Monday that linebacker Jelani Jenkins and cornerback Cody Riggs will miss somewhere in the neighborhood of four weeks due to a broken thumb and fractured foot, respectively.
Jenkins broke the thumb on the very first drive of the game and didn’t return to the playing field. While Jenkins will be forced to undergo surgery, Riggs will not.
If the two players are indeed out for a month, all three games they could potentially miss would come against SEC teams -- at Tennessee, and home against Kentucky and LSU, with a bye coming the week after the game with the Tigers.
Unfortunately for the Gators, negative injury news on the defensive side of the ball isn’t just limited to players who have played this season.
Starting defensive end Ronald Powell suffered a torn ACL during the spring and there was hope, after it initially looking like the season-ending variety, that the former five-star recruit could return as early as October. That won’t be the case, though, as Muschamp said the defensive lineman suffered a setback in his rehab from the injury and will likely take a redshirt for the 2012 season.