Virginia transfer Jake McGee came to Florida and instantly gave the Gators’ offense some bite. A talented pass-catcher, McGee would be able to fill a need for the Gators at a position that lacked a playmaker since the departure of Jordan Reed.
That was all derailed in the very first game of the season against Eastern Michigan. Offensive lineman Trenton Brown was pushed down to the ground, falling first on McGee’s leg. McGee broke the tibia and fibula in his left leg.
That injury immediately threw his football career at Florida in doubt.
“It’s very difficult to come into a situation for one year and he has done it as well as you can imagine,” Will Muschamp said following the game. “It’s always concerning for me because I know what that locker room’s like and I know where we are to bring someone in from the outside and I thought this guy’s a total team guy, a tough guy.”
However, McGee will try to return to Florida and has already appealed to the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility. After leaving Virginia, McGee had one season to play under the standard five-year clock that the NCAA operates with.
Past Florida players like Matt Patchan and Andre Debose have been given this waiver in the past. Unlike McGee, both Patchan and Debose were redshirted each season due to injuries. There was nothing made public about an injury to McGee during his freshman season at Virginia.
NCAA bylaws allow the Committee of Student-Athlete Reinstatement to approve such a waiver with a two-thirds majority vote. It also allows for the committee to, “Reserve the right to review requests that do not meet the more-than-one-year criteria detailed in this bylaw for circumstances of extraordinary or extreme hardship.”
If McGee or Virginia have documentation that he was indeed injured as a freshman it could bode well for his case to be able to return next season.
“We’re trying to get him another year,” interim head coach D.J. Durkin said of McGee. “I totally believe he deserves it and that should work out for him. But we don’t know the answer on that yet.”