Reports: Florida’s Kyle Trask suffers non-contact injury at practice, carted off

Florida Gators quarterback Kyle Trask had to be carted off from a practice Wednesday after suffering a serious lower-body injury during a non-contact period, per multiple reports.

247Sports writer Thomas Goldkamp was first to report the news of Trask’s injury, writing of its location but not its severity:

Multiple sources have confirmed to 247Sports that backup quarterback Kyle Trask, who took over for starter Feleipe Franks in the second half last week against Missouri, suffered a non-contact injury to a lower-body extremity in Wednesday’s practice and was carted off the field.

Graham Hall of The Gainesville Sun followed that report with his own confirmation shortly afterward, adding some more ominous information.

If both Goldkamp and Hall have accurate information, Trask’s injury to “a lower-body extremity” being serious enough to keep him sidelined for the remainder of the 2018 season would likely require either a bone break in the ankle or foot or a torn Achilles tendon. While sprains and strains of other muscles below the knee, including the dreaded high ankle sprain, could sideline Trask for an extended period of time, even the most severe high ankle sprains generally heal within two months, which would mean Trask could play in a bowl game in late December or early January — and it strikes me as unlikely that a source close enough to Florida (or Trask) and solid enough to lead a tweet with “Gators fear” would consider “remainder of season” just the final three weeks of Florida’s regular season.

And, of course, if Trask misses any time, it will render most of the burbling questions about what Dan Mullen should do with his quarterbacks moot. Trask threw for a touchdown on his first drive in relief of Franks against Missouri, but Franks was listed as the starter on Florida’s depth chart for this Saturday’s game against South Carolina and was widely expected to remain Florida’s starter for at least this weekend — if, perhaps, with Trask ready to be inserted promptly should Franks struggle early.

If Trask is sidelined, that’s likely no longer a possibility, and it seems likely that Franks will be not just Florida’s starter but its only fully-fledged option at the position. The only other scholarship quarterback listed on Florida’s roster besides Franks and Trask is true freshman Emory Jones, who has been used only in spot duties to date, and while other players — wide receiver Kadarius Toney and tight end Lucas Krull — have thrown passes for Florida this year, it is unclear who would be an “emergency” QB, walk-on or otherwise, should Jones have to serve as backup to Franks.

Obviously, we’ll hope for as minimal an injury as possible for Trask, and for as speedy a safe recovery as can be made. But unless Trask is shockingly pronounced completely healthy as of tomorrow, a Florida season that has run downhill of late just hit another rough patch.