GAINESVILLE — No one had to tell Florida defensive back Aaron Gates it was bad — deep down, he already knew.

“I was just praying to God,” he recalled this week.

The reality of a torn ACL soon set in, stopping Gates’ breakout 2024 season in its tracks.

No UF defender was playing better than Gates when his left knee buckled on the second play of the Gators’ Nov. 23 upset of No. 9 Ole Miss .

But he also had been down this long road before. Once Gates processed this devastating case of déjà vu, only this time to his other knee, he set his mind to what would become a miraculous recovery.

“I just took it as an opportunity to make a great comeback,” he said.

When the No. 15 Gators open the season Saturday night against Long Island University, the 20-year-old will return to the Swamp ahe

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