Dominique Easley, a football player for the Florida Gators has been plagued with a season ending injury. It appears that the injuries at Florida just continue to pile up, as their struggles continue in the 2013 season. Easley, a senior from Staten Island, NY is a defensive tackle for the team and a key member of the defense. This news comes just days after their starting quarterback, Jeff Driskel, was injured in their game against Tennessee, an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season as well.
It was reported that Easley “tweaked” his knee during the team’s practice on Tuesday, an injury that appeared to be serious at first. It only got worse from there, after it was reported that it was a torn ACL on Wednesday evening. In the 2013 season, Easily has recorded five tackles, including two for loss, during his first three games of the season, according to Sports Illustrated. He is also a large part of the Florida defense and will be certainly be missed throughout the rest of the season. Florida’s defense currently ranks second in the nation in total defense, allowing only 212.3 yards per game.
Possible timeline of Easley injury: Hurt Tuesday, reporters get wind in Wednesday A.M., Muschamp only knows "tweaked" by teleconference…
— Alligator Army (@AlligatorArmy) September 25, 2013
Dominique Easley tweets "God has something else planned" after knee injury: http://t.co/DREuWKQ8cG
— Alligator Army (@AlligatorArmy) September 25, 2013
Florida coach Will Muschamp made a statement saying that Easley will be forced to have season-ending surgery. He was also quoted saying “Obviously, it is hardest on Dominique. We are disappointed for him, but we will be there for him every step of the way through his surgery and rehab process.” The Gators play in the SEC, where it is easy to argue that they play in the most competitive conference in the league filled with powerhouse teams like Alabama, LSU and plenty more. He also tore the ACL in his left knee in November of 2011, but was able to make a comeback last season, and become one of the stars of the team, states ESPN.
Florida’s fans are certainly not happy about the situation and vented their thoughts on twitter.
Dominque Easley is out for the year… You're kidding me right?
— Ryan Woods (@ryan9woods) September 25, 2013
Dominque Easley out for the season with torn acl have to be freaking kidding me
— Jack McDonald (@Jack_Mc3) September 25, 2013
He contemplated leaving leaving Florida for the 2013 draft, but decided to stay in the hopes of improving his spot in the draft and possibly being able to lead Florida to a SEC championship. After the season-ending injury, those results are unlikely to happen, but the same thing could have happened if he left for the NFL as well. With Easley out, Florida is likely to replace him with junior Leon Orr and senior Damien Jacobs. Their next game is on Saturday night against the Kentucky Wildcats.
Image via Youtube
