Gators lose OG Riles to season-ending ACL tear

Florida junior OG Antonio Riles will miss the entire 2016 season after tearing his ACL at Monday's practice.

Florida junior OG Antonio Riles will miss the entire 2016 season after tearing his ACL at Monday’s practice.

Published on Wednesday, 8/10/16, at 4:10 p.m. Eastern.

Florida’s offensive line was a major issue last year with the Gators leading the SEC in sacks allowed. The 2015 o-line began the season with only 10 career starts, all of which belonged to the departed Trip Thurman.

This group was expected to improve this season with 43 career starts among them. Nevertheless, it still didn’t rank among the nation’s Top 50 o-lines according to the rankings in Phil Steele’s preseason magazine.

Jim McElwain had been hoping that junior Antonio Riles would perform well at camp to allow for sophomore Martez Ivey to move back to his natural position at tackle. Well, that potential plan is out the window after Riles tore his ACL at Monday’s practice.

The Gainesville Sun was the first to report that Riles will miss the entire 2016 campaign. He played in 11 games last year, starting in six of those before being benched in late October.

Florida still has 14 o-linemen on scholarship, including three true freshmen.

UF has 4/1 odds (or better at a few offshores) to win the SEC East and its number to win the SEC varies anywhere from 15/1 to 20/1. The odds for the Gators to win the College Football Playoff are 50/1. They have a season win total of eight (‘over’ -120, +100 for the ‘under’).

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