Florida Gators TE Kyle Pitts, 'Nervous at First', Catches 3 TDs in Return
It was quite the return for Florida Gators tight end Kyle Pitts, who missed the previous two games of the season due to a fractured septum. Coming in completely cold, Pitts picked up where he left off, catching five passes for 99 yards and three touchdowns on the day.
On the year, Pitts has caught 29 passes for 513 yards and 11 touchdowns. He's played in six games this season.
The leading candidate for this year's Mackey Award, an award given annually to the best tight end in the nation, says he was "nervous" to start the game, while still catching a 56-yard touchdown on the team's opening possession. The Gators would go on to defeat Kentucky 38-10, advancing to 7-1, one step closer to the SEC East title.
“I was real jittery," Pitts said in postgame of his return to the gridiron. "Because, not playing for two weeks, my chest kind of got hot and my heart beat fast so it was, I was a little nervous at first but then I came back and the first play I was like alright, he’s playing back he’s playing with me."
Pitts practiced just three days of non-contact practicing this week with one day of full contact.
The "Kyle-to-Kyle" connection lived on as quarterback Kyle Trask was able to key in on his go-to target. All three of Trask's touchdowns on the day went to Pitts, he would go on to complete 21 out of 27 of his passes for 256 yards. The connection the two players share has been a major part of the conversation throughout the season.
Pitts says the two spent much of this week after practice, simply getting better and working on different aspects of their game to continue building the incredible chemistry the two have had thus far this season.
"Maybe I dropped the ball, or it was just something like he wanted to throw it different or he gave me a different throw, I think just about every day since I came back," Pitts said. "So, I think Monday to Friday me and him were at practice just getting the plays that we missed and just making sure when we came out here to the game we didn’t miss that throw.”
The two missed on just two throws during the contest with Pitts targetted seven times on the day, catching five.
Prior to the game, Kentucky linebacker J.J. Weaver gave some bulletin-board material to the Gators and Pitts in general.
“Kyle Pitts is most definitely going to see me this week,” Weaver said of Pitts earlier this week via the Kentucky Courier-Journal. “… We’ve just got to be more physical than him. That’s it. He is a great player. He’s going to get up and jump, but he’s just never had J.J. Weaver on him before.”.
Much of the trash-talking was put to rest after Pitts recorded his first touchdown of the day, however. After the game, Pitts did say he saw some of what Weaver and other Kentucky defenders said prior to the contest.
“I did hear that one of their players said something, but that’s why I kinda said something to him, but then coach got on me so I just stopped after that, so,” said Pitts after the game.
After the game, Pitts broke down all three of his touchdowns, and what he saw prior to the game from the Kentucky defense, including its top defensive back in Kelvin Joseph.
“I knew I had him by myself. It was man, and when Kyle threw it, I just, I said ‘don’t trip, don’t fall, just run as fast as you can’ so that was something where I just had to break away," Pitts said of his first touchdown. "Second one, when I ran, I think it was a slant. It was man, and I said ‘oh, it’s time to work’ so I had him one-on-one, and the last one was man again, so I had to work it.
"During the weekend, those guys kinda had bad eyes, so when I ran a slant and go, they just bit on it or I was open.”
The Gators and Pitts will continue to take strides in their season as Florida heads to Tennessee next week to take on the Volunteers. If Florida wins the matchup, they'll have locked up the SEC East title and a trip to Atlanta come Dec. 19.
“Everything’s good. It was a great feeling coming back, playing with my brothers."
