{"id":413354,"date":"2026-09-29T01:54:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T01:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413354\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T01:54:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T01:54:38","slug":"gators-hopeful-vernell-brown-iii-can-play-saturday-at-mizzou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413354\/","title":{"rendered":"Gators hopeful Vernell Brown III can play Saturday at Mizzou"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE \u2014 Gators coach Jon Sumrall<\/a> is hopeful leading receiver Vernell Brown III<\/a> will be available during No. 8 Florida\u2019s visit<\/a> Saturday at No. 25 Missouri.<\/p>\n

Brown injured his right knee while being tackled on a 6-yard run during the second quarter of Florida\u2019s 52-28 win against then-No. 4 Ole Miss. He jogged off the field with a slight limp and did not return while wearing a protective sleeve on his leg.<\/p>\n

Sumrall called the injury \u201cnothing serious\u201d and said an MRI did not reveal anything \u201clong term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The injury is a low-grade strain, Sumrall said, but Brown\u2019s timeline to return is uncertain.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelative to what you could get, we got great news after the imaging and everything,\u201d Sumrall said Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s really going to be as much of a pain tolerance and a confidence with him being ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of that\u2019s just how he\u2019s feeling more than anything,\u201d Florida\u2019s coach added. \u201cBut medically there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s going to hold him other than his own readiness. We got to see how he responds and how he feels ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gators (4-0, 2-0 SEC) did not miss a beat against Ole Miss without Brown.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida wide receiver Vernell Brown III runs during the first half of the Gators’ 52-28 win against Mississippi on Saturday in the Swamp. (Noah Lantor\/AP)<\/p>\n

Florida amassed 498 yards and tied the school record for points against a Top 5 foe, matching the 1996 team\u2019s scoring total against Florida State during the national title game.<\/p>\n

But Brown would be missed at Missouri<\/a>, where the Gators have lost three of their past four visits. The 5-foot-11, 178-pound sophomore is a dynamic receiver, particularly after the catch, and leads the team with 17 receptions for 271 yards while scoring twice.<\/p>\n

The former Orlando Jones standout<\/a> is also a dangerous returner. He scored on consecutive punt returns<\/a> during a Sept. 12 win against Campbell \u2014 a feat last performed at Florida in 1996.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, receiver Bailey Stockton will be limited during practice this week. The 5-foot-18, 183-pound Georgia Tech transfer left the Ole Miss game during the first half after he was sandwiched between two tacklers, including safety Joenel Aguero \u2014 who was ejected for targeting.<\/p>\n

Stockton returned to the game, but suffered a back injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had basically a car crash on the field,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cHis back is a little bit sore, but there\u2019s nothing structurally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

With two banged-up receivers, veteran receiver Eric Singleton<\/a> returned during the second half, playing for the first time since suffering a left ankle sprain while blocking on Brown\u2019s 48-yard touchdown during the seventh play of the Gators\u2019 66-21 win against Florida Atlantic<\/a> on Sept. 5 to open the season.<\/p>\n

Singleton finished with a 38-yard reception, and also drew a pass-interference penalty that led to Aaron Philo\u2019s 5-yard touchdown pass to Amir Jackson.<\/p>\n

Sumrall said Singleton, who transferred from Auburn and has 163 career receptions, should be \u201cfull go\u201d this week.<\/p>\n

Veteran cornerback Dijon Johnson also suffered an ankle injury against Ole Miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those injuries are long-term, catastrophic,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cAll of them, honestly, could be available this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the SEC will release its first availability report for the week.<\/p>\n

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

What: UF (4-0, 2-0) at Missouri (3-1, 0-1)<\/p>\n

When: 3:30 p.m., Saturday<\/p>\n

Where: Faurot Field, Columbia, Missouri<\/p>\n

TV: ABC<\/p>\n

Favorite: Florida by 5.5 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE \u2014 Gators coach Jon Sumrall is hopeful leading receiver Vernell Brown III will be available during No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,28,2530,2496,114,139,141,140,76046,110],"class_list":["post-413354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-florida-gators","tag-gainesville","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}