2023 Florida Football Postgame Notes
No. 25 Florida 22, Charlotte 7
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field – Gainesville, Fla.
THE OPENING DRIVE
● Fifth opening drive touchdown under HC Billy Napier
o Charlotte (9/23/23)
o McNeese State (9/9/23)
o South Carolina (11/12/22)
o LSU (10/15/22)
o Eastern Washington (10/2/22)
● K Trey Smack made a 54-yard field goal, tying for the seventh longest field goal in Gators history
and reaching a new career high
o Most made field goals in a single game with five since 2017
o Eddy Pineiro made five against UAB (11/18/17)
● QB Graham Mertz completion percentage of 87 (20-23) is the highest from a Gators QB since 2019
o Kyle Trask was 90% (18-20) against Towson (9/28/2019)
o (minimum 20 attempts)
● Florida’s second time in their last three games holding their opponents to seven points or less
OFFENSIVE NOTES
● The Gators have rushed for 100-plus yards in 14 of their last 17 games dating back to last season.
● By totaling 185 more yards than Charlotte, the Gators have out-gained their opponents in 10 of the
last 17 games dating back to last season.
● QB Graham Mertz has thrown a touchdown pass in 19 of his last 22 games.
● QB Graham Mertz had a season long rush of 12-yards
● WR Ricky Pearsall recorded a reception in his 32th-consecutive game, the ninth-longest streak in
the FBS.
● TE Arlis Boardingham recorded his first career touchdown off a 6-yard pass from Graham Mertz
● WR Andy Jean had his first career catch off a 32-yard pass
● WR Andy Jean gained 25 yards for his first career rush
● WR Caleb Douglas tied his career high in catches totaling four
DEFENSIVE NOTES
● Florida held the 49ers to under 300 total yards of offense (210).
o This is the sixth time since the start of the 2022 season that the Gators have held an
opponent to 300 yards or fewer.
● Florida held its opponent to under 200 passing yards for the seventh time in the Napier-era.
● The Gators allowed fewer than 100 rushing yards for the fourth time in the Napier era.
● The Gators recorded 2 sacks in tonight’s game.
o Since the start of 2021, Florida has out-sacked its opponents by a plus -27 margin.
o Florida’s 184 sacks since 2018 season ranks second in the SEC and tenth nationally – trailing
only Pittsburgh (241), Clemson (240), Alabama (219), Miami (196), Penn State (194),
Marshall (194), Ohio State (191), and Oklahoma State (190).
● LB Scooby Williams recorded his first career forced fumble
● S Bryce Thornton recorded his first career sack
● S Jordan Castell first career tackle for a loss of yardage (total loss of 10 yards)
● Kelby Collins first career sack
● Caleb Banks tied his career high in sacks with one
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
● P Jeremy Crawshaw …
o Crawshaw has punted for 50-plus yards on 38 of 96 career punts.
● K Trey Smack had a 54-yard field goal making it his new career high
● K Trey Smack hit a new career high in single game scoring with 5 field goals, totaling 163-yards
o The most made field goals in a single game since Eddy Pineiro in 2017
▪ Pineiro made five against UAB (11/18/17)
● RB Trevor Etienne grabbed his longest career punt return, totaling 21-yards
Explosive Plays
● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 27-yard reception, first quarter
● Kahleil Jackson (from Mertz): 18-yard reception, first quarter
● Graham Mertz: 12-yard rush, first quarter
● Andy Jean (from Mertz): 32-yard reception, first quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr: 13-yard rush, first quarter
● Ricky Pearsall (from Mertz): 16-yard reception, third quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr: 10-yard rush, third quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 13-yard rush, third quarter
● Andy Jean: 25-yard rush, third quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 17-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Arlis Boardingham (from Mertz): 25-yard reception, fourth quarter
Series Updates
● Tonight’s game represented the 1st all-time meeting between Florida and Charlotte.
● With tonight’s victory, the Gators improve to 1-0 in the all-time series vs. Charlotte.
● UF now possess a 50-19-3 all-time record (.715) against teams currently in the American Athletic
Conference.
- HC Billy Napier improves to 1-0 against Charlotte HC Biff Poggi in their first meeting as head
coaches. - Any additional yardage/points high/lows in UF-Charlotte series…
THE STREAK
● Florida has scored in 440-consecutive games — which is an NCAA record and 54 games longer
than any other college football team in history.
o The Gators broke Michigan’s record of 365-consecutive games (1984-2014) against LSU on
Oct. 7, 2017.
o The last time Florida was shut out was on Oct. 29, 1988 vs. Auburn (L, 16-0).
