2022 Florida Football Postgame Notes
Florida 24, Missouri 17
October 8, 2022
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Steve Spurrier-Florida Field – Gainesville, Fla.
Gators Offense
● Florida is averaging 213.7 rushing yards per game, which ranks 21st in the FBS, 12th in the Power Five
and fourth in the SEC.
● Florida went 1-for-1 on fourth down conversions, improving to 9-of-13 (69.2%) on the season.
o Florida’s nine fourth-down conversions are tied-for-seventh in the FBS.
● The Gators have rushed for 100-plus yards in all six games so far this season and in eight-straight
contests dating back to 2021.
o The Gators have now rushed for 100-plus yards in 17 of their last 19 games.
o Florida has rushed for 100-plus yards in 46 of its last 57 games.
● Florida posted its fourth 200-yard rushing game of the season including the team’s second straight.
o This is the Gators’ tenth game of 200-plus rushing yards in the last 19 contests.
o This marks Florida’s 22nd 200-plus yard rushing game in its last 57 games.
● Florida has allowed only four sacks in 2022, which is tied for 12th-fewest in the FBS (t-third in the
SEC).
● RB Trevor Etienne rushed for a career-high 83 yards on a career-high 10 attempts, equating 8.3
YPC.
● Florida had just one explosive play in the first half, but followed that with seven explosive plays in
the second half including five in the third quarter.
● After a slow first half, RBs Montrell Johnson Jr. and Trevor Etienne both broke off explosive runs in the
third quarter.
o Johnson Jr. posted a 41-yard rush while Etienne broke off a 39-yarder – the longest run of
his young career.
▪ Johnson Jr. later added a 32-yard rush in the fourth quarter to move Florida into
the red zone, while Etienne added a pair of 16-yard carries in the fourth quarter.
o QB Anthony Richardson followed with a 33-yard run on 4th and 2 to setup the eventual go-
ahead touchdown scamper by Johnson Jr.
● Johnson Jr. scored Florida’s first offensive touchdown of the game in the third quarter, rushing three
yards to put Florida ahead, 17-10.
o The score marked Johnson Jr.’s 17th career rushing touchdown and fifth in a Gators
uniform.
● Johnson Jr. finished with a team-leading 86 yards rushing on eight carries, equating to 10.8 yards
per carry.
● WR Ricky Pearsall scored his second receiving touchdown as a Gator, catching a nine-yard pass
from Richardson to extended Florida’s lead to 24-10.
o Pearsall has hauled in a pass in 21-consecutive games.
o It marked his seventh-career receiving touchdown and his 11th overall.
● Florida finished with its fewest pass attempts (14) since Nov. 15, 2014 vs. South Carolina (11).
● Florida scored on all three trips to the red zone.
Gators Defense
● Florida’s 13.0 tackles for loss were the team’s most since the 2019 season opener vs. Miami, when
the Gators registered 16.0 TFL.
o Nine different Gators had at least 0.5 TFL vs. Missouri.
● The Gators recorded four sacks in today’s game.
o Since the start of last season, Florida has out-sacked its opponents by a plus-31 margin.
o Florida’s 169 sacks since the 2018 season ranks second in the SEC and fourth nationally –
trailing only Clemson (201), Pittsburgh (199) and Alabama (183).
o Florida ranked tied-for-14th in the FBS and second in the SEC with 34 sacks last season.
● With two takeaways vs. Missouri, Florida’s defense has now produced 88 turnovers since 2018,
which ranks t-third in the SEC and tied-for-22nd in the FBS.
o The Gators have produced 10 turnovers this season with at least one each game.
▪ Last season, Florida had six turnovers through six games.
o The Gators have produced multiple turnovers in two games this season with two
interceptions and a forced fumble vs. USF and two forced fumbles at No. 11 Tennessee.
● Since 1996, the Gators rank third nationally in interceptions with 406 and lead the SEC with the next
closest team, Alabama, 20 picks behind.
● In his second game back from injury, DB Jaydon Hill recorded two interceptions, including a 49-
yard interception return touchdown in the first quarter.
o Hill is the first Florida player with two interceptions in the same game since Rashad Torrence
II on Oct. 30, 2021 vs. Georgia.
o Hill is the first Florida player with two interceptions and a pick-six in the same game since CJ
Gardner-Johnson vs. Michigan in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 29, 2018.
o Today marked Hill’s first-career interceptions and first-career touchdown.
o Hill’s first interception represented Florida’s longest pick-six since Ventrell Miller’s 82-yard
interception return touchdown vs. Idaho on Nov. 17, 2018.
