GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Gators will not have the chance to play one of their top recruits this fall as defensive tackle Thomas Holley will have surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip.
Coach Will Muschamp said Monday that Holley, the nation's No. 3-rated defensive tackle prospect in the Class of 2014, will need four months to recover and will be redshirted this season.
Muschamp said Holley had a sports hernia in high school and had it repaired before he arrived at Florida. UF doctors found a labral tear.
"I'm disappointed for Thomas," Muschamp said. "Certainly a guy that athletically we were very excited about. Originally when he came in for the pre-physical, he'd had the sports hernia repaired and that's where he thought his pain was coming from. And then on the pre-physical we saw this.
"We wanted to see how far we could take it, but we knew eventually there was probably going to be a surgery involved. He just had a lot of discomfort involved, so we just decided to go ahead and do it."
The 6-foot-4, 295-pound lineman from Brooklyn, New York, participated briefly in the Gators' preseason camp and was competing for a spot in the two-deep rotation at defensive tackle.