GAME DETAILS
● Florida Game Captains: #4 Caleb Douglas, #8 Jalen Kimber, #67 Richie Leonard IV., #18 Dante
Zanders
● Coin Toss: Florida won the toss and deferred to the second half; Charlotte received and Florida
defended the south end zone.
● Attendance: 89,053
University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Coach Billy Napier
Press Conference
Florida 22, Charlotte 7
BILLY NAPIER: It’s hard to win. It’s hard to win, and
certainly we had to grind that one out. We all know the
issues, red zone, forced to kick five field goals down there
tonight.
But I will tell you, hats off to Trey Smack to step up and hit
all five of those, and certainly defensively right around 200
yards, really gave up one possession with a couple big
plays.
But complementary football, and we moved the ball up and
down the field. We’ve just got to have better red zone
production.
I think when we look back at that, it’s going to be very
technical, the game in general. I think there will be things
that are very correctable just based on what I observed out
there, whether it’s a missed block or getting beat in pass
protection. I think it was all very correctable.
But man, there was a lot of good. We had almost 89,000
in there tonight, and to have that two weeks in a row, to sell
it out, every time they turn the lights off out there in the
fourth quarter it’s a pretty special moment.
I’m proud of our team. Half the teams in college football
today lost, and the Gators won. Now, are we happy with
everything that happened out there? No. There’s going to
be lots of things that we can improve at.
But I think we see a lot of bright spots. There’s a lot of
guys that are playing good football. We had guys make
their first start today for the Gators, a couple guys, and we
had a lot of young players that were very productive.
The disappointing thing about games like this, these are
the ones where maybe the average fan anticipates it
getting out of control, and a lot of our young players didn’t
have an opportunity to play because we didn’t get it under
control.
But I’m proud of our team, the character of our team. We
stayed into it. We continued to fight. I didn’t see a lack of
effort out there. I think it’s all going to be very technical
and very correctable.
So what do we got? I know we’ve got questions.
Q. Multiple instances where it appeared you guys
were undermanned on returns, and special teams you
guys also had multiple penalties. Could you speak to
the trend —
BILLY NAPIER: Multiple penalties?
Q. Earlier in the game.
BILLY NAPIER: What were they?
Q. First a holding and then illegal block in the back.
BILLY NAPIER: Right, so the illegal block in the back,
Jaden Robinson, I think would be up for debate, and I do
think in the return game on occasion when you’re
competitive, those things are going to happen. I mean,
there’s very rarely an NFL return that doesn’t have a
penalty.
But much like I just said earlier, there’s going to be
technical things that we can improve at, and we did. We
had a block in the back and the holding penalty, and those
are individual mistakes.
They’re all going to be technique based, decision making
based. But we’re close, and I think it’s been a point of
emphasis in the return game.
It was good to see some production in that area. I do think
that Jaden Robinson — I’ll be interested to see when we
watch it a little bit closer whether it was a block in the back
or not. I’ll let you know Monday.
Q. What about the 10 men on the field — it was a field
goal, field goal block and a punt return.
BILLY NAPIER: We didn’t have 10 out there for the field
136944-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:12:00 GMT Page 1 of 3
goal. We didn’t get the returner on right there in the middle
of the field, and ultimately because of the sack, that’s
where the miscue was made.
We’re okay with that. We’re okay with the returner not
being on the field in that situation. It’s 4th down and a mile.
Look, it’s out there where we think we’re going to be in field
goal range and then all of a sudden the punter is out there.
Aware of that and very unique situation in the game, and
we’re okay with that.
Q. The red zone and the short yardage, was that
something you saw during the week? You were
talking about during the week in practice particularly
being sloppy and so forth at times.
BILLY NAPIER: No, I don’t think that. I think that’s going
to be very obvious. Whether a guy missed a block or a guy
missed an open receiver or whatever the case may be,
look, they stopped us in the red area tonight multiple times,
okay. But I think I’ll be able to give you a little bit more of a
report. I feel like I know what happened, and I think it’s all
easy to fix.
Q. Micah didn’t play in the second half…
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, obviously Micah was suspended for
the first half and then a little bit of in-house there in that
regard for the second half.
Q. Another efficient night from Graham, got knocked
around a bit, though —
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, we’ve got to keep him cleaner.
