GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- During Sunday's non-contact practice, Billy Donovan put his players through some basic offensive execution drills.
The floor spread. No defense. Just five guys running sets.
Junior guard Eli Carter, who missed Friday and Saturday contact workouts with a bone bruise in his right ankle, moved fluidly about. At one point, he took a pass at the free-throw line extended, drove the lane, elevated and two-hand slammed the ball through the basket.
"Sand-bagger," Donovan yelled.
Carter smiled. Everyone smiled.
Expect lots of smiles on the Carter front this season. From him, the Florida coaches, his Gators teammates and, yes, fans also.
After a year when the status of the Rutgers transfer and one-time Gator-killer was very much in doubt, Carter has undergone quite the transformation the last few months and now figures heavily in the mix for key minutes as Donovan and his staff use the preseason to sort out the 2014-15 rotation.
On Monday, the 6-foot-2 combo guard put his repaired right leg (and mended right ankle) into full-blown, full-contact for the first time in nearly a year.
"It's a blessing to be back on the court and out here with my brothers," Carter said. "Been a long time."
To review, Carter was a sophomore at Rutgers when he fractured his fibula on Feb. 16, 2013 at DePaul. At the time, he was averaging nearly 15 points a game on his way to scoring 799 in two seasons. The highlight of those two seasons: a career-high 31 and seven assists in an upset of 10th-ranked Florida his freshman year.
At the conclusion of the '12-13 academic year, Carter bolted Rutgers amid the high-profile coaching abuse scandal that led to the firing of Mike Rice. When the Paterson, N.J., product went looking for a new place to play, he leaned on the relationship with UF assistant coach Rashon Burno, who like Carter played for Hall of Fame prep coach Bob Hurley at Jersey City St. Anthony's.
Due to the circumstances at Rutgers, Carter received a waiver to play immediately for the Gators last year, but it was clear early on -- even before he labored 53 minutes over seven games and scored only three points -- that he needed more time to recover from the leg injury. A lot more.
"This time last year, he was pretty much hobbled," Donovan said. "He couldn't do anything."
"We were very concerned about it," UF trainer David "Duke" Werner said. "We basically knew we'd get nothing out of him unless he let that thing completely heal, so we made the decision to shut him down."
So while the Gators rolled to their historically dominant unbeaten Southeastern Conference season and a place in the Final Four, Carter basically did nothing but rehab, setting up camp in the training room. He did next-to-nothing on the basketball and conditioning front, and the inactivity took its toll, both mentally and physically.
"Watching the guys play, not being out there with them, seeing them go to the Final Four ... ," Carter said. "I was happy for them, but that was the [personal] low point."
Eventually, Carter was cleared for a gradual return to action. Slowly, he began paring down from the 225 pounds -- the most of his life -- he weighed last year.
Now?
"I got my six-pack back, thanks to Preston," Carter said.
That would be strength coach Preston Greene, who praised Carter's commitment in the weight room. Carter is now in the 200-pounds area and aiming for 195. A bone bruise suffered playing pickup to that ankle attached to that right leg on Oct. 5 was a temporary setback, but over the weekend Werner green-lighted Carter to join practice starting Monday afternoon.
And if Carter's recent performances in individual instruction are any indication -- he's been terrific, coaches say -- the Gators will have some options to consider in the backcourt. He can run the offense and score off the dribble, so that's like having two guards in one.
"The thing I've been most impressed about with him isn't necessarily with his game, but with the decisive way he's been moving," Donovan said. "When he first got here, when he was at a standstill, he could never explode. It took him a while to get started. Now, I'm seeing the small bursts in tight spaces that he didn't have at all last year."
Carter's game is very smooth, but also very savvy, thanks to his high basketball IQ. He understands how to play, how the floor moves and how to pass.
On Monday, playing with the orange team of backups, he got the ball in transition, sped upcourt and hit forward Alex Murphy racing toward the basket with a perfect diagonal bounce pass. Murphy flew in for the layup.
"I just want to be a leader and do whatever the coaches want me to do," he said.
That will include scoring. Carter is the kind of guy who may miss a string of shots, but he can get hot and get points in bunches. Though he shot just 39.1 percent from the floor and 33.1 percent from 3-point range at Rutgers, players tend to groove their shooting stroke once they're introduced to Donovan's system. He certainly fired up a few Monday. Carter also can get to the free-throw line and make shots. He hit 85.4 percent his sophomore season with the Scarlet Knights.
It's a fact that none of his current teammates have seen the best edition of Carter; the one who turned heads at Rutgers and before that played alongside Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, still his best friend, during their AAU clubbing days.
"I started to see a little bit of that this summer," sophomore point guard Kasey Hill said of Carter, the player. "Once the season starts, I think we'll see the best out of him."
The path to that point started Monday.
"I like our team," Carter said. "We have a lot of athletes and we're going to use that athleticism to be aggressive on offense, make the extra pass and get up in guys' faces on defense. I'm excited."
