Florida Gators College Football Pregame Quote, 12/22/2020

So how much have you enjoyed playing for Dan Mullen and just what’s the impact he’s made on your life and on this program, you think?

He definitely from the get go, he gave me a chance to play here. And I know the last coaching staff were the ones who gave me the chance to play at a big time university. But at the same time, I have a lot of respect for Coach Mullen because he’s the one that ultimately gave me that start to get on the field.

I know obviously Kyle Pitts is not going to play in the bowl game for you guys. You guys may have one or two other skill players sit out. What kind of opportunity is this for the young guys that are going to be coming back next year having to replace some of that lost production?

It’s a huge opportunity. Every time you get a chance to get on the football field, you’ve got to make the most of it. And I think we have a lot of up and coming weapons that a lot of fans are going to get to know before they really break out in this bowl game.

You guys obviously last year lost the four senior receivers in La’Mical [Perine], and really the offense kind of actually took a step forward. I think that surprised a lot of people. Do you think Florida has the chance to do the same kind of thing next year with some of those younger skill guys?

Yeah. I mean, nobody expected us to have the kind of year that we had this year when we had all those NFL receivers leave. But this is what we do here at Florida. As soon as we have big time guys leave and move on, we have more big time guys step in and continue that winning tradition.

I know you guys would have preferred to have a chance to play in a college football playoff, same as Oklahoma. But what does it mean to be in the match up like this when it is the best game outside the playoff as far as a match up of top teams?

You’re right. If you look back on our season, we lost a couple close games. We’re 12 points away from undefeated SEC champions. But to have the opportunity to play in the Cotton Bowl is still a huge opportunity for us to go out and make plays against one of the top teams in the country.

Do you know you’re actually not the first one in your family to play in the Cotton Bowl?

Yeah, actually, my dad texted me the other day and told me that my grandpa played in the Cotton Bowl in, I think, 1954, when Rice University beat Alabama.

Do you know anything about that season, who else they actually beat that year?

No, I have no idea.

In the season opener, Florida went to Rice, and ranked Number 15, and Rice beat them as well. So you’re the second person in your family with some Florida and some Alabama ties as well to that. Do you have any family that maybe try and go to the game that you’ve heard of?

Yeah, I’m sure. I mean, anytime I have a game that is close to Texas or in Texas, I usually have a lot of family come, which is cool. So I don’t know an exact number, but I’m sure it will be probably over 20 people.

Just talking about playing this Cotton Bowl in Jerry World (AT&T Stadium), I know you were there a couple of years ago. Did you play when you guys went against Michigan or were you still not recruited yet?

Yeah, that was my, I think, redshirt freshman year. I was actually got hurt. The Thursday practice of that week, I broke my foot. So I didn’t play that whole season. But it was definitely a cool experience just to be able to be a part of a team that’s playing in that stadium which is so known around the football world. And to have the opportunity to play in it again for the last game of the season is going to be unbelievable.

Dan [Mullen], a couple of weeks ago, talked about in the 2008 season how Tim [Tebow] sort of used the fact that Sam Bradford had gotten the Heisman over him as motivation to come into that game against Oklahoma, ironically, and really just light it up. The All SEC teams came out today. You were placed on the Second Team. Is that any sort of motivation to maybe prove to the rest of the coaches in the league and the country that you should have been given a little bit more recognition maybe than you were?

You know, at the end of the day, I know all that stuff is it’s all politics, and I’m basically just going to let my film speak for itself.

And you were talking about some of the younger guys getting a chance to really kind of show out. Who is someone that we’re not talking about right now that we will be at this time next year?

There’s a ton of guys. You’ve got [C.J.] Henderson, [Justin] Shorter, [Jacob] Copeland is probably going to have a big year, Ja’Quavion Fraziars. You’re going to see a lot of these guys coming up and making plays and filling these big shoes.

I’m just curious if you watched any of Oklahoma yet and what are your thoughts so far with the match up with Oklahoma’s defense.

I haven’t watched too much of them, just because we just played a couple days ago. We’re kind of having a couple days off just to rest and whatnot. But we watched a little bit. They’ve got some solid players. We’re just going to have to put together a good game plan and just execute.

How would you sum up this 2020 season for yourself? I mean, all the achievements, but all the challenges and the ups and downs, highs and lows, it’s been pretty crazy. How would you describe the experience for you?

It’s been crazy. I mean, nobody even thought that we’d be playing this season. If you go back to March and April when no one knew what was going on in the world, and just to be able to play a season, especially an All SEC schedule, it really helped a lot of guys out, gave people across the country opportunities to shine. And it’s just really special that just the SEC and NCAA in general was able to pull it off and allow us to play in a safe environment.

This may go without saying based on how you’re talking about the game, but are you 100% playing in this game? And have you had a chance to kind of think about your future following this game in terms of whether or not you’re coming back or you’re heading to the NFL?

I’ll make that decision after this season’s over. But, yeah, I’m most likely 100% playing in the bowl game, to answer your question.