That was one of the things that was disappointing. But
listen, I’m going to tell you, we talked about it during the
week, they’ve got some guys on their side. Some of those
edge cats were top 100 players in the country, Alabama,
Michigan. That was the big challenge in the game was the
edge players, and certainly playing without a starting tackle
in the beginning, the first half — they proved to be effective
players. There were issues in the pass game and the run
game.
Q. Three times inside the 10, you guys had to settle
for field goals, and one of them was a 4th and 1. Last
year I think you guys were third in the SEC in 4th
downs and going for it. Why didn’t you go for that
one?
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, the analytics said it’s not a go, even
though it’s a 1. 15 at that point in the game makes it a
two-touchdown game, so you want to go for — there’s 2:40
left in the game at that point, 15 helps you a lot more — if
you don’t get it you’re 12 and they’ve got the ball.
Ultimately the analytics say don’t go for it right there, as
much as I wanted to.
Q. I was just surprised.
BILLY NAPIER: No, I mean, that was a test of, do you
really believe in the analytics or not. Great question.
Q. (No microphone.)
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, Arlis is — we had a handful of
players that made their first start, Arlis being one of those,
and he played well in the game. He made some plays,
touchdown, big play late. We think he can be a mismatch
player. The guy was a unique receiver/linebacker in high
school. He’s really developing nicely.
I thought he had the best week of practice that he’s had.
Odom was a little bit banged up, and we decided to sit him,
and Arlis stepped up and played really well in the game.
I’m proud of Arlis. I think he’s got a bright future in front of
him.
Q. (No microphone.)
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, I don’t know what the net was on
that punt, but we definitely blocked one — nobody asked
about that. We’re close on a punt return tonight. We
blocked a punt. We made five field goals. We kicked a
bunch of touchbacks. Crawshaw was outstanding in the
game. And we played good on defense.
We’re sitting here a little bit disappointed because of red
zone issues and a couple sloppy turnovers in the game.
Trust me, nobody is more pissed about that than I am.
No, I think Wingo is one of the more impressive young men
that we have in our program, and he practices with effort.
He plays with effort. This is a guy who missed the
off-season with a shoulder surgery, and he’s played a
critical role in some of our 3rd down success. He’s a great
communicator, and he plays a lot on all of our special
teams.
Wingo is what you want a University of Florida football
player to be. He’s a class act. It’s good to see a guy like
that who does things the right way consistently have some
success.
Q. Ricky Pearsall’s one-handed catch, about as good
as I’ve seen. What was your vantage point of that?
Secondly, 22-7, like you said, not the greatest, but can
that be maybe a good thing going to Kentucky, playing
136944-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:12:00 GMT Page 2 of 3
with a little edge?
BILLY NAPIER: No, I think you’re spot on. How about that
catch, huh? I’m running four verts and the safety is tilted to
Ricky, I think he’s getting ready to rip a field seam in there
to Caden, but then he throws a two ball and — I don’t know,
that one would be — Ricky Pearsall, I’m telling y’all right
now, this guy is a very underrated player. He is one of the
best receivers in the entire country.
He’s bigger than you think. He’s more explosive than you
think. He came back to improve his stock for the draft, and
he’s doing it. Not to mention the leadership and the
character that he brings every day, the work habits. Ricky
is a very effective player because he’s highly skilled. He
can get open at the line. He can separate at the top of the
route, and he’s got fantastic ball skills and hand selection.
Yeah, I think that was one for the books right there for
sure.
Q. (No microphone.)
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, I think so. I’m trying to help our
young guys in there sort through all this, but I do think that
this group kind of thrives off the hate, if that makes sense.
There will be some things that come with keeping this one
a little too close.
I think ultimately there will be some things that we can
learn from this game. We talk about red zone touchdowns
all the time. We want to be 70 percent touchdowns in the
red area, but we want to be 100 percent red zone scoring,
and it was a factor.
I think if you add 20 to that score, I’m probably already
taking a shower right now. Y’all would have much less
questions, okay.
We moved the ball really effectively. We’ve got to score
touchdowns when we get it down there.
Q. Only 1 for 9 tonight on 3rd downs; that was a
problem last week in the second half and carried over
it seemed this week.
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah. I think the turnovers — look, we
played some of those were two-down approaches, right,
and I think that affected a little bit.
But yeah, there’s no question. Ultimately — and they’re in
the red area, right. Got to get it better, there’s no doubt.
