2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Dan Mullen, Florida Head Coach
No. 13 Florida 35, Florida Atlantic 14
September 4, 2021
On quarterback situation between Jones and Richardson…
“I think the plan was to play both of them. Emory had that series in the first half and had a couple other series in the second half. I thought he did a good job. He missed a couple reads, but I thought it was good for him to get that experience as a starter for his first game out there. But both of them have the ability to make explosive plays and the nice thing is that I’m pretty confident with both the quarterbacks. Obviously, Emory is our starter as we get the experience, we roll the dice through. We did that tonight and it was good to see them both make some really explosive plays. Our concern with them is, we missed a couple of reads that we shouldn’t have missed. It’s stuff we need to get cleaned up. The difference between practice and a game is, in practice when the quarterback starts to scramble we blow the play dead; well, we saw tonight that those are big explosive hit plays. In games, you’re playing a different defense, you got to be able to adjust and take what the defense gives you.”
On Anthony Richardson…
“He’s exciting with the ball in his hands, isn’t he? I think he’s going to be a great player. I think you saw that tonight, his athleticism, he’s a special guy with the ball in his hands. Anthony did some nice things, but you got to run the whole offense, and I think Anthony is really growing with situations. I think he will continue to grow with situations.”
On rushing…
“We’ve done it before. We are going to do what our guys do well, that’s what it is. Honestly, I would love to continue to be balanced. We ran it a bit more that we threw today, 46 runs and 35 passes, but some of those were scrambles too. I think you’re able to stay balanced, but our explosive plays came on the ground and so we got to look at that a little bit. Are we taking the shots down the field to be explosive in the pass game as well? We’re going to do what we’re going to do, if we need to lead the nation in rushing, we’ll do that. We are going to do what our guys do well.”
On what impressed you tonight…
“Not much surprises me out there. I’m always really critical. I’m not like, ‘Wow this was fantastic.’ What probably surprised me was the number of passes.”
On the best part of the night…
“The best part about tonight was the crowd. The absolute best part of the night was the Gator fans, and the energy and the electricity in the stadium again. You realize how much you miss that and just that feeling of that energy and all of the gator fans cheering. That was awesome. That was the best part of the night.”
On Malik Davis…
“I thought he really ran the ball hard, breaking tackles, yards after contact, his vision, I thought he did a really good job with that. But that’s what we have been seeing and that’s the Malik I know and expect to see throughout the season. He’s really worked hard at that.”
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Student-Athletes
No. 13 Florida 35, Florida Atlantic 14
September 4, 2021
#5 Emory Jones, Redshirt Junior, Quarterback
On his and the team’s main focus preparing for next week…
“Mainly just focusing on our attention to details. We just have to get better at that, and get back in the groove with actually playing the game knowing that the down changes when we make a mistake. But, mainly just our attention to details.”
On if he felt good on how the game started for him in the first quarter…
“Honestly, not really. I feel like I still made a lot of mistakes early in the game that you probably couldn’t see. For myself, just knowing that I missed too many throws that I never do. It’s just getting more comfortable being out there and actually being a starter. I just have to lock in and get better every week.”
On who he leans on for the ups and downs he goes through from being a starter… “My family and my teammates. They trust me and have faith in me. They give me a lot of confidence and help me out when things aren’t going the best.”
On what he needs to do from a mindset-standpoint to move forward…
“I just need to evaluate this game and evaluate my performance knowing that I have to get better every week. Just mentally and physically, I have to go out there and perform better.”
On if his two interceptions were physical or mental mistakes…
“It’s a mixture of both. It’s a mixture of just seeing the defense, making decisions right there, and second guessing yourself or not really being sure what’s going to happen in that play. I was kind of losing my rhythm a little bit, but it happens to everybody. I just have to get more comfortable with being in the game and in every play, and just keep getting better.”
On Rick Wells and his journey…
“Just giving him his first touchdown when I threw it, and when he scored he came back and told me, ‘Thank you.’ I told him, ‘You know I got you.’ I already knew what he had been through with his time here. Off the field, he’s been through a lot and not a lot of people know about it. I was just excited for him to get the opportunity to go make a play and go score. He’s definitely going to be in the rotation a lot, and he’s been making plays. He’s ready.”