● Florida now has two pick-sixes this season and ranks tied-for-third in the FBS in that category.
o This is the most pick-sixes the Gators have had in a single season since recording four in
2018.
o Jalen Kimber had a 39-yard pick-six vs. USF in Week 3.
● Florida has registered four interception touchdowns against Missouri since 2015.
o Teez Tabor, 2015 (40 yards) & 2016 (39 yards)
o Quincy Wilson, 2016 (78 yards)
● LB Amari Burney continued his breakout season, adding 0.5 TFL and eight tackles (second on
team) to move his season totals to a career-high 5.0 TFL and 36 tackles (16 shy of career high).
o Prior to this season, Burney’s most TFL in a season was 2.5 in 2020.
● DE Princely Umanmielen notched 3.0 TFL, setting a new career high.
o Umanmielen also recorded 1.0 sack, bringing his season total to 2.0 and career total to 5.5.
● DB Jadarrius Perkins also tied his career high with 1.0 TFL.
● The Gators produced 5.0 TFL in the first half, with Burney (0.5), Brenton Cox Jr. (1.0), Dexter (1.0),
Perkins (1.0) and Jalen Lee (0.5) all contributing to the total.
● LB Ventrell Miller tied his career high with 2.0 TFL and also paced the Gators with 11 tackles (10
solo).
● Cox Jr. had 1.0 sack (his first of 2022) and 3.0 TFL (season high), moving his career totals to 31.0 TFL
and 13.5 sacks.
o Cox had 4.0 TFL in each of the last two games of the 2021 season (vs. FSU, vs. UCF), making
this his third performance with 3.0-plus TFL in Florida’s last eight games.
● DL Chris McClellan logged the first-full sack (1.0) of his career.
● DL Gervon Dexter picked up 1.0 sack to move his career total to 4.0 sacks
Florida Special Teams
● Florida has punted just one time across the team’s last 10 quarters.
● WR Xzavier Henderson’s 48-yard punt return marked a career high as well as Florida’s longest return
of the 2022 season.
o Henderson’s return represented Florida’s longest since Kadarius Toney’s 50-yard punt return
touchdown on Nov. 28, 2020 vs. Kentucky
● P Jeremy Crawshaw punted one time for 42 yards, placing his lone kick inside the opposing 20-yard
line.
● Adam Mihalek connected on 1-of-3 field goal attempts and was 3-for-3 on extra points.
o Mihalek connected on a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter, missed a 50-yarder in the
second quarter and failed on a 47-yarder in the third.
Explosive Plays (8)
● Justin Shorter (from Anthony Richardson): 20-yard reception, first quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 41-yard rush, third quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 39-yard rush, third quarter
● Anthony Richardson: 32-yard rush, third quarter
● Nay’Quan Wright: 10-yard rush, third quarter
● Johnson Jr.: 36-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Etienne: 16-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Etienne: 16-yard rush, fourth quarter
Series Updates
● Tonight’s game represented the12th all-time meeting between Florida and Missouri including the
sixth matchup in Gainesville.
● With tonight’s victory, Florida improves to 6-6 vs. Missouri and 4-2 at home.
• Florida has now won three of the last four meetings against Missouri, outscoring the Tigers, 111-64, in
that span (11.8 PPG).
• HC Billy Napier improves to 1-2 all-time against Missouri HC Eliah Drinkwitz.
o The two met twice previously in the Sun-Belt Conference with Napier at Louisiana and
Drinkwitz at Appalachian State.
• Each of the last two meetings between Florida and Missouri have been decided by one score.
o Prior to 2021, each of the last eight matchups had been decided by 17 or more points
(2013-2020)
Swamp Superlatives
● Florida boasts a 354-112-13 (.753) all-time record at The Swamp, holding the second-highest home
winning percentage in the nation since 1990 with a 173-33 (.840) record.
o The Gators have outscored opponents, 7,755 to 3,318 in 206 games inside The Swamp,
putting the average outcome at 37.6 to 16.1 (21.5 points).