That’s one of the stats that’s going to stand out.
Q. And center down to right tackle, all young guys,
newbies basically?
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, Jake is out there, Knijeah, Lyndell
made his first start, Knijeah made his first start. You’ve got
some guys out there, but it’s healthy. It’s good for them.
It’s good for our team.
We had other players playing. We talked about Arlis
earlier, Hansen is out there as a rookie, Andy Jean played
a lot of snaps tonight, did a nice job in the game.
Yeah, I think we’ll definitely benefit from some of that
experience, whether it was because of injury or
suspension. That will be a positive for us.
Q. I was wondering if you had an update on Kamari
Wilson. We didn’t see him before the game and he was
only briefly on the sideline.
BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, Kamari Wilson didn’t make the
travel roster this week, so we can take 80 to the hotel, and
Kamari wasn’t on that list.
Yeah, it’s pretty simple.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports.
136944-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:12:00 GMT Page 3 of 3
University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Ricky Pearsall
Press Conference
Florida 22, Charlotte 7
Q. Obviously the catch, just talk about it.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, man. To be honest, in practice
with Coach G, we practice that actually. We practice a
bunch of scenarios of catches, and we actually ended up
practicing that one. I wanted to shout him out and also
shout the equipment staff out for the gloves.
Q. When Shemar was here a few minutes ago, I think
he said you’ve done that a lot in practice. Can you
confirm or deny that?
RICKY PEARSALL: I’d like to say that happens a lot in
practice, but that was a pretty good catch, though. When
the opportunity comes, I’ve got to come down with it in any
way possible.
Q. Not only that, you took the hit. Pretty good hit,
wasn’t it?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I think that just comes with
being a receiver, to be honest. Sometimes you’re going to
be put in a situation where you’ve got to take a hit, but
you’ve got to sacrifice your body. That’s what happened.
Q. Overall six catches for over 104 yards. Did you
guys notice a mismatch or something you could attack
in terms of your ability to get open early in the game?
I think you had five right off the bat.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I think — man, I’m not going to
lie, I think I’m a mismatch for any DB to be honest, but
that’s just the mentality that I’ve got to have as a receiver.
I’m going to say that.
Q. I think Graham’s efficiency remains pretty
ridiculous. What’s he been doing? He came here with
the reputation of being a little erratic. We haven’t seen
much of that.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, that guy loves football. That’s a
simple answer right there. He loves football. He’s always
in the building. He’s always studying. He’s always asking
questions. He’s just one of those guys that really wants it
that bad, and you can tell, and hard work pays off
obviously what he’s been doing on the field.
Q. Just the kind of ball he throws…
RICKY PEARSALL: Oh, yeah, it’s a very catchable ball.
He’s got arm talent as well. So that’s going for him, as
well.
Q. Pretty tough guy. All quarterbacks tend to be, but
what are you seeing there? He got killed on that one
play. The other guy was hurt more than he was, that
hit him?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, he’s a selfless guy. He’s got
that dog mentality. He’s going to get up after every hit. I
see him take a shot, I have faith that he’s going to get up
and play. That’s just kind of the guy that Graham is, to be
honest.
Q. Some of the red zone issues, you start out, you
have a great first drive and second drive you have to
settle for a field goal. Was that a little frustrating or
deflating given the start you got off to?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, it was frustrating, but that’s
football, man. At the end of the day, we’ve got to go out
there and execute our plays, no matter what’s being called,
and that’s our job. We’ve got to go out there and handle
that. We’re going to group together and look at all the
things that we did bad and all the things that we did good,
and moving forward obviously fix those mistakes.
Q. Some of the younger guys were able to get a little
bit more snaps tonight, Arlis with that receiving
touchdown, Andy with the deep catch and then the run
on the trick play. How do you feel like they performed
today?
RICKY PEARSALL: I’m proud of all the young guys, just to
be able to go in there in that stadium and step up like that.
We had a lot of guys down this week, so being able to
136948-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:33:00 GMT Page 1 of 3
have that next-man-up mentality is super important, and
those guys embrace it through practice. They work their
tails off, so I’m just really proud of them.
Q. Question about that catch; it just looked so
reactionary at that point. Was the ball a little too high
and that’s how you had to react to that?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I probably
could have jumped up and grabbed it with two, but I don’t
know what happens, but I just felt like doing it. I don’t know
how to describe it. In the moment I just felt like doing it, so
I just did. Good thing I came down with it.