#6 Zach Carter, Redshirt Senior, Defensive Lineman
On five sacks last season and having three already…
“I have to give credit to my backend. They did a great job covering the line and helping me get back there. I want to give credit to my guys inside for giving me that push. It was just one of those games and I was feeling it tonight. I’m excited for this year. I’m planning on having a big year.”
On next week playing at Raymond James…
“I’m excited. I’m really excited to just play in front of my home crowd. You know, I haven’t played a game in Tampa in about four years. I’m getting old, but I’m just excited to be back in Tampa. I’m going to have a big crowd there.”
On the new defensive tackles…
“Those guys are doing great on and off the field, even with little things like leadership. Just having those older guys around helping me with this young group. We have three seniors, but we still have a pretty young group. So, I think they’ve done a great job. You’ve seen tonight a sneak peak of what they can do. I’m looking forward to them balling out all season.”
On media and fans overreacting to week one games…
“I mean, honestly yes. It’s the first game of the year. Guys have jitters, it’s the first game and you have to get things out of you. Everybody knows how the first game can be sometimes. That’s why you keep building games on games and teams start to get better as the year goes on. As fans start to get overwhelmed about how thing go the first game, I don’t know what to say, but we’re working.”
On improving defense and making corrections…
“I would say just filling blocks better and not back on the line of scrimmage to stop some of those runs from happening. I mean, they didn’t bust a lot of long runs but we’re trying to be the best defense in the SEC, and if we want to do that, we have to correct all the little things. It starts up front. We need to correct some things in the backend, but that’s about it.”
On overall performance of defense…
“I’m not disappointed, but I am just not satisfied because I know what this group is capable of. We had a solid performance, but I just know we can take it to another level. We’ve got to continue to keep improving on tonight.”
#20 Malik Davis, Redshirt Senior, Running Back
On what the Gators saw in FAU’s defense and were able to take advantage of… “We just saw that they couldn’t stop us, honestly. Everything we wanted to do, we did. For the stops that they did make, I believe we shot ourselves in the foot. We hurt ourselves at times in the game, but other than that I think that we just felt like they couldn’t stop us.”
On what his focus will be in the coming week to keep the running attack strong… “We’re going to continue doing what we’ve been doing. Preparing, working hard. Not much is going to change. We’re just going to keep working hard and continue doing what we’re doing and everything should fall in place.”
On how to approach the criticism Emory will likely face this week…
“I talked to him after the game. I told him I believe in him and that no matter what happens, everyone on the team believes in him and we definitely know what he is capable of.”
On what tonight’s performance by Wells, Moon and Davis says about their character… “I just believe that it goes off the work that we’ve been putting in, and not just us. We can’t do what we did without everyone else playing their role and doing their job, so I think that with everyone doing what they’re supposed to do, things like that happen for guys on the team.”
On starting the game…
“It felt good knowing that people see the work that you’ve put in and knowing that the coaches believe in you and are putting you in situations to be successful. It felt good.”
On the shift in offense this year (faster tempo, more run-focused, etc.)…
“I’m definitely excited. Because I’m a running back, but also because it opens up doors and opportunities for other guys. If teams know that we can run the ball a lot, it opens up plays for passes down the field.”
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Willie Taggart, Florida Atlantic Head Coach
No. 13 Florida 35, Florida Atlantic 14
September 4, 2021
Opening statement…
“We knew coming into this game that we had to play a perfect ball game when we’re going against a team of Florida’s caliber. We need to be really good offensively, defensively, on special teams and as coaches. We weren’t the way we needed to be in order to play and have chance to win that game against Florida. We had a lot of mistakes that just can’t happen, lining up mistakes, not being aligned properly or getting the plays in late. It wasn’t a clean game from our standpoint and we have to get corrected quickly, but the beauty of it is, they’re all things that we can correct and they can get corrected quickly. But, I was proud our guys didn’t quit. They kept fighting in that ball game.”
