GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When the trainer came through Florida’s pregame locker room bearing a knee brace, Jaydon Hill brushed him away. New day, new feels, a new lease on leg. The cornerback, only three months removed from surgery on his lateral collateral ligament, was determined to shed the final reminder of his summertime injury.
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“I just didn’t need that brace,” Hill said. “It wasn’t serving a purpose. It was just a burden.”
While most of us probably shouldn’t quit that cycle of antibiotics or blow off physical therapy, Hill’s self-diagnosis proved to be spot-on. The bare-kneed protagonist snagged the first two interceptions of his career, including a pick six, and Florida edged Missouri 24-17 to shed a burden of its own: a six-game SEC losing skid that stretched 364 days.
The Gators (4-2, 1-2) reached the midpoint of the regular season with five games decided in the final minutes. The weekly margin for error is so minuscule we aren’t sure whether to agonize over the losses that got away or praise a deity for the wins.
“I think we’ve developed some togetherness,” coach Billy Napier said. “There’s some chemistry there. We have not executed our formula to win games at the rate in which we would desire. We’re very much a work in progress, but I do believe in this group relative to the fight they show, the competitive spirit, the intangibles.”
Napier called Hill “a difference-maker today” and called him in front of teammates for a postgame celebration that stands as a testament to arthroscopy. Hill tore his right ACL in high school and tore the left last season, making you wonder if his latest injury was bad luck or bad ligaments.
He returned to the lineup last week against Eastern Washington and played timidly. So imagine the surprise of Missouri quarterback Brady Cook when the apprehensive player he saw on film turned into a ballhawk.
When Cook fired a third-and-6 slant near midfield, Hill recognized the route combination as one he’d watched three times the previous night. The third-year sophomore broke on the ball and made the interception, seeing a path so clear that teammate Gervon Dexter was the only player with an angle to possibly catch him. After Hill reached the end zone, the entire defense caught up and swarmed him.
“Some of them got teary-eyed,” he said, “and I’m like, ‘Man, come on!’”
Hill last returned an interception for a touchdown in 2017, his junior season at Bob Jones High, against Gadsden City (Ala.). And for a chunk of Saturday, it looked like his might be the Gators’ only touchdown.
If Florida’s first-half offense had been a homecoming float, it would’ve featured flat tires, a wobbly chassis and shredded festoons. It netted 65 yards and averaged 1.9 per carry.
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The fact Florida enjoyed a 10-0 lead was a product of Hill’s takeaway and a scoring opportunity provided by Xzavier Henderson’s 48-yard punt return. The offense gained all of 4 yards before bringing out the field-goal unit.
That cushion was erased in the final 3:55 of the half when Missouri finished off a 67-yard touchdown drive and forced Anthony Richardson into a fumble on the ensuing possession. Florida’s offense — so promising against Tennessee and EWU — was lethargic and sputtering.
The late-arriving ground game finally surfaced on third-quarter runs of 41 yards by Montrell Johnson and 39 by Trevor Etienne. Richardson briefly limped into the medical tent but then limped back out and turned a fourth-and-2 pass play into a 32-yard scramble.
Johnson’s 3-yard touchdown put Florida ahead 17-10, which set the scene for another Hill takeaway.
“The one pick six I got, it just didn’t feel like it was enough,” he said. “Honestly, I was like, ‘Man, I’ve gotta get it again.’ Just something where I felt like I was gonna touch the ball again.”
That clairvoyance was rewarded after Mizzou drove into the red zone. Hill broke on another third-down slant, beating receiver Dominic Lovett to the spot.
It served as the perfect proving day for Hill, who rankled Missouri fans — and ignored some recent history — by proclaiming that last year’s loss to the Tigers wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Man, I know what we’re supposed to do: We’re supposed to beat Missouri, that’s something we’re supposed to do. What I say, I had to back it up. So I came out there and I did that.”
Hill improved to 3-0 in games in which he actually appeared against Mizzou. He didn’t travel to Columbia last season, staying on campus to rehab the second ACL tear. Based on how he dashed and sprinted and baited the Tigers this time around, we can only brace for what’s next.
(Top photo of Jaydon Hill returning his first-half interception for a touchdown: James Gilbert / Getty Images)