Q. Secondly, what was it that Charlotte was doing that
— everybody could say we shot ourselves in the foot,
all the times we got down in the red zone, but were
they doing something differently than Tennessee did
last week or even the week before against McNeese?
What were they doing that was disrupting things for
you?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, first and foremost, I just want to
say they’re a really well-coached team over there. They’ve
got some talented guys over there, as well.
I think it comes down to just executing on our own side of
the ball and eliminating mistakes. I think it’s just all on us
at the end of the day.
Q. Not to ask you another question about your catch,
but obviously you got a little bit of a break when they
were reviewing for targeting, but is it hard because you
still had a drive to finish there. Is it hard to continue
the drive and not think about what the bleep did I just
do?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, no, I just wanted to score, to be
honest. I just wanted to score. Man, I just wanted him to
throw it up again and do it again. But we were just trying to
get in the paint.
Q. Despite getting the win, I know so much of the
conversation was about things the team could have
done better. Is there a little bit of a motivation here
from maybe some of the plays you left out on the field,
some of the things you still have to get cleaned up?
RICKY PEARSALL: For sure, for sure. I think we
emphasized that throughout the week was like, okay, we
beat a team like Tennessee who’s really good. We’re
going to have a lot of excitement. I think we’ve just got to
be able to handle that better throughout practice and
always have that chip on our shoulder no matter what.
We’ve got to be 1-0 each week, so I think we’ve got to do a
better job of that.
Q. Would you say that this was a bad or
below-average practice week?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I think it was at times, but I still
think we did a lot of good things throughout practice, but
football is a game of execution. We’ve got to execute
better.
Q. The SEC road, what challenges does that pose?
You guys have seven straight SEC games now in eight
weeks.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, man. The SEC is probably the
best conference in the country. It’s going to be a challenge
regardless.
But we’ve got to take it day by day, make sure we’re doing
our jobs on a daily basis, game plan for a team like
Kentucky who’s really well-coached, as well. They’ve got a
lot of talented players over there, too, so just take it day by
day.
Q. What do you remember from them last year?
RICKY PEARSALL: That they’re a tough team, and
obviously we didn’t come out with a win, so that stuck with
me the most. Going into next week we’ve got to have a lot
of motivation to go out there and get a W this time.
Q. Physical team; what is their signature do you
think?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, they’re a physical team. I think
last year looking back at the tape, I think we go back to
shooting ourselves in the foot, I think that’s really what it
came down to. We’ve just got to make sure that we don’t
do that and execute.
Q. Billy mentioned that this was kind of an opportunity
for you to prove yourself and just your worth as a pro
receiver and just kind of in general. How much do you
feel like you’ve been able to capitalize on the
opportunity to come back to school and show what
you’re capable of?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, man, that’s a good question.
There’s a lot of games left, so I’ve just got to keep doing it,
got to keep having that chip on my shoulder, and going into
practice and grinding every single day and getting better at
something each and every day.
I think that’s my main focus right now, not necessarily what
I’m doing or what’s going on in the future. Just at the
136948-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:33:00 GMT Page 2 of 3
present moment, what can I do now that’s going to benefit
me moving forward.
Q. Do you reflect on the first four games, okay, this is
validating the decision to go back to school at least?
RICKY PEARSALL: No, I reflect on those games in more
of like a learning standpoint. I’m like okay, I could have
done this and that better.
Sometimes numbers and things like that may look better
than they are, but I’m my biggest critic. So when I look at
the tape, I’m like, I could have done this better or maybe I
could have made a move right here and this could have
been a touchdown. So just keep doing that, and I feel like
that works for me in improving.
Q. Is that the best catch of your career?
RICKY PEARSALL: Oh, yeah, for sure. In game at least.
Q. (No microphone.)
RICKY PEARSALL: I actually haven’t checked my phone
yet, but some of my teammates were good catch, good
catch. I was just glad we got the win.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
136948-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:33:00 GMT Page 3 of 3
University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Trey Smack
Press Conference
Florida 22, Charlotte 7.
Q. 5 for 5, the performance, how did it feel, but what
was the week like for you? Were you expecting to be
the placekicker this whole week?
TREY SMACK: No, I wasn’t expecting it. I mean, I think
that the preparation came the same. As I said back in fall
camp, I think Adam and I are both back and forth at each
other, and I think I was pretty fortunate to come out on top.
