Del Rio to start at QB for Gators

UF coach Jim McElwain will stick with Luke Del Rio as the Gators’ starting quarterback after the redshirt junior helped erase a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit during a 28-27 win at Kentucky.

“Moving forward to this week, Luke will take the starting reps in practice,” McElwain said Monday. “We’ll see where it goes. That should answer your quarterback question.”

Del Rio replaced redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks with 5:54 remaining in the third quarter and UF trailing Kentucky 24-14.

A young team rallied around Del Rio and produced another dramatic win during the final minute. Del Rio completed a 5-yard touchdown to sophomore Freddie Swain with 43 seconds remaining.

“He was just telling us that we were going to win the game,” senior receiver Brandon Powell said. “He wasn’t worried about making a mistake.” Cornelius will undergo surgery following an injury to his left Achilles and is expected to miss the rest of the season.

Cornelius was hurt early in the second half of the overtime loss to Texas A&M on Saturday. Arkansas coach Bret Bielema says a redshirt year is possible for the senior — as well as potentially entering the NFL draft.

The Razorbacks (1-2, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) host New Mexico State (2-2) on Saturday. were knocked out of the Wuhan Open in the first round on Monday.

In their first matches since the final at Flushing Meadows, the 17th-ranked Stephens lost to Wang Qiang of China 6-2, 6-2, while the 12th-ranked Keys was beaten by Varvara Lepchenko 6-2, 7-6 (4).

Stephens’ serve was broken early in both sets. Wang closed out the victory on her sixth match point.