Other
● Florida picked up its first SEC victory since Oct. 9, 2021 vs. Vanderbilt (42-0).
o This was the first SEC victory of Napier’s career.
▪ He improves to 4-2 (1-2 SEC) as Florida HC.
● UF has scored in 429-consecutive games — which is an NCAA record and 56 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.
● Florida has finished with fewer than 10 penalties in 47 of its last 51 games.
● Florida Game Captains: #16 Tre’Vez Johnson, #13 Donovan McMillon, #1 Ricky Pearsall, #9 Keon
Zipperer
● Florida won the toss and deferred; Florida defended the north end zone.
● Attendance: 88,471
2022 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach
Florida 24, Missouri 17
October 8, 2022
Opening statement…
“It’s always good to win on homecoming. I think that we talked specifically to the team about taking
great pride and representing such a special place. The University of Florida is a special and unique
place. It’s impacting a lot of lives for the better. I think our guys worked extremely hard to be well
prepared today. It was a team win. It wasn’t necessarily the best of any of the three phases of the
game, but we did just enough. To score on defense, to have a game changing play on the punt
return, to rush for 200 yards. Certainly, Anthony [Richardson] made his plays that impacted the game.
Defensively, at times, we played really good out there. Obviously, gave up some third downs. It was
truly a team win. The intangibles that we developed with this group of players, I’m proud of that. They
continued to respond and play through the ups and downs of the game. We are thankful. Good
team win.”
On second half offense…
“We only had 19 plays, I think, in the first half. A very few opportunities. A lot of those 19 were
situational football. They were redzone, they were third down, so very few plays kind of what we
would call normal down and distance. We had a lot left. Some of those same concepts we just were
a little more precise. I thought a lot of our guys up front did a good job. Good vision. Obviously, you
could see the backs got it to the second level. Then Anthony [Richardson] made plays with his feet,
huge plays with his feet on fourth down, on third down. It was a team win. It wasn’t anything great on
offense, defense, or special teams, but the combination of those three got it down. A ton of respect
for Missouri. They got a tough football team that is very capable.”
On Ventrell Miller…
“I don’t know how many times where they got a play that looks like it is going to develop and then 51
just comes out of nowhere. Ventrell [Miller] is productive as a player, but it is more impactful than just
the production. That’s the thing that is significant. The guy is inspirational relative to his example, his
consistency as a person, his leadership, his presence. He makes other people around him better. That
showed up today.”
On the defense…
“Against a team that I think is very capable. The only thing that you would probably be frustrated
about with the defense would be some of those third and longs they gave up late in the game.
Outside of that, we put them on a short field after the sack fumble. Overall, they did extremely well.
We made progress, I think, relative to the challenge that Missouri presents. The gap integrity with all
the outside zone, the shots. We kept everything in front of us for the most part.”
On Jaydon Hill…
“He was the first person that we called up in front of the team. If we were giving out game balls, we
would give one to him today. What a story, if you really dig into it, what the young man has been
through. The ACL in high school, the ACL here early in his career, then the LCL. The discipline to
continue to rehab. The toughness to stay the course. He’s got passion about this game. I always felt
like, watching him in spring ball, he was one of the best players we had. That showed up today. He’s
a character. The guys stayed the course. To get him back, he was a difference maker today.”
On winning close games…
“We have not executed our formula to win games at the rate at which we desire at any point. I think
we are very much a work in progress. I do believe in this group relative to the fight that they show, the
competitive spirit, and the intangibles. I think we developed some togetherness. There’s some
chemistry there. I think that’s getting stronger. We are learning how to practice. I do think that we are
built to play winning football. We’ve got a formula that’s won a lot of games. I think we are getting
better at that process and I’m hopeful we can win more in the future.”
2022 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Student-Athletes
Florida 24, Missouri 17
October 8, 2022
15 Anthony Richardson, Sophomore, Quarterback
On the first SEC win…
“It’s a great feeling for us. We talked all week about having to get our first (SEC win). I’m excited that
we got the first one. The energy was great in the locker room and on the field. A lot of guys were
saying we must win, and we finally pulled through.”
On the strong running game in the second half…
“Whenever the ball is moving in the run game, it allows for us to open the offense up and run more
play action because they [Missouri] did not know how to contain the run or how to stop the play-
action. Shout out to the running backs Trevor [Etienne], Montrell [Johnson], and Nay’Quan [Wright]
for bursting through holes and hitting the right gaps. Also, shout out to the offensive line for creating
those holes for us. The running game helped us out a lot.”