Adam is a great kicker. I love him to death. We were
battling back and forth in practice all week.
It’s a good feeling to go 5 for 5, but I think Adam could
have done the same thing, too.
Q. I think four of the five were within 33 or 36 yards
but then you have the 54-yarder. When you’re coming
on to the field, what’s going through your head? Are
you nervous before a kick of that length or do you feel
pretty confident in your own ability?
TREY SMACK: I would lie and say I wasn’t nervous
because obviously I was getting nervous, but it’s a good
nervous. I’m excited to — it’s like an excited nervous. I was
more excited than I was doubtful nervous. It was good.
I trust in my operation. Rocco did a really good job of
snapping the ball back there, and Jeremy did a great job of
putting it and placing it the right way with laces, and the
operation was just really clean, and I’ve got to give credit to
them.
Q. After a performance like this, how much do you
expect your phone to be blowing up throughout the
week?
TREY SMACK: Not sure. Probably just going to call my
mom, call my mom or dad. Probably not going to look at it
too much.
Q. There was a time-out before the 54-yarder. Did you
kind of talk Coach Napier into it, or was there a
discussion on the sidelines as to whether you had that
kind of range? How did that go?
TREY SMACK: Napier, I don’t think I talked to Napier. I
was kind of just locked in. I think we knew we were going
to kick it, and I really thank Napier for having all the trust in
me to go out there and make that 54-yarder. It was good.
Q. What would you say your range is? That looked
like it could have been good from another three or four
out. What would you say your range?
TREY SMACK: I’m not sure. I think anywhere instead of
probably just 60 maybe. I don’t know how far that was.
That was probably the cleanest ball I’ve ever struck. It felt
really good.
Q. What’s the longest one you’ve ever hit in practice?
TREY SMACK: In practice, I think just messing around or
off sticks or with an actual — my longest was 67.
Q. You’re kicking today, and it may feel like the Gators
fans were helping you a little bit, maybe quieting down
when you’re taking some of them. How do you feel
going into a hostile Kentucky environment next week?
Maybe they’re going to get real loud whenever you’re
taking a kick. Is that something that affects you
mentally at all?
TREY SMACK: I wouldn’t say so. I would say I’m kind of
just already locked in at the holder and the kick. I don’t
really notice even if it is loud. It doesn’t really bother me.
Q. (No microphone.)
TREY SMACK: My leg is really sore right now. I said it
was eight field goals equals one kickoff, so I had seven
kickoffs, including warmups, too, yeah, my leg is not doing
so great right now. That last kickoff, I was lucky it even got
in the end zone.
Q. (No microphone.)
136946-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:25:00 GMT Page 1 of 2
TREY SMACK: I have all confidence in both — in all the
special teams guys we have: Jacob Watkins, Gannon
Burt, Rocco Underwood, Jeremy Crawshaw and Adam,
and even Ara emerged. I do have confidence in all of
them.
I think that we have a group of guys that are equally as
talented, and it’s really hard competition between all of us,
which makes us better. So yeah, I think we’re a really
talented special teams unit.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports.
136946-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:25:00 GMT Page 2 of 2
University of Florida Football
Media Conference
Saturday, September 23, 2023
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Shemar James
Press Conference
Florida 22, Charlotte 7
Q. This defensive performance to start the season,
what do you think has gone into this, and what has
allowed you guys to be so successful so far?
SHEMAR JAMES: I’ll say effort and just teamwork, and I’ll
say just the physicality up front and in our back seven.
Q. You and Scooby were performing a pretty good
little tandem. How is that going?
SHEMAR JAMES: It’s going amazing. We’re always on
the same page. He always knows what I’m doing, he
always know what he’s doing, so that allows us to play fast.
Q. How has he evolved as a linebacker? What have
you noticed in his evolution?
SHEMAR JAMES: I would say him just being more
comfortable in the defense. When you know it, you play
faster. So I would say him not second-guessing himself,
sort of like what he did last year.
Q. Talk about your defense every ballgame keeping
people out of the end zone, making big plays on 3rd
down, et cetera. Talk about the mentality that goes
into when the other team gets 3rd down on you?
SHEMAR JAMES: Yes, sir, like Coach Armstrong said, it’s
a privilege to play on 3rd down. When we come with our
3rd down package, guys want to get the quarterback and
get the stop on 3rd down.
Q. That’s kind of an improvement over last year, isn’t
it?
SHEMAR JAMES: Yes, sir, most definitely.
