GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -Forgive Florida tight end Aaron Hernandez if he gets a little winded in practice and games.
After all, he’s the only one at his position.
It’s a big concern for the top-ranked Gators (1-0), who host Troy (0-1) on Saturday. Although coaches expect Hernandez to play a significant role this season – he caught four passes for 79 yards and a touchdown in the opener – they also are trying to find the right balance between having him on the field, preventing fatigue and keeping him healthy.
“We have to be smart,” tight ends coach Brian White said. “He can’t take every rep in practice. There’s only one Superman on this team, and it’s not him.”
Hernandez, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound junior from Bristol, Conn., caught 34 passes for 381 yards and five touchdowns last season. He was Tim Tebow’s third option behind Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy, and was equally involved in the running game and in goal-line situations.
doesn’t have a backup.
“It’s terrible. You hate to do that,” coach Urban Meyer said. “First of all, he’s a really, really good player. … The negative is you put all your eggs in that basket. If something happens and he has to miss a series, then you’re out of that series altogether. So we’re very cautious, but we also game plan around that.”
Meyer thought he had some options. With tight ends Cornelius Ingram and Tate Casey graduating, Desmond Parks enrolled in January and was supposed to play behind Hernandez this fall. But he dislocated a knee cap during spring drills and probably won’t be ready until the spring. And walk-on tight end Christopher Coleman is sidelined with a leg injury.
That leaves Hernandez alone at the position.
“There’s not a tight end walking around here that we can move into that spot,” Meyer said. “I’ve looked through the roster a few times.”
So Meyer is stuck experimenting.
He played seldom-used fullbacks T.J. Pridemore and Rich Burgess, as well as defensive end Justin Trattou, in goal-line situations during Saturday’s 62-3 win over Charleston Southern. He also is considering having athletic offensive tackle Matt Patchan work at tight end in some situations.
He even pulled Hernandez from special teams duty to limit his workload.
k. But every player wants to be in there every down because that’s a chance to make a play.”
Hernandez says he gets annoyed at times by not having anyone to share repetitions in practice. But he also realizes it helps him run more precise routes, improve his blocking technique and get him in better shape to handle the no-huddle offense Florida is debuting this season.
Hernandez played just 25 downs in the opener, hardly enough to wear him out. But the Gators know they will need more from him as the schedule gets tougher.
“He’s a pretty integral part of the offense and he’s a guy that we’ll game plan around,” White said. “He’s got some pretty rare skills, and we ask him to do an awful lot of things. We ask him to play as an attached tight end, we detach him, we have him play as a fullback, move him around. He’s a very unique player.”
Hernandez is one of the team’s fastest players – even at his size, he’s just a few steps slower than Demps, Rainey and Riley Cooper – and catches just about everything thrown his way. He spent extra time working on his blocking this offseason, trying to become a better match for defensive ends and blitzing linebackers.
Now, his No. 1 assignment is staying healthy.
“You can never play this game scared, but obviously he would be severely missed if something were to happen to him,” White said. “We wouldn’t be able to replace him at this point.”
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