Florida Gators rally around injured teammate Justus Boone

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — According to a source that was at the Florida Gators scrimmage last week, you could hear a pin drop when redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Justus Boone dropped to the floor. Boone was leaving the field, celebrating a play with his teammates when his ACL gave way.

Boone played in 15 games over the last two years, making two starts. He had worked as hard as any Gator to position himself to play meaningful snaps this season. Off the field, Boone was one of the loudest voices in the locker room. When the South Carolina product spoke, the locker room listened. They had seen the work he put in, which gave weight to the words he spoke. Now, one of their leaders was down.

“This is one of the more challenging parts of the job for me, relative to having a great relationship with a young man and then observing him work, and change his life as a person and as a football player,” Billy Napier said one day after the injury. “Not just a production on the field that Boone brings to our team, but more importantly his presence as a leader. And I do think this will galvanize our team. I think this is a guy they really love and care about, and will want to do their part to make up for his absence on the field. I think that we have that level of respect and accountability amongst our players and team.”

Players rally around Justus Boone

Football is a violent and dangerous game. The “next man up” mentality may sound like coach speak but it plays itself out routinely across the country. With Boone going down, redshirt sophomore Tyreak Sapp has moved into the room. Sophomore Jack Pyburn stands to play more now that Boone is on the sideline.

It’s a weird position to be in. On the one hand, you want to play. On the other hand, this isn’t the way you want to get on the field. Boone will have surgery and won’t be around practice or meetings as the team prepares for Utah, but he won’t be far away.

“As soon as he got injured, the next day we put his jersey up on our wall in the outside linebacker room and EDGE room,” Pyburn said. “I wrote a little note, so every time you are in there and you’re watching film, you’re going over your plays, and understanding what you’re doing, you look up there and see that, it definitely gives you a little pep in your step, for sure.”

Replacing Boone on the field won’t be easy but, according to Pyburn, the room has answered the call in this week.

“I think that’s the biggest thing for me. As a group, we’ve probably had one of the best weeks of practice in the EDGE room as possible because we’re all just competing and trying to raise each other up to another level,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of every single person in that room We’ll make up the ground for him.”

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