Q. You guys had to come in preparing for two
quarterbacks and they kind of rode with Jalon Jones.
The adjustment for that, he did scramble a little bit, but
you guys managed to corral and contain him and keep
him from being a major factor in the game.
SHEMAR JAMES: Because he likes to use his legs a lot,
so kind of just limiting him to do that, make him throw in the
pocket, and we kind of came out successful while doing
that.
Q. Three sacks, too; what was the pressure like
tonight? You had one of them.
SHEMAR JAMES: Yes, sir. You know Coach Armstrong,
he’s a big pressure guy. He wants to get to the
quarterback and hit him, so that’s what we did tonight.
Q. That forced fumble that Scooby had on the first
drive of the game, obviously Charlotte recovered, but
how do you think that sort of set the tempo defense,
making a play like that the first drive of the game?
SHEMAR JAMES: Most definitely. It gave us that spark to
start the game, and we kind of rode with that throughout
the whole entire game.
Q. You guys were favored by four touchdowns, and it
was a closer game than some might have expected.
How do you build off of this because now you go into
pure SEC play for two months here?
SHEMAR JAMES: Yes, sir. Like you said, just building off
of it, getting back to the film room tomorrow, correcting our
mistakes and just getting better for Kentucky next week.
Q. In terms of momentum, do you feel after such an
emotional win last week, do you feel like this was kind
of to be expected a little bit?
SHEMAR JAMES: Not at all. You know Coach Armstrong
and Coach Napier always say don’t play down to the
competition; raise the standard; set the Gator standard.
For any game, we play a faceless opponent, so that’s what
we tried to do tonight, but unfortunately we came out with
the W, but it was kind of a little bit sloppy.
Q. Just talk about those guys in front of you on the
defensive line, how easier they make your job?
136945-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:20:00 GMT Page 1 of 2
SHEMAR JAMES: Oh, so easy. Cam Jackson, Caleb
Banks, Chris McClellan, like some big guys you don’t see
every day walking around. They made me and Scooby’s
jobs a lot easier, playing behind them and allowing us to
run free to the ball.
Q. What did you think of Ricky’s catch? Were you
able to see it?
SHEMAR JAMES: I did. It was amazing. He does that
almost like every day, so I was kind of used to it, like Ricky
did it.
Q. What’s his impact on this team from a leadership
standpoint and also what he brings on the field?
SHEMAR JAMES: Like you said, a great leader on and off
the field. It’s always amazing to get a leader that can also
play good ball.
Q. He does that every day, that catch, something
along those lines?
SHEMAR JAMES: Yes, sir.
Q. When you see Coach Armstrong on the sideline
and his personality, is it kind of bleeding over to you
guys?
SHEMAR JAMES: Most definitely. He says smile, like just
smile sometimes. We’re playing in the Swamp. It’s a
blessing to play in the Swamp. He kind of told us, we
always had our game face on; he was like, smile. He hit
me, why you not smiling. That kind of cracked me up.
Q. (No microphone.)
SHEMAR JAMES: Wingo is a great player, a great
teammate, a great linebacker to play next to, and that’s just
Wingo being Wingo.
Q. Any thoughts on Kentucky, what you guys are
going to bring? It’s the first SEC road game.
SHEMAR JAMES: It’s an SEC game. We’ve got to bring it
110 percent every single game, especially an SEC game.
But we’ll look at Kentucky tomorrow and Monday, but right
now we’re just kind of celebrating our win against
Charlotte.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports.
136945-1-1002 2023-09-24 03:20:00 GMT Page 2 of 2
2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Biff Poggi, Charlotte Head Coach
No. 25 Florida 22, Charlotte 7
September 23, 2023
Opening statement…
“Obviously, we came down to Gainesville to win. We didn’t win, but I’m really proud of our players
and our coaches. I felt we played really hard. I think they have an unbelievably good football team
and we’re going to keep getting better. The first part of our season is now over and now we get into
the most important part of our season which is the American Conference.”
On the defensive effort…
“I thought the defense was incredible. I thought [Ryan] Osborn had an unbelievable plan. The kids
played so hard. I mean, they played so hard. We held Florida to 136 rush yards on 36 carries. They
were one for nine on third down conversions and zero for one on fourth down conversions. I doubt
they’ll be anywhere near that in the next five years, so I’m really proud about how our defense
played.”
