LSU Tigers

Florida QB Luke Del Rio Expected To Play Against LSU

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Good News Gator Fans…

Florida QB Luke Del Rio is expected to return under center this weekend as the Gators welcome LSU to the Swamp on Saturday.

Head coach Jim McElwain said on Monday that quarterback Luke Del Rio has been “targeting” the LSU game as his possible return date. Del Rio has been suffering from a knee sprain that he injured in the game against North Texas.

“This is something I know Luke had been targeting a little bit, so his mindset is he’s going to play. That’s good, that’s what you want, but know this, I won’t put him out there (if he’s not ready). I’m just not going to do it, so we’ll know more at the end of the week.”

In his absence, Purdue transfer Austin Appleby has filled in and done an OK job for the Gators. He threw for 296 yards, had one interception and three touchdowns against Tennessee, albeit in a losing effort. But, then, against Vanderbilt – a team ranked dead last in passing defense in the SEC – Appleby only threw for 144 yards and didn’t throw a single touchdown pass.

Prior to his injury, Del Rio led the Gators to a 3-0 start, while throwing for 762 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions.

The offense seemed to flow a lot better with Del Rio under center than it did with Appleby.

There’s a reason why Del Rio won the starting QB job over Appleby and it’s pretty easy to see why.

Now, McElwain didn’t make anything official on the status of LDR, noting that he probably won’t announce a final prognosis until the end of the week.

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However, considering the magnitude of this game for Florida and being that it’s against LSU, a team the Gators haven’t beaten since 2012, my guess is #14 will be the starting quarterback on Saturday.