2023 Florida Football Postgame Notes

No. 9 Missouri 33, Florida 31

Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium – Columbia, Mo.

OFFENSIVE NOTES

Florida scored touchdowns on its opening drives of both halves for the second time this season
(Week 2 vs. McNeese).
o The Gators scored on their opening drives of both halves vs. South Carolina (TD, FG).
WR Eugene Wilson III has scored five receiving touchdowns in Florida’s last four games.
o In that span, Wilson III has totaled 251 yards on 32 receptions.
o Wilson III surpassed 500 receiving yards on the season at Missouri.
QB Graham Mertz has thrown a touchdown pass in 26 of his last 29 games including all 11 starts as
a Gator.
o Mertz has thrown multiple touchdown passes in six of his last seven games.
Mertz threw his first interception in 240 attempts (239-consecutive – school record) in the second
quarter.
o It was Mertz’s second interception in his last 336 passes.
o All three of Mertz’s interceptions this year have come on tipped balls by UF receivers.
Mertz finished 14-for-21 for 183 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for a 67.0% completion
percentage.
o Mertz has opened his UF career with 11-straight games completing 62.0% of his passes and
one passing touchdown (70.5%, 82.4%, 79.2%, 87.5%, 83.3%, 83.3%, 62.5%, 71.0%, 62.0%,
68.0%, 67.0%).
WR Ricky Pearsall recorded a reception in his 39th-consecutive game, the sixth-longest streak in
the FBS.
Pearsall rushed for his fifth-career rushing touchdown including his second of the season.
o Pearsall moved into ninth all-time at Florida in career rushing yards as a wide receiver
(175).
RB Trevor Etienne scored his first-career receiving touchdown (14th multi-purpose) on a 30-yard
grab in the third quarter.
Etienne found the endzone twice at Missouri (one receiving, one rushing) and three times last week
at LSU, equating to five touchdowns the last two games (six across the previous three).
Etienne and RB Montrell Johnson Jr. have combined for at least one touchdown in 18 of 24 games
together, scoring 31 total TDs.
o The duo has combined for 28 total rushing touchdowns.
QB Max Brown set career highs with 56 passing yards and 42 rushing yards.
The Gators rushed for 200-plus yards for the 11th time in their last 24 games since 2022 including
three times in eleven games his season.
The Gators have rushed for 100-plus yards in 19 of their last 24 games since 2022 including eight of
eleven games this season.
The Gators eclipsed 400 yards for the 12th time since the start of 2022 including the fifth time this
season (second consecutive).
o Florida amassed 400-plus total yards for the 29th time in its last 47 games including 42 of the
last 66 contests.

● The Gators eclipsed 500 yards for the fifth time in the Napier era including the second time this
season (first in SEC play).
o This is the 16th time in Florida’s last 47 games that the Gators have totaled 500-plus yards.
● Florida scored 30 points for the 13th time since 2022 including the sixth time this season (third
consecutive).
o The Gators scored 30-plus points for the 45th time in their last 75 games, including scoring
30-plus in 32 of the team’s last 51 games.

DEFENSIVE NOTES
● The Gators limited the Tigers to 56 passing yards (6-of-13) in the first half
● LB Teradja Mitchell made his first start as a Gator.

o Mitchell set a new single-game high in tackles as a Gator in the first quarter of play,
finishing with seven (five solo).

