Keil McGriff won’t get the chance to carry on his father’s legacy for his senior season.
The Buchholz football wide receiver was ruled out for the season Friday morning with an ankle injury, coach Mark Whittemore confirmed.
The son of Florida football legend Travis McGriff, McGriff will end his final season in Gainesville without playing a down. He sustained the injury in early June, but the ‘Cats expected him back early in the season. He intended to return in Week 4 vs. Manatee, but during warmups, Buchholz determined McGriff wasn’t ready.
An MRI later confirmed he needed surgery. Whittemore expects McGriff to make a full recovery in a few months, but it’ll keep him out for the rest of the season.
“Anytime you lose a talented player, that makes it difficult,” Whittemore said. “We know he’ll be fine, though, and he’ll get himself back in playing order and be back in the future.”
McGriff spent his first two years of high school playing quarterback at Newberry. He led the Panthers to back-to-back playoff bids and was All-Area his sophomore season.
However, McGriff understood colleges wanted him at wide receiver, so he transferred to Buchholz for his junior year. He missed three games but still had 737 receiving yards and was All-Area once again.
So far, he has offers from Troy, Georgia Southern, Louisville, Delaware and Western Kentucky. However, all those offers came in before his junior year and more are likely on the way.
McGriff said that while it’s cliché to say nothing good in life comes easy, it’s true.
“You’re going to push yourself to your maxes, and you have choices about how to respond,” McGriff said. “You’re either going to let it kick you in the butt, or you’re going to get through it.”
Travis dealt with a torn ACL during his Gator career, and Whittemore noted that nearly every football player gets surgery at least once. McGriff knows this, and it is motivating him.
“No one’s journey is the same, and there’s no good story without something very eventful happening. If it’s just peaches and rainbows, it’s great, but it’s not a story.”
His goal now for the season is to build a great relationship with teammates and support another state championship run.
“The biggest thing for me is leaving a print on the team knowing I really care about this guys, and I think they really care about me too,” McGriff said.
As for on the field, Whittemore acknowledged you can’t replace a receiver like McGriff, especially with the 1-2 punch he and Florida commit Justin Williams had.
Fortunately, though, the Bobcats went this season so far without McGriff and have seen receivers like Marquel Brooks step up in his absence.
“It’s given us a chance to acclimate some younger kids in starting roles, and obviously there’s been some growing pains, but we anticipate them being able to give us some quality snaps and still be a really good offense,” Whittemore said.
The ‘Cats kick off with Nease at 7 p.m. Friday night from Citizens Field.
Noah Ram covers Florida Gators athletics and Gainesville-area high school sports for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at nram@gannett.com. Follow him on X @Noah_ram1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Buchholz bummer as senior wide receiver Keil McGriff ruled out for 2025 season with ankle injury
Reporting by Noah Ram, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
