Hurricane Expected to Alter Gators' Practice Plans Ahead of Tennessee Game

With Hurricane Milton heading toward Florida, the Gators are planning accoridngly

The Florida Gators will need to adapt to the weather ahead of the matchup with No. 8 Tennessee. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun] / Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Florida Gators take on No. 8 Tennessee in Knoxville this Saturday. While the game is far out of the path of Hurricane Milton, it’s still going throw a wrench in their plans for the week. 

Gators head coach Billy Napier said plans are being assembled for the practice schedule during the week. They’ll start off with business as usual before pivoting to an alternate plan for later in the week.

“I think ultimately what we know is that we anticipate [Monday] and [Tuesday] being traditional and then we're ready to adapt Wednesday, Thursday,” Napier said. 

He added that the Gators should have no troubles and all that will happen is that adjustments to the schedule will be made. 

No further details we were included. 

This isn’t the first hurricane that Billy Napier or the Florida Gators have had to deal with. In Napier’s first season, the Gators pushed back their game against Eastern Washington by a day to account for Hurricane Ian. 

But each storm comes with its own set of challenges. The best they can do is take it hour by hour and develop your plan accordingly. 

“Look, I think one thing I've learned,” Napier said, “and I've lived in some places that deal with this type of weather consistently, is that you play it 6, 12 hours at a time, and I think you're ready.  You build out plans A, B, C. We did that yesterday.”

Hurricane Milton is currently out in the Gulf of Mexico barreling toward the west coast of Florida. It quickly intensified into a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. 

The eye of te storm is currently projected to make landfall around the mouth of Tampa Bay and cross through Central Florida. Even away from the eye, Gainesville wouldn’t be getting the worst of it being north of the eye, but can still experience Hurricane-level winds.