Forgotten Del Rio working to be factor
Battered, bruised and bereft of confidence, UF quarterback Luke Del Rio hadto shut itdownafter last season. No football. No iPhone. If he had any shot at a future with the Gators, Del Rio had to get his body right. If Del Rio was to regain his mojo, the social media enthusiast had to unplug.
“Let’s be honest,” he said during the team’s media day, “everybody lies when they say they don’t read it, I don’t read it. Everyone sees it. It’s a notification that pops up in your face. “People see it.” Del Rio could away.
The beating Del Rio endured last season on the field was no worse than the one he suffered in cyberspace.
Fans unaware of the depth and degree of Del Rio’s injuries ripped into the 22-year-old for his lack of arm strength and production after he was billed last summer as the solution to the program’s long-standing quarterbackwoes.
“They’re fans, they just want to win. I get it. I do, too,” Del Rio said. “I kind of had to separate myself and literally block it out. I just stopped going on Twitter and Instagram for awhile. I didn’t have it onmy phone.
“It let me get back into a positive mindset and getmy guard up and not get so defensive over everything.”
While he worked to regain perspective, Del Rio put his energies into an arduous rehab following January surgery on his left shoulder and a procedure a few months later on his right shoulder.
“I was in the room all day months,” he said.
Del Rio said he throwing in June, not look training for six
resumed began to feel likehimself aroundJuly 4 and is finally 100 percent healthy.
Teammates have a difference.
“He’s looking a confident in his tailback Jordan said.
Yet few outside the UF program have given Del Rio much thought lately.
When preseason practices opened Thursday, the quarterback race shaped up to many a two-man battle between redshirt freshman Feleipe Franks and Notre Dame transferMalik Zaire.
“Luke’s a sleeper,” slot receiver Dre Massey said. “I don’t knowwhy a lot of people counted him out, but you should watch out for him.
“A lot him off.”
Del Rio understandswhy, but he also knows fans did not have all the facts.
Del Rio said he had sustained a Grade 3 sprain of acromioclavicular joint on the third play on Sept. 17 against North Texas. Later in thegame, a lowhit tore85 percent of his medial collateral ligament off the bone of his leftknee, famously sending coach Jim McElwain running onto the field in a rage.
Del of Rio people said he noticed
lot more throws,” Scarlett wrote actually tried to practice the following week for the Tennessee game.
“It was said.
Little of anything Del Rio did was once he returned fourweeks later to faceMissouri during UF’s homecoming. The Gators won easily 41-14, but Del Rio threw three interceptions.
Two weeks later, Georgia picked off Del Rio’s first throw. Later in the game, he tore the labrum in his left shoulder when two defenders hit Del Rio as he slid at the end of a scramble.
Del Rio opened the Arkansas game with a pick-six to ignite the Razorbacks’ stunning 31-10rout. Evenbefore then Del Rio’s season was lost.
“Let’s call it,” McElwain said. “He should have been a 5-0 quarterback a year ago had I not played him in the Arkansas game, which I shouldn’t have.”
Del Rio will get his chances to work his way back into the lineup.
“Getting healthy was the first step,” Del Rio said. “Whatever reps I get, I get. It’smy fifth season, I have a lot of perspective. I respect Coach Mac and the decisions he makes, so I’ll leave it in his hands.” not pretty,” he