Florida Gators TE Kyle Pitts has surgery, Keon Zipperer shines in his place



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Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen shared after Saturday’s 63-35 win over Arkansas in the tight end Kyle pitts, who was kicked out of the competition earlier today, faces several injury complications from an illegal hit against Georgia on Nov. 7.

Mullen said Pitts will also not play on November 21 against Vanderbilt because he needs to have nose surgery. Pitts was the victim of a vicious UGA security blow Lewis Cine, immediately after a second quarter grab, which led to Cine being sent off for targeting and Pitts left the game with a concussion.

“Yeah, that was something they had to have nose surgery on,” Mullen said. “It will be released again this week. We hope to see it again the following week. [against Kentucky on Nov 28]. “

Without their future first-round pick in attack, it was natural to expect Florida not to score at their normal pace and pace. That couldn’t be more than wrong though, as the Gators ended up scoring 63 points, their maximum in a game this season by 12.

Sophomore tight end Keon zipper was a big part in that, carrying two quarterbacks Kyle trasksix hit. One of them was a fingertip grip in the back of the end zone, Zipperer’s first score of the season.

Junior redshirt Kemore Gamble was also a factor at the tight end. While he didn’t catch a pass (targeted once), he and Zipperer helped establish an early running game with sound blocking on the edge and into the second tier.

The Gators posted 83 rushing yards in the first half (second most this season, behind 96 against Ole Miss), and ended the game with more rushing attempts (45) than passes (38), marking UF’s first time the has done all year.

“You lost Kyle Pitts, a great playmaker, but Gamble and Zipperer stepped up and have some really good games,” Mullen said. “The fumbles did a really good job and Kyle Trask did a really good job distributing the ball, not panicking, taking what they were going to give us all night.”

Trask set SEC history for the most passing touchdowns in six games with 28, smashing Tua Tagovailoarecord (27) with Alabama in 2019.

Even without a dynamic weapon in Pitts at his disposal, which either plays or opens them up to other receivers while demanding doubles teams, Trask had no problem extending his record-breaking UF game streak with 4+ touchdown passes to six.

“You know, I think Zip and Gamble have been doing a great job all week,” Trask said. “With Pitts, we had constant communication throughout the game about what we’re seeing, and we made some comments, just making sure we’re always on the same page … and I think that that’s why we clicked tonight. “



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