On the run on 4th and 2…
“Before it happened, Coach Napier asked me what play I wanted to run, offering me a few options
and I chose that one [successful conversion]. I went through my progressions and moved the
protection to pick it up. Missouri’s defense covered up everybody which left a wide-open hole in the
middle of the field for me. Whenever we have a big play like that, the offense runs off momentum.
I’m glad it happened.”
On the offense in the second half…
“I feel like I played decent first half. There wasn’t really anything spectacular happening with the
offense. We were moving the ball well but couldn’t capitalize on drives, couldn’t finish, so I kind of
took the burden on that. I felt like coming into the second half we had to switch up the energy and
we did that.”
On having a turnover in five-consecutive games…
“Definitely. I’m not so concerned with it happening because it’s football, it’s going to happen but I’m
concerned because each week Coach Napier says we have to post a zero [turnovers] and we’re
yet to post a zero so I’m trying to take charge in that and limit turnovers as much as possible.”
On the touchdown pass to Ricky Pearsall…
“On that play, we run a lot of play action so I knew I had to try and capture the edge. A lot of teams
play the edge strong with us so I knew I had to get my depth and just run around it. I just went
through my progressions and the corner route was a little muddy, the first under route was a little
muddy, and I just happened to see Ricky just running through the back and I was like ‘ok, I’ve got to
hit him’ and I just ripped it in there and he caught it for me.”
2 Montrell Johnson Jr., Sophomore, Running back
On the team play in the second half…
“Going into the second half, we were just taking what the defense was giving us throughout the
whole game. I think that the defense got worn out in the second half, and that’s why everything
started to pop as it did.”
On how big runs energized the offense…
“It helps the offense a lot because it’s a game of momentum. They gave us a lot of momentum at
the time, and we just built on that and had a great game.”
On The offense’s progress from the USF game to now…
“I think we made a lot of progress since that game. I think that we’ll continue to get better each and
every game, each and every practice, and towards the end you might see a totally different
football team from now. “
On Jaydon Hill…
“I’m just proud of him because I always talked with him about getting good and recovering. He had
that injury to his leg, and we talked when he was injured, and I just told him that he had to recover,
stay focused, and give it all he’s got. He went out there and had a great game.”
On how going against Florida’s defense in practice prepares them for the game…
“Going against those guys in practice just builds the offense. They’re great players, and once we step
foot on the field on Saturday it shows up and we have a great game.”
23 Jaydon Hill, Redshirt Sophomore, Cornerback
On his performance…
“Honestly, it’s just a blessing. Words can’t even describe the feeling honestly. I’m just grateful for
being here and being able to play.”
On if the interception meant a lot…
“Oh yeah most definitely. It is something I’ll never forget about ever.”
On what lead to the first interception….
“Really the route combination came from a lot of film study. Honestly last night, I watched that same
play like three times.”
On if he thought he would return the interception for a touchdown…
“Oh yeah. When I caught it and I saw just green grass it was over. Nobody is catching me.”
On the importance of beating Missouri …
“Oh yeah. I was like man, I know what we are supposed to do, we are supposed to beat Missouri.
That something that we are supposed to do and what I said, I had to back it up. And we came out
there and we did that.”
51 Ventrell Miller, Redshirt Senior, Linebacker
On Jaydon Hill…
“It feels great to see him make some bigtime plays. He has been working extremely hard throughout
recovery. I have been working with him through recovery. I am extremely happy for him and I am
glad he got to make a couple plays like that.”
On the defensive performance…
“We came out and did a decent job. There are some long third downs that we have to take
advantage of but other than that I feel like the guys came out and executed and made plays when
we needed to.”
On the breakdowns on third and longs…
“It’s hard to say right now. We are going back to the film room tonight and tomorrow so we will see
what happened there.”
On the team …
“The guys did a great job doing their job. They had me free to the ball, so big shout out to my d-line
and linebackers.”
On his performance…
“I feel like the mentality of getting to the ball. Finding my way to the ball wherever, sideline to sideline
linebacker. My defensive line made it easy on me so it was pretty easy to make the plays.”
