Finding a go-to receiver without Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy hasn't been an issue for Florida this season.
Finding a third option in the passing game has.
So far, tight end Aaron Hernandez and receiver Riley Cooper are responsible for 51 of the Gators' 94 completions, catching 54 percent of quarterback Tim Tebow's passes.
The lack of a third option could cost UF down the road, though coach Urban Meyer is counting on Deonte Thompson to fill that role.
"Well, Deonte has been hurt, and he would be up there," Meyer said. "Of course I would like to see four guys, and that's typically what we have. We have to get David Nelson involved more, and we tried to Saturday. But that's normal. I think every year we have had two or three guys at the top and then a smattering of other guys."
Last season, Harvin, Murphy and Hernandez combined for 112 catches, 53 percent of the team's total receptions. Hernandez has picked up where he left off, snagging 28 passes for 360 yards and two scores, and he'll surpass his 2008 yardage output with just 22 yards Saturday at Mississippi State.
In Florida's toughest tests of the season, at LSU and against Arkansas, he has caught 13 passes for 162 yards.
Being the main target was a hard thing to imagine when Hernandez arrived in 2007 and was surrounded by Harvin, Murphy, Andre Caldwell and Cornelius Ingram, all of whom are in the NFL.
"I never really thought about it," Hernandez said. "I always wanted it to happen, but I knew the best athletes in the country come here. So if I have to play my role, that's all I have to do. My role is to some games have two catches and some games have seven. I just have to make a play every time."
Hernandez has been more toward the higher end of that range lately, and the reliance on him and Cooper has sparked talk that Tebow is locking in on his top two targets too often.
Meyer disagrees with that notion, pointing to Tebow's 77-yard touchdown strike to Thompson against Arkansas as evidence.
"Play structure and the defensive call tell him where to go with it," Meyer said. "For example, Deonte Thompson had a deep defender blow the coverage, and [Tebow] hit him. That wasn't made to throw it to Deonte; the defense dictated that.
"That was the same exact play we threw to Aaron a few other times on that bender route. Same exact play. So it's not, 'Throw it to Aaron.' That's not how you do it, you read what the defense is doing."
