The Florida Gators scrimmaged Saturday in The Swamp without starting quarterback John Brantley, who was held out with a sore back.
Florida coach Will Muschamp said Brantley is not injured.
“We held John today. Just soreness of camp. Nothing serious,” Muschamp said. “He's fine. We wanted to get Jeff (Driskel), Jacoby (Brissett) and Tyler (Murphy) a lot of reps as well and see if we can create some separation (behind Brantley).
“(John's) had a very productive camp. We felt like Wednesday's scrimmage was much more important as far as progressing our offense further to get game-planned than this one was. If he was going to take a day off, this was the best day to do it.”
Muschamp said the offense did some nice things in Saturday's situational scrimmage with the other quarterbacks running things.
“It was a very productive day,” Muschamp said. “We did some good things offensively, created some explosives (big plays).”
Driskel ran with the No. 1 offense and remains the No. 2 quarterback. Muschamp said Brissett and Murphy also continue to progress.
“Jeff is the backup,” Muschamp said. “Jacoby and Tyler both have done good things. We're very pleased with both of them. There's nothing to disappoint us.”
The picture also is becoming clearer along the offensive line. Running with the No. 1 offense Saturday were Xavier Nixon at left tackle, Kyle Koehne at left guard, Jonotthan Harrison at center, Jon Halapio at right guard and Matt Patchan at right tackle.
Koehne, who was performing well at left tackle, moved to guard a few days ago, Muschamp said.
“Our philosophy is to get the best five out there,” Muschamp said. “Three days ago we made the decision to move (Koehne) in to left guard. He's done a nice job. At this time, Ian Silberman is still competing at left guard. Sam Robey and Dan Wenger are doing a nice job inside (along with James Wilson).
“We still have some things we've got to settle out. It's very premature to say that's our starting offensive line at this point.”
The Gators do know who their No. 1 kickers are with less than two weeks to go before the start of the season.
“Caleb (Sturgis) is by far the kicker. He's been very consistent,” Muschamp said. “At punter right now, David Lerner has punted consistently better than Kyle Christy.”
Lerner, a senior from Buchholz High School, was one of four walk-ons awarded a scholarship at Friday's practice. The others were safety Tim Clark, linebacker Scott Peek and offensive lineman/tight end William Steinmann.
“It was a big day for me from the standpoint of being a former walk-on (at Georgia),” Muschamp said. “Those four guys have all been in our program for a number of years and they've demonstrated themselves well on and off the field. Academically, they've done an outstanding job.
“I'll never forget the day I was awarded a scholarship. We did it in front of the team and it was an emotional time. It was great for our football team.”