● CB Jaydon Hill recorded a solo tackle-for-loss for the third-straight game.
● DL Tyreak Sapp set a career high with five tackles (three solo) and also picked up 1.0 TFL.
● DE Princely Umanmielen registered one solo sack, moving his season total to a team-high 6.5.
● The Gators recorded one sack in tonight’s game.
o Since the start of 2021, Florida has out-sacked its opponents by a plus-15 margin.
o Florida’s 198 sacks since 2018 season ranks second in the SEC and 11th nationally.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
● WR Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman made his season debut on the opening kickoff.
● P Jeremy Crawshaw punted three times for an average of 44.7 yards including a long of 55 yards,
one 50-plus yarder and one kick inside the opposing 20-yard line.
o Crawshaw has punted for 50-plus yards on 52 of 126 career punts.
● Florida did not punt in the second half.
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS (15)
● Ricky Pearsall (from Graham Mertz): 61-yard reception, first quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 18-yard rush, second quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 15-yard rush, second quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 30-yard rush, third quarter
● Trevor Etienne (from Mertz): 30-yard touchdown reception, third quarter
● Hayden Hansen (from Mertz): 38-yard reception, third quarter
● Ricky Pearsall: 39-yard touchdown rush, fourth quarter
● Graham Mertz: 11-yard rush, third quarter
● Montrell Johnson Jr.: 26-yard rush, third quarter
● Max Brown: 11-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Kahleil Jackson (from Max Brown): 27-yard reception, fourth quarter
● Max Brown: 12-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 13-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Trevor Etienne: 11-yard rush, fourth quarter
● Max Brown: 27-yard rush, fourth quarter
SERIES UPDATES
● Tonight’s game represented the 13th all-time meeting between Florida and Missouri including the
sixth in Columbia.
● With tonight’s loss, the Gators falls to 6-7 (.462) in the all-time series vs. Missouri and 2-4 (.400) in
Columbia.

HC Billy Napier falls to 1-3 against Missouri HC Eliah Drinkwitz in their fourth meeting as head
coaches.
THE STREAK
● Florida has scored in 447-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: #23 Jaydon Hill, #1 Ricky Pearsall, #94 Tyreak Sapp, #66 Jake Slaughter
● Coin Toss: Florida won the toss and deferred; Missouri received and Florida defended the south
end zone.
o The Gators won their third-consecutive coin toss.
● Attendance: 62,621(sell-out)

2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Billy Napier, Florida Head Coach
No. 9 Missouri 33, Florida 31
November 18, 2023

Opening statement…
“I have a lot of respect for the players in that locker room. I’ve got a ton of respect. I’m proud of that
group. I think we showed some resiliency tonight. And, look, you know it’s a challenge to be
prepared to play physically, mentally, and emotionally when you come up short a couple weeks in a
row. To have the team ready to play, I have to compliment the leadership. I talked to the team
Friday about, leaders on a team — the best leaders — make the other people around them better.
They raise their level of play. They’re really good teammates. They’re invested in the other people in
the organization. Ultimately, they make everyone around them better. I think we had some guys that
did a really good job in a tough week. A tough couple of weeks here being consistent in their
example, the words, the actions and certainly having them ready to play. I think defensively in
particular we bounced back and played a good half of football to start the game. We’re going to
see when we watch the tape, we’re going to see that there’s opportunities, things we could have
done better as a staff, and certainly opportunities for players to make plays. But they battled. I know
what’s inside those kids in there. I’m proud of that. Credit to Missouri. I think the game ultimately
came down to a couple of turnovers. Certainly, a heck of a drive by a veteran quarterback there to
end the game.”
On the injury to Graham Mertz…
” Graham has a nondisplaced fracture of the collarbone. So, he’ll be out for a little bit. Probably, we’ll
have more information whether it’s surgical or not. I think right now the belief is that it may not be.
We’ll need to get more images before we make that decision.”
On whether the injury will keep Mertz out next week…
” We’ll see. I’ll let you know Monday. I don’t want to speak on something when I don’t have 100-
percent of the facts. I just know that he’s unavailable. We think it’s a pretty significant injury. I can
give you a more specific timeline Monday. Give Max some credit. Max settled in there a little bit and
made a few plays. Obviously, he’s a good athlete and we were able to use his legs a little bit in the
read game. He made some throws, as well. Max has worked hard. I can’t talk enough about how
much improvement since the first day he got there. And he’s a competitor. I think ultimately he
showed that.”
On Missouri’s late fourth-down conversion…
” We were in weak rotation. We’ve got multiple players in the area and we’ve got four rushing and
he found the soft spot in the zone there. Those are things, we’ll look back at a number of plays in this
game and we’ll say, we could have done a little bit better. We had our opportunities for sure.”

