Florida DL Elijah Conliffe Announces on IG He's Out for the 2019 Season
By Sam Dunn
The Florida Gators, hard at work getting ready for "Week Zero" against the Miami Hurricanes, have just learned they'll be kicking off the 2019 college football season down a man in their defensive rotation.
Junior defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe announced on his Instagram that his season is over due to an unspecified injury.
Florida junior defensive lineman Elijah Conliffe claims he is out for the season on his Instagram account.
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) August 21, 2019
Appeared in 11 games last season for the Gators. pic.twitter.com/fTsKVegBX2
Conliffe, a former 4-star prospect out of Virginia, was the No. 18-ranked prospect in the nation at his position in the class of 2017. While not expected to be a starter at any point this season, Conliffe participated in 11 games last year with two starts, recording 13 tackles and a fumble recovery. He figured to be a regular member of the rotation in the middle of Dan Mullen's defensive line in 2019 behind Adam Shuler and Kyree Campbell.
In the meantime, it looks like Conliffe is more than ready for the NBA2K 20 demo to drop.
Veteran Florida lineman Elijah Conliffe says his season is over https://t.co/ThBmfP4xOT
— SEC Football News (@SECfootball) August 21, 2019
The Gators are in a strange place given that their season is starting so early-- and losing a big body in the front seven so close to kickoff is not the kind of headache any coaching staff dreams of having. The burden is now on guys like Luke Ancrum and TJ Slaton to step up and assert themselves as the Gators mount up for the new campaign.