After Florida star cornerback Vernon Hargreaves aggravated a bone bruise during a practice brawl Thursday night, UF coach Will Muschamp revealed Friday that the skirmish began with -- who else? -- a freshman.
"I don't want them fighting on the field," Muschamp said, according to the Orlando Sentinel. "If you fight in the game, you get kicked out. I addressed it after practice. You had a young player, a freshman, who got a little excited. In those situations, you've got a bunch of guys trying to separate the situation."
Muschamp didn't identify the fiesty newcomer, but you can bet after the scare Hargreaves received, particularly in light of the Gators' plague-like injury problems last year, this is one issue the locker room will take care of on its own.
Here are eight other points of interest from Friday's camp news:
- Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly made his practice entrance on a horse Friday:
We'll leave any horse-related jokes to the imagination to make the larger point here: some coaches will do anything to break up the monotony of fall camp. Believe it or not, though, Kelly didn't deliver the craziest social media post of the week from around college football. ...
- That distinction has to go to South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier:
Clearly, Spurrier is feeling that "undefeated in August" beat. Imagine how much nutty social media gets out in a week, much less a day: Catch up on those highlights here.
- Georgia linebacker Ramik Wilson, who hasn't practiced since Georgia opened fall camp, is reportedly out with a concussion. Wilson led the SEC in tackles last year with 133, and will draw heavy attention from the NFL scouts who rove campuses in the fall observing practices. We like Wilson and fellow senior Amarlo Herrera as the league's top linebacker tandem.
- When he's asked about the massive migration of underclassmen to exit his program for the NFL draft the last two years, Les Miles answers in the only way a coach can: That the only way to combat it is a "next man up" mentality. But with the reported season-ending injury to defensive tackle Quentin Thomas, the next man up behind Thomas hasn't even played a down in a college game.
- On the subject of season-ending injuries, LSU wasn't the only school to get some bad news Friday. Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen announced that wide receiver Shelby Christy will miss the year with a torn ACL. Christy (6-3, 210) redshirted as a freshman last year. The wide receiver MSU quarterback Dak Prescott really can't afford to lose is senior Jameon Lewis. But lest we forget, Lewis can do a lot more than play offense. But these days, he's not buying his own hype.
- Moving on to the Big Ten season-ending injury news of the day: Nebraska nickelback Charles Jackson will sit the year with a knee injury.
- Illinois LB Mike Svetina, who started 11 games last season but was seen as a likely backup this fall, will miss at least the first month of the season with a broken foot. Coach Tim Beckman said Svetina, who had 57 tackles last season, could miss up to 10 weeks.
- As if things weren't bleak enough for Massachusetts -- which ranked last in our national 1-128 countdown -- starting SS D'Metrius Williams was dismissed from the team. He had played extensively at corner in each of the past two seasons, including seeing time as a part-time starter last fall. New coach Mark Whipple told MassLive.com that "a bunch of things" led to Williams' dismissal. His departure likely means junior Trey Dudley-Giles -- a starter the past two seasons at corner -- will be moved to strong safety, with redshirt freshman Jackson Porter taking over for Dudley-Giles. Williams likely will be most-remembered for tweeting from the locker room during halftime of a home loss to Bowling Green in 2012.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread.*