On struggling in the trenches and looking to improve for Georgia Southern…
“We’d like to get sacks and we would like to not get sacked. It’s always disappointing when you get sacked six times and it’s disappointing when you can’t get to the quarterback. We didn’t really have a pass rush, we have look at our personnel, look at what we’re doing, make sure that we have the right people out there and that we’re doing the right thing in order to get to the quarterback. And when we do call a good blitz to get there, we have to make it. We had a blitz there one time, and we missed the quarterback and he then took off on us. We made a lot of mistakes that we have to get corrected and they’re all things that we can correct and we will.”
On Perry’s first game…
“Well I thought he did some good things and I thought he had some plays that he would really like to have back. I think some of the plays that he missed, just more reps and more understanding of it, then he’ll get better at what we’re trying to accomplish with some of those plays.”
On the secondary’s performance…
“I thought those guys played hard and I thought they did a good job in the pass defense for the most part. We gave up that big play in the second half and they got a lot of yardage off of that, but before that, I thought our guys did well covering them. We just didn’t do a good job defensively stopping the runs.”
On having miscommunication with the wide receivers…
“Well, you typically make your most improvement from game one to game two, and we expect for him to be better at that. That’s his first time playing the game with all those guys. So, have a better understanding of how we call the game and his teammates. I know he’s going to only get better at what we’re doing. Not just him, but everyone.”
On how much of a loss it was to have Chase Lester out for that pass-rush…
“It’s always disappointing when you don’t have a starter somewhere you wanted help from when you can’t have them here. But, we have guys that can get to the quarterback, not just Chase. He’s not the only one that can get there. I knew one thing going into it, we knew they were going to try to run the ball. They weren’t as effective throwing the football until that last play in the fourth quarter, when he threw that pass on their sideline. It’s always helpful having all your guys and we’ll be happy to have Chase back.”
On Larry McCammon only having one carry…
“I think it was more of how the game went. We had some drives going and we didn’t finish drives, that’s what was disappointing. We were moving the ball and just didn’t finish drives and then getting behind. It derailed the game plan when we got behind so early. We wanted to run the ball more and better, but we got so far behind that we couldn’t. We have a lot of running backs, not all of them get carries. It’ll be a running back by committee and hopefully we can play that game that we want to, so that guys can get the carries they need.”
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Atlantic Student-Athletes
No. 13 Florida 35, Florida Atlantic 14
September 4, 2021
#85 John Mitchell, Redshirt Senior, Wide Receiver
On the first game of the season…
“It’s a whole different world out there. I’ve had to learn a lot of stuff on the fly. I don’t want to say I’m content because we didn’t get the win. They’re a good team. I feel like I kind of knocked the cobwebs off. It’s been a long time since I’ve played football, but I do want to improve on game speed just a little bit. I want to be flying around out there. I don’t want to be hesitant on any occasion. Moving forward that’s what I’m going to work on. As soon as I catch the ball, go. That’s what I have to get better at.”
On working with N’Kosi Perry…
“I just think he’s really poised. I feel like he can’t get rattled. He’s very confident, very comfortable in the pocket and in the huddle. That’s a necessity in any offense. I’m happy we have him leading us. I’d be happy with any of our quarterbacks, but he’s doing a very good job.”
On how he felt mentally coming back from injury…
“I felt a lot better than I expected to be honest. If you would’ve asked me about a month ago, I don’t even know if I would’ve been playing today. I put on the pads for the first time. I started running for the first time. I made a couple catches for the first time back in camp. I just kind of got comfortable… I felt really good out there. Like I said, it’s like knocking off the cobwebs, and I think, moving forward, I’ll be able to improve on anything I need to.”
#4 Teja Young, Redshirt Sophomore, Safety
On the secondary’s performance and creating turnovers…
“Getting a turnover is great, but it’s bigger than just getting turnovers. Everybody has to execute their job at the end of the day. Turnovers are a good thing, but execution is even better.”
On the defensive improvements moving forward…
“We are just looking to improve the little things. The little things that help you win ball games: open field tackling, lining up right and being able to adjust the formation. Those things win ball games.”
