Getty Images Florida received some positive news early this week as reserve guard and junior Eli Carter was cleared to return to full-contact practice for the first time in nearly a year, according to Chris Harry of Gator Zone.
Carter played in seven games for the Gators last season, but had to shut it down and redshirt due to lingering affects of a fractured fibula he suffered on Feb. 16, 2013 when the guard still played for Rutgers.
After transferring to Florida last season, the 6-foot-2 Carter attempted to play on the injured leg but didn’t score in his final six appearances and only shot 7.1 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from three-point range.
“It’s a blessing to be back on the court and out here with my brothers,” Carter said to Harry. “Been a long time.”
Carter is also overcoming a bone bruise on his right ankle suffered in pick-up ball this fall, but he’s starting to play his way back into game shape, having gone up to 225 pounds last season to now weighing close to 200.
Sophomore Kasey Hill and junior Michael Frazier II both return to form the Gators’ starting back court, but Carter should give them a nice option off the bench, as he averaged 14.3 points per game during his two seasons at Rutgers. With freshman point guard Chris Chiozza also on-board, Florida should have more guard depth this season.
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- kaspauf - Oct 22, 2014 at 10:26 AM
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Glad to see Eli Carter back out there, he was a scorer at RU but he will become a complete player at UF.
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- florida727 - Oct 24, 2014 at 3:57 PM
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I like seeing any player come back and be able to play. Regardless of rooting interest, at the end of the day all any of these kids want is to fulfill their dream of playing big-time college basketball. I wish them all good health and a speedy recovery from whatever injury they may have suffered. Should be a great season (again) for college basketball.
