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

So a lot of external pressure has been on the defense, particularly on Todd Grantham. How disappointed would you be if he doesn’t isn’t back? And what do you guys got to do to get this defense back to a championship level next season under him?

As a player, I’m not really responsible or, I guess, it’s not really my job to determine the coach my coach for the season.

But as a defense, I think this will be a great game for us to just put on a show and show what the SEC is all about, show that the defense was should have been playing at a higher level throughout the whole season. And just to cap the season off, just putting on a nice showcase and just showing exactly what we should have been doing the whole year.

I know y’all have had a little bit of time off, but have you been able to watch any Oklahoma tape yet or maybe just seen games throughout the season? What stands out, especially about Spencer Rattler?

I actually watched a couple of games yesterday. Spencer Rattler, he’s a nice quarterback, has a good arm, great offense. He has a couple of weapons to use within the offense. He can use his legs and run as well. I think it should be a great challenge for the defense, great challenge for individuals on the defense to see where their talent lines up and how they can compete against some of the best competition in the nation.

I know on defense y’all rotate a lot, so we see young guys. But who’s someone we’re not talking about right now that we will be at this time next year?

I could speak for my position. Ty’Ron Hopper should be a great player in the future for the Florida Gators. I see him taking great strides every week. I see him improving and getting to the caliber of an SEC linebacker. So I think he should be a player that should definitely show out by this time next year.

Just kind of building on that, sometimes with fans they don’t know as much about the position coaches. What has C. Rob (Christian Robinson) meant to y’all this year and how valuable is he to this defense?

C. Rob is a great coach. He’s a great life coach as well, great person. He does a lot for our group and kids on the team beyond football. And I think that’s probably the biggest quality that he has as a coach. He can he can understand the mind of a young athlete because he has been in our situation, and he understands the trials and tribulations that we go through on a daily basis.

So he’s a great person to be around, great person to have in the facility for players and coaches as well because he’s kind of in that middle area where he’s still kind of young, but he’s still trying to come up with the coaches and be that respectable coach that deserves he deserves respect in his coaching and what he brings to the table. So, yeah, Coach Rob is a great coach to have around for players and coaches.

Sort of like Atlanta is a destination for SEC games, the AT&T Stadium in Arlington (Texas) is a destination for Big 12 teams. How is it going to be coming in here and playing Oklahoma? It’s just a few days since they won their Big 12 title there. What do you know about AT&T Stadium and your thoughts about playing there?

I’ve never actually played in the Cowboys Stadium (AT&T Stadium). I did go to the game when we played Michigan my freshman year. I actually loved the stadium. I love how it’s set up, the indoors. It almost feels like a basketball arena, which I really like.

I don’t think we’re too much worried about home field advantage or teams being closer there. I think this is more about what we want to put on film, what we want to put on tape, going out and just showing what the Florida Gators can do, showing that Oklahoma is a good match up but they’re not on our level. They’re not SEC. They’re not the Florida Gators. So we should put on a good show.

Inside the program how do you guys view Dan [Mullen]? How much do you want to have his back? And how important is it for the momentum of this program to win this game?

I think everyone in the facility has great faith in Dan, great respect for Coach Dan Mullen. We’ve got his back. We’re going to go through thick and thin for him. We’re all in this together. We all are one team. We all need each other.

So we was trying to chase a goal. We actually achieved our goal in winning the SEC East. We made it to the SEC championship and fell short, ran out of time. We’re trying to continue to grow, continue to improve, and make strides to where we want to be as a football program. And I think Coach Dan Mullen is doing a great job at leading that.

You certainly had some big plays this year and did some good things. Do you have some goals for, first of all, the bowl game and then for next season? Do you have any personal goals?

For the bowl game, I would say just trying to put on film some of my good qualities that I have as a linebacker, just trying to show people exactly what I can do and what I bring to the table as a defensive player. I believe I have great range. I have great versatility. And I would like to put on film that during the bowl game.

Next year I would like to become a starter linebacker in the SEC, compete for awards, the Butkus Award, preseason statuses and whatnot, more getting on the radar and showing people exactly who I am.

The other thing is I know you didn’t want to talk about you said you could talk about your position, but a lot of seniors at safety this year are going to be leaving. So what are some young guys back there? We’ve seen a bunch of them actually play. Talk about those guys, if you can. Who really stands out in practice that we don’t get to see in practice a lot?

Definitely Tre’Vez Johnson, Rashad Torrence. Those two guys, I think they’re going to be Gator greats. They have been very impressive to me coming in as freshmen and handling the job that they were almost thrown into.

I think they came in as freshmen, and they had to see the difference between high school and college. And I think they got a good idea of what that is. And I think next year they should take it even more, a bigger jump, and start really competing and start really making plays. I think those two guys are going to be hard to handle in the SEC.

And another player I’ve seen in practice actually do very well, and I’ve seen him actually continue to get better, and he looks like a premier player hopefully, he should get some time next year is Antwuan Powell. Great player, great. And he’s just kind of got something that I haven’t really seen in a lot of people. Hopefully he gets to show it next year.

How much was this break needed? Dan [Mullen] kind of gave you guys off through Christmas. Physically as well as mentally, how important was this kind of break from football for you guys?

I think it’s very important. Breaks from football, I think are very important, especially for your mental side, I would say. For some people, it could definitely be the physical side, just the long season that we’ve had, corona and whatnot, having it pushed back, having it extended.

But the mental side is very much needed. You kind of have to get that break, kind of get out of that mindset, and come back to reality so that you can understand and appreciate everything that you went through, everything that you fought for, everything that you received out of the season. And I think it’s very important to reflect on that.

And coming back for another game, it allows you to reflect on what you have done so far, and then it allows you to analyze what you need to do to move forward and become even better from that. So, yeah, the mental side is great for the break, but the physical side as well, being that we played Alabama in the SEC championship. So I know a lot of people are probably banged up. That was a long game, very physical game.

Yeah, the break is very needed, and I think we’ll come back more fresh and a little more excited to play versus Oklahoma.