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Florida is drastically worse defensively says Billy Donovan

Florida graduated its three top scorers from last season, and McDonald’s All-American Chris Walker did not enroll in classes this fall.

But one of the major issues a week into practice is the amount of injuries, which has hurt the team’s defense.

“We don’t have all of our pieces there, but we are drastically worse defensively than we were a year ago,” Donovan told reporters via Kevin Brockway of Gainesville Sun. “I thought defensively last year, it was one the better defensive teams I’ve been around since being here at Florida. Just us keeping defensive field goal percentage and some of those kind of things, where our numbers are at, in relationship to where they were last year is way, way off right now.”

Florida was ranked first in the SEC, and third nationally, in scoring defense a season ago. Several rule changes promise to allow more movement for offensive players, which in return will increase scoring next season. The rule changes are one thing, but Florida is also dealing with a depth issue a week into practice.

Transfer Eli Carter is still out with a broken leg and his timetable is unknown, though Donovan says he is participating in non-contact drills. Damontre Harris missed practice earlier this week with a hamstring and Michael Frazier was also out. The lack of bodies is forcing the rest of the team to log heavy minutes, including walk-ons such as Donovan’s son, who is playing with an injured shoulder.

But the key defense piece that is still missing is Will Yeguete, who is recovering from offseason surgery on his right knee. Yeguete averaged 5.8 rebounds per game last season in 20 minutes of action and according to Ken Pomeroy, Yeguete led the Gators in defensive rebounding percentage at 21.9 percent and steal percentage at 3.5 percentage last season. Donovan told reporters that he hopes to get back his 6-foot-8 forward in a few weeks, just in time for the team’s Nov. 1 exhibition game, where he can play Yeguete in limited minutes.

It’ll be tough to see the same defensive results as last season, especially with the rule changes. But if the Gators can a healthy Yeguete in a few weeks, as well as getting Scottie Wilbekin -- who is currently partially reinstated and was an All-SEC Defensive team pick last year -- back on the floor at some point this season, Donovan will likely feel better about his “drastically worse” defense that figures to keep the Gators near the top of the SEC standings and in contention with Kentucky.

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