2021 Florida Football Postgame Notes
No. 11 Florida 38, Tennessee 14
September 25, 2021
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium – Gainesville, Fla.
Emory Jones’ Career Night Powers Gators to First SEC Win of Season
• With 209 yards passing and 144 yards rushing, Emory Jones became the first Gators player to pass for 200-plus yards and rush for 100-plus yards in the same game since Tim Tebow accomplished the feat on Nov. 21, 2009 vs. FIU.
o Tebow and Jones are the only two Florida players to accomplish this feat over the last 25 years.
o Tebow accomplished the feat four times from 2007-09.
• Jones’ 144 yards rushing tonight is the fourth-most by a Gators quarterback in a single game in the last 25 years and the third-most of any FBS quarterback this season.
o Florida occupies two of the top-three single-game rushing performances by a quarterback in the FBS this season, as Anthony Richardson’s 160-yard performance vs. FAU ranks second in the FBS this season.
o Two of Florida’s top-four quarterback rushing performances since 1996 have happened this season, as Anthony Richardson’s 160-yard total ranks third during that span.
• By completing 21 of 27 passes, Jones finished with a 77.8 completion percentage. This is tied for the 10th-highest completion percentage by a Gators quarterback with at least 25 pass attempts in a game since 1996.
• Jones set single-game career highs in passing yards (209), completions (21) and rushing yards (144) while tying his career high with two touchdown passes.
• Jones has now rushed for 74-plus yards in all four games this season.
Florida’s Second-Ranked Rush Offense Prevails Over Tennessee’s Fifth-Ranked Rush Defense • In a battle of the nation’s second-ranked rushing offense (Florida, 335.7 YPG) and fifth-ranked rushing defense (Tennessee, 54.3 YPG), the Gators rushed for 283 total yards against the Vols. • This is the first time this season that Tennessee has allowed more than 96 rushing yards in a game. o Week 1: 32 vs. Bowling Green | Week 2: 96 vs. Pitt | Week 3: 35 vs. Tennessee Tech o The Gators nearly tripled Tennessee’s previous high of 96 rushing yards allowed. • Entering the game, Tennessee had surrendered just three runs of 10-plus yards all season long. o Florida racked up 10 rushes of 10-plus yards in tonight.
▪ Four different players contributed to the total: Emory Jones (five), Dameon Pierce (three), Nay’Quan Wright (one) and Malik Davis (one).
• Florida posted 109 rushing yards on 22 attempts (4.9 YPC) in the first half.
o Florida entered the game averaging 167.8 rush yards per half while Tennessee came into the game allowing an average of 27.2 rush yards per half.
Gators Offense
• With 283 rushing yards vs. Tennessee, Florida’s 1,290 total rushing yards through four games is its highest total dating back to at least 1965 (56 years).
o This is just the second time since 1965 in which the Gators have averaged 300-plus rushing yards per game through the first four weeks of the season, with the other being the 2009 campaign.
o Previous best: 1,230 rush yards through four games in 2009
▪ Week 1 vs. Charleston Southern (369), Week 2 vs. Troy (291), Week 3 vs. Tennessee (208), Week 4 vs. Kentucky (362)
o Through Week 3, Florida ranked second in the FBS and first in the SEC in both rushing yards per game (335.7) and total rushing yards (1,007).
▪ The Gators are now averaging 332.5 rushing yards per game.
• With 505 total yards of offense vs. Tennessee, Florida’s 2,163 total yards through Week 4 of the season is the team’s highest total through four games in the last 20 years.
o This is Florida’s most total yards through four games of a season since racking up 2,346 yards through the first-four games of the 2001 campaign.
o Through Week 3, Florida ranked eighth in the FBS and second in the SEC with 552.7 total yards per game.
▪ The Gators are now averaging 540.75 total yards per game.
• With 505 total yards vs. Tennessee, Florida eclipsed 2,000 total yards through four games for the first time since 2009 and for just the second time in the last 20 years.
o Florida is averaging 500-plus yards per game through four games for the eighth time dating back to 1965.
• Florida amassed 400-plus total yards for the 14th-consecutive game, which is now the longest active streak in the nation. This is the first time in the last 40 years that the Gators have had this many 400-plus yard games consecutively.
o UF also has at least seven-straight 400-yard outings against SEC teams for the first time in school history — a streak now at 11 games.
o Today’s game is the 29th time Florida amassed 400-plus total yards under Mullen – four more than the program’s total of 25 400-yard outings from the 88 games comprising the 2011-17 seasons.
o The Gators have eclipsed 400 total yards in 27 of their last 33 games.
o In Week 3, Florida ended Alabama’s streak of 21-consecutive 400-yard games, bringing the Gators to the top of the list.
• This is the 11th time in Florida’s last 17 games that the Gators totaled 500+ yards. o Florida posted its 17th game of 500-plus total yards in Dan Mullen’s 42 games as head coach – three more games than the team’s combined total of 14 games from the 115 games comprising the 2009-17 seasons.
o This is the first time since 2007 that Florida has had at least three 500-yard games through the first four weeks of the season.
▪ In 2007, Florida racked up 500-plus total yards in each of the first four games of the season.
• Florida begins the season with four-consecutive 200-plus yard rushing games for the first time since 2009.
o This is just the second time in the last 44 seasons in which Florida has posted four-straight games of 200+ rushing yards to open the season (2009, 2021).
o 2009: Week 1 vs. Charleston Southern (369) | Week 2 vs. Troy (291) | Week 3 vs. Tennessee (208) | Week 4 vs. Kentucky (362)
o This is the first four-game span overall in which Florida posted four-straight 200-plus yard rushing games since the Gators did so in the four final games of the 2018 campaign (Nov. 10, 2018 – Dec. 29, 2018.
o This marks Florida’s 17th 200+ yard rushing game under Mullen.
• The Gators open the season with four-consecutive 100+ yard rushing games for the first time since 2018 (205 yards vs. Charleston Southern, 128 vs. Kentucky, 222 vs. Colorado State, 201 vs. Tennessee).
o The Gators delivered their 33rd game of 100+ rushing yards under Mullen.
o Florida rushed for 100+ yards in all 13 games of the 2018 season.
• Wide receiver Trent Whittemore’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Kemore Gamble in the third quarter marked Florida’s first passing touchdown by a non-quarterback since Kadarius Toney connected with Moral Stephens for a 20-yard touchdown pass on Sept. 29, 2018 at Mississippi State.
o By default, this also represented the first passing touchdown of Whittemore’s career. o The touchdown was Gamble’s first of the 2021 season and fourth of his career (three in 2020).
• On Florida’s game-opening, 66-yard touchdown drive, Emory Jones connected with Malik Davis for a four-yard touchdown pass for Davis’ first-career receiving touchdown.
o Florida has scored on its opening drive in all-three home games so far this season and within its first-two drives in all four games this year.
Gators Defense
• Florida has now allowed 14 or fewer points 14 times under Mullen, including twice already this season (Week 1 vs. FAU).
o Florida’s 14 points allowed tonight is tied for the team’s second-fewest points allowed in a game dating back to November of 2019.
o The Gators allowed fewer points just once last season, beating Kentucky at home by a score of 34-10 on 11/28/20.
• Entering the game ranked fourth in the SEC and tied-for-ninth nationally with 11 sacks, the Gators recorded three sacks vs. Tennessee to bring their season total to 14.
o Florida’s 132 sacks since Mullen’s debut 2018 season rank first in the SEC and third nationally – trailing only Clemson (156) and Pittsburgh (145).
