GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida star tight end Kyle Pitts won't play in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma 10 days from now, but coach Dan Mullen doesn't know just yet if he'll have other players that also decide to sit out.
A few key playmakers could follow suit, but the Gators simply haven't had a chance to catch their breath following a late night after a 52-46 loss to No. 1 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. Mullen expects those decisions to come in the next few days.
"Kyle Pitts is the only one I've talked to," Mullen said. "I've talked to other guys that are just viewing what their options are for the future, as they're getting with their family to go make a decision. ... I don't think we got back until 4:00 in the morning last night. And so I think everybody is just trying to catch their breath here for 24 hours.
"So, I don't have any other reports of who will or will not play the bowl game for us. But we'll see as this goes on and as we get? as the week goes on as these guys make decisions about their future. "
Quarterback Kyle Trask, receivers Kadarius Toney and Trevon Grimes and defensive end Zachary Carter are all draft-eligible players who are likely early to mid-round NFL Draft selections that could opt to sit out to avoid injury risk.
Florida's coming off a stretch that included eight straight conference games to close the season and due the schedule being pushed back, the Gators will only have a few days to get ready for the No. 6 Sooners. Mullen planned to give players off through Christmas, meeting virtually only to go over scheme and gameplan while players physically, mentally and emotionally recover from a grueling season.
Regardless, Mullen expects his players to make sound decisions, pointing to the boost previous players have gotten from bowl games.
"You go back two years ago with Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, who's playing today on Sunday, who was the MVP of the Peach Bowl, probably skyrocketed his draft status and he got to finish his? you get to finish your career as a Florida Gator, Peach Bowl champion, MVP of the game, and help yourself out in the future," Mullen said.
"So I think a lot of these guys, they make educated decisions more than emotional decisions. It's educated decisions about their future."
But it will be an interesting decision for many players, one that has become increasingly more popular to weigh in recent years.
Florida has previous examples where playing in a bowl has both helped and hurt. Most notably, the 2014 Birmingham Bowl provided one of each, with defensive end Dante Fowler turning in a terrific performance that helped vault him to the No. 3 overall pick in the draft. On the flip side, junior linebacker Antonio Morrison suffered a brutal knee injury that kept him from considering an early jump to the NFL Draft.
Pitts is the only one to announce a decision publicly so far, but the fortunes for the game could swing quite a bit depending on what others do.
Trask was asked following the SEC Championship Game if he'd prefer to bond with the team by playing in one last bowl game, and he admitted he hadn't had time to consider it yet.
"As of right now obviously we don't know what bowl game we're in," he said around midnight Saturday. "I mean, I don't have a whole lot of information regarding, like you said, opt-outs and stuff. I don't know about all that. We'll just have to see in the near future."
The Goodyear Cotton Bowl will be played on Dec. 30 in Arlington, Texas.
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