TALLAHASSEE — Soft-spoken Florida senior Mike Gillislee smiled when asked how it feels to be a 1,000-yard running back.
“It feels great,” Gillislee said. “Hopefully, the tradition never ends.”
Gillislee
more than broke through the 1,000-yard barrier on Saturday afternoon
against rival Florida State. He keyed a strong ground attack that helped
UF snap a two-game losing streak against the Seminoles.
The
5-foot-11, 209-pound Gillislee rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns
during UF’s 37-26 win over Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium. His
37-yard TD run in the fourth quarter put UF ahead to stay at 23-20.
Gillislee
posted his fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season and at 1,104 yards
is UF’s first 1,000-yard rusher since Ciatrick Fason ran for 1,267
yards in 2004.
“It’s much
deserved,” Florida center Jonotthan Harrison said. “He earned every
yard. He’s a tough running back. He took so many hits. He keeps swinging
back, and I love him for that.”
Through
injuries to the offensive line and defenses stacked up to stop him,
Gillislee didn’t lose focus during a long season. After gaining a
career-best 146 yards against LSU, Gillislee went five games before his
next 100-yard game last week against Jacksonville State.
“I
never got frustrated,” Gillislee said. “I just knew I was going to keep
on doing what I had to do to help my team to win. I wasn’t worried
about the yardage.”
Gillislee
rushed for a 9-yard TD in the second quarter, giving the Gators an
early 13-0 lead. He said he had “a little miscommunication” on a
third-quarter fumble off a botched exchange with quarterback Jeff
Driskel. It was UF’s lone turnover of the game.
“We just moved on from it,” Gillislee said.
Florida
coach Will Muschamp said during the offseason he felt he should have
used Gillislee more last season. In 2012, Gillislee emerged as the
workhorse back and centerpiece for UF’s physical, ball-control offense.
“It
speaks where we’re headed with our offense,” Muschamp said. “It’s more
of a pro-style offense that you see (in the NFL) on Sunday.”
