Saturday was blistering hot in The Swamp, but that did not stop Luke Del Rio and the Gators from crushing Kentucky. Del Rio had the most passing yards in an SEC game by a Gators quarterback since 2004, which helped the Gators win 45-7.
Del Rio completed 59.4% of his passes and coach Jim McElwain says he only saw a couple throws that were missed. Del Rio says that his job was made easy thanks to the offensive line.
Luke Del Rio hits Antonio Callaway on a 78 yard bomb in #Gators win over Kentucky pic.twitter.com/0zp6xYeeRx
— Ashlyn Sullivan (@ashlynrsullivan) September 11, 2016
Del Rio doesn’t want to rest easy though as he says he can always go back and assess what was learned.
He also acknowledges the advantages of letting the young guys get their hands on the ball.
You do wanna get these young guys some reps, and some throws to them and get some live action because it is invaluable, you know, it’s different. Game speed is very different, you know, you can go as hard as you want in training camp but you know when the adrenaline is flowing, and there’s 90,000 people, you just play faster, so, yea, it’ll definitely be helpful.
Del Rio has thrown for 576 yards so far this season with a completion percentage of 63.2% for the season. and he believes the offense has improved since game 1.
The first year Gator QB also discusses how he is grateful for Coach McElwain being hard on him.
North Texas (1-1) visits the Swamp this weekend and Del Rio and the offense looks to continue to improve heading into a the bulk of the SEC schedule after Saturday’s matchup.