On how it felt to win today…
“Definitely felt great. It was homecoming and the fans came out and did their job. There was energy
in the stadium. It was electric and it feels good to have that first SEC win. We are trying to keep
stacking them on each other.”
On the LSU game…
“I am waiting on that game and I know the fans are going to do a great job packing the Swamp
and creating that energy. I am looking forward to being in that environment.”
2022 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri Head Coach
Florida 24, Missouri 17
October 8, 2022
Opening statement…
“Disappointing for my team, just the way the fought and continually fight in very difficult
circumstances to give themselves a chance. Got to find a way. Haven’t found that way yet and its
not from a lack of effort or a lack of fight, just got to find a way.”
On the interceptions…
“I’m going to watch it on tape and see before I make comment. It won’t matter, it won’t change the
result.”
On how hard it is to overcome big plays that go against you…
“You give up an interception for a touchdown and you have what would have been three points
and you take it off the board and that went to a touch down drive. It can’t happen.”
On having trouble in the run game…
“They have good players. You have to try to run the ball at 51, Ventrell [Miller] is a heck of a player.
We certainly found him, I mean we don’t mean to not block the middle linebacker on every play. We
have to go back and see why we weren’t able to get him blocked. That was the main guy that I
saw.”
On the offensive line…
“We were inconsistent. We can’t have four sacks and pressure on the quarterback. Inconsistent, but
we are a work in progress.”
On what contributed into the big runs by Florida…
“It looked like we lost some gap fits. A couple of them were missed tackles. We didn’t keep our head
up and they were able to leap over us. Missed plays. You know, you have them on fourth and three
and they run a play that we have completely covered and the quarterback scrambles, which is a
chance to completely flip the game right there. It was tied 17-17 in the third quarter, ball about the
38-yard line. Missed opportunities no different than the offense driving the ball right back down the
field and throwing an interception. Missed opportunities on both side of the ball that on the road in
this league you can’t have.”
On receivers stepping up…
“It was great to see Mekhi Miller step up and make some plays. We are pretty beat up right now with
Luther [Burden] down. Barrett [Banister] is out, Chance [Luper] is out. Got to get some other people to
step up.”
On what he got out of this game…
“Losses are lessons and that’s what they are. We are building for the future of this program and trying
to get to where we want to be and you are going to have to go through some of these. It is hard and
nobody likes it the guys in the locker room are spending hours. Coaches don’t like it. We absolutely
can learn from it, we absolutely can learn from it. We have seen a lot of growth. We haven’t seen the results yet but we have seen a lot of growth. Totally different reaction than what happened at K-
State. Auburn I thought we responded fine. The response I think we can be proud of is there was
growth. We were 9 for 17 on third down which is our best output of the year. There were some really
good things we are getting better at, we are just not getting the results we want and in this league
that is unsatisfactory.”
2022 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Missouri Student-Athletes
Florida 24, Missouri 17
October 8, 2022
1 Tauskie Dove, Senior, Wide Receiver
On Sustaining Drives…
“It’s a part of the game. Offensively, we got to try to capitalize off of every opportunity we get, but
today we just didn’t. We gave our all… We just gotta come back next week, put this one behind us
and focus on next week.”
On the slow road starts…
“I don’t really have an answer to that question, but you know, away games the crowd can be a
factor, the weather, but those weren’t factors. We just might’ve just started slow, and it cost us in the
long run.”
On the team mentality before the bye week…
“The bye week allows us to regroup mentally, physically, emotionally, and got to capitalize off this
bye week. Go look at the mistakes we made, go look at where we can get better at and improve,
and prosper and thrive as a offensive unit, and this bye week we’re gonna take full advantage of
that.”
On the red zone interception…
“It hurt us. But we gotta bounce back the next drive… The DB was inside playing a catch technique, I
had an in-cut, and he was all ready.”
9 Isaiah McGuire, Senior, Defensive End
On getting back on track with the bye week coming up…
“We got to regroup as a group, as a team, just continue ride together, stay together, because that is
all we got.”
On defensively where they felt the game got away…
“It was attention-to-detail. I feel like for us heading into the bye week, we definitely have to hone in
on those type of things.”
On the explosive runs in the second half…
“I think it was just attention-to-detail. Missed a couple of assignments, but like I said, we just regroup
and get those fixed.”
On the three-game losing streak…
“Get back to work, that is all we can do. Just go back to work”