On the offensive line performance…
“Florida is elite on the defensive front seven. They had some guys in there that looked like three guys
in one. They’re elite. They’re well coached. I thought our offensive line did a really nice job. I mean
we rushed for, and it’s a little misleading because we had sacks in there and we had three sacks, but
we rushed for 28-77. Sack yardage, I’d like to know what that was, but that was pretty significant.
We’re getting better running the football. Our plan this week wasn’t to actually go up and run into
the teeth of those really good players. Our plan was to try to get on the perimeter and throw the tight
ends and do some things like that, which we did very well. I think the offensive line played well. I
thought Kyle DeVan did a great job with them. They’re getting better with every second of every
day. Mike Miller and the offensive staff put a great plan together. This was a really good plan. We
have to just stop making mistakes, which we will. It’s a brand-new football team. There are 70 new
players. We’ve played four games. We’re getting better every week. I love the kids, I love the
coaches, and I love the team. That said, we don’t want to be a team that loses football games, so
we’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ll get started on that tomorrow when we get back.”
On the quarterback play…
“[Jalon] Jones actually rushed for 117 yards, and he had some losses with sacks which were taken
out. But he had a 30-yard run. He averaged over three a rush. Henry Rutledge did some good things.
Jones passing was 11-16 for 111. 34 was his longest. The issue there though, if you look at it, were the
three sacks. Really those sacks right now are not, I want to watch the film, but it’s because we’re
holding the ball too long. These are things we can clean up. [Trexler Ivey] was 3-9 for 22 yards. I just
felt like the game early on, the athleticism from Florida early on neutralized a lot of what he does
well.”
On Jalon Jones’ touchdown…
“It was a quarterback draw. That was fourth down, I think, fourth and six. That was a gutsy play. He
ran really hard and got into the endzone, so that was big for us.”
On the gameplan with two quarterbacks…
“[Ryan Osborn] is pretty sophisticated in that menu. Pretty broad when it has to be. Offensively, we,
not we, but Mike [Miller] started with what do our two quarterbacks do best and how do we rep that
in practice so we can make sure when they’re in the game we’re doing things they do well. So, not
ask Jalon [Jones] to do something that Trexler [Ivey] does well and not ask Trexler to do something
Jalon does well. That’s what we worked on.”
2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Charlotte, Student-Athletes
No. 25 Florida 22, Charlotte 7
September 23, 2023
0 Eyabi Okie-Anoma, Graduate, Defensive Lineman
On the challenge of facing Florida…
“I like being challenged. That’s how I respond to adversity. I went into this game with my hair on fire,
just trying to do everything I can do in my power. My teammates were right there cheering me up.
They were handling their 1-10. When they are handling their 1-10, I’m not worried about doing
anyone else’s job but mine. Its complementary football right there. I do my job, he does his job, we
make the play. I feel that we just have to go a little harder at practice against the offense, really
smother them and maybe, make the offense be a little bit better. It just starts from that. It’s nothing to
drag your head about. They kicked a field goal on fourth and one at Florida. They had us projected
to go last. I hope everyone still looking at this Charlotte football team and understanding that this is
not the same Charlotte.”
On Coach Ryan Osborn…
“Coach [Osborn] is extremely critical on every small thing that we do. You almost go into the game,
not on eggshells, but if I mess up right now, I am probably going to get subbed out. I got to lock in.
That comes from the tips sheet and just preparations. Coach [Osborn] called a great game and I
love playing for him.”
On defensive improvement…
“It was really big. It’s nothing that we didn’t know we couldn’t do. If you saw the Maryland game,
there were spurts. For a majority of that game, we were really in control. It’s just about consistency
and being able to, once you apply pressure, to keep on applying pressure and not let up. I feel like
we did that, don’t want to keep rehashing the offense, but sometimes when you can’t get any type
of points put up and you keep on stopping them. It’s unfortunate, but it’s football, you live and learn.
You win and lose. I love this football team, one thing I’ll say about this team is that we are fighters. We
play for our coach. Today, I had butterflies, it felt like my junior year , first time when coach put me
out there, it felt like that. All I’m thinking is that if I do not make plays, the next guy will come and play
in front of me. It was like that. It was real exciting, and I don’t want to overpromise things, but as this
year goes on you will see us keep on keep getting better because we are not the same team from
South Carolina State, we’re not the same team from Maryland, and we’re not the same team from
Georgia state. You all see what happens when the defense plays lights out for all four quarters. The
results and that’s what you all can look forward to.”