On the team’s mood following Mertz’s exit…
” First off, what a play. What a play. What a competitor. If Gator Nation doesn’t respect Graham
Mertz, OK, after watching him compete this year, then we’ve got a problem. This kid has been
everything you would want from a teammate, example, leader, work ethic, motivator, game day just
put it on the line. That play in particular was a pretty special play. Did you see our sideline when that
happened? I’m having to get them off the field. Again, you can’t complement the kids enough.
Didn’t tuck their tails and run away. Nobody ran and hid. Let’s put the backup in and let’s go.
Ultimately, we found a way to generate two more possessions, 10 more points after that. That’s what
I’m getting at. I know the scoreboard; our record is not what we all know Florida football should be.
But I know what’s in there and I think they’ve shown that pretty consistently. Gotta believe there’s
some good comes from it. But right now, we got a bunch of kids that are hurting – hurting in here.
There’s a lot of guys who played their butt off out there tonight.”
On the message to the defense after coming up short…
“That’s what you’re doing. Ultimately, you’re coaching a bunch of guys that had zero experience
prior to this year. That’s what it is. I think we’re teaching football while we’re competing at a high
level. I just think you’ve got to continue to compete. I mean, ultimately, we know what the issues are.
I mean, whether it’s communication, alignment, eye discipline, fundamentals. You know, we know
what the issues are. We just ultimately got a bunch of guys out there that are playing college
football, it’s the first time they’ve done it. So, we’re not going to give them excuses, right? We’re going
to keep coaching them hard, keep giving them feedback. We have to all take ownership of this,
right? It’s my leadership, it’s my organization in terms of everything that we do. It’s our defensive staff,
it’s each position coach. I mean, everybody contributes to what we see out there. I know we’re all
quick to zero in on very specific things, but I think it’s what makes it a great game, is it requires a team
effort to play.”

2023 Florida Football Postgame Quotes

Florida Student-Athletes
No. 9 Missouri 33, Florida 31
November 18, 2023

17 Max Brown, Redshirt Freshman Quarterback

On his mindset after the Graham Mertz injury…
“Graham’s a warrior so just being behind him and seeing at practice following him around and
seeing him compete, I think that really made me keep that one-play mentality and just always being
ready for it. I think he’s done a great job and been a great leader throughout the whole season so I
think he’s really helped me prepare for this moment.”
On his emotions…
“You’re one play away. You’re always one play away. You’ve got to stay ready. You’ve got to be
ready. So just being able to actually feel it and take a deep breath and say, ‘Let’s go out here and
ball,’ that was the mentality.”
On building confidence heading into next week…
“It builds confidence. I think going out there when you get any type of reps and going out there and
playing actual live football, it gives you confidence. Going out there, playing, it’s just football at the
end of the day.”
On bouncing back after the turnover…
“My team did a great job having my back. The defense was coming over to me and telling me, ‘We
got your back, we’re ready to go. We’re going to get you the ball right back.’ So I think that ended
up giving me confidence to go out there and perform. They did a great job being able to give me
opportunities to go into the game and make plays.”
On the read option play to Trevor Etienne…
“That’s my dawg, man, so being able to see seven run into the end zone like that is big time. It’s
something we’ve talked about for sure.”
On the fourth-quarter fumble…
“It’s 100 percent on me. I got to be better mechanically. I got to be able to extend the ball and be
able to not put the ball in jeopardy so that’s 100 percent on me.”
On his fourth-down conversion pass…
“Being able to have faith in your receivers, I think that’s big, especially on fourth down. When you look
out there and you’re like, ‘Who am I going to throw it to,’ I got faith in all four of these guys and that’s
a big breath of fresh air. Like I can throw it to all four of these guys right here. I think being able to pick
from any of the four calmed me down and allowed me to deliver.”
On his mentality and what he learned about himself…
“I think I have to give a lot of credit to my family to be able to give me the confidence to have that
one-play mentality. My dad is always texting me before the game, you’re one play away. It’s one
thing to know it but it’s another to actually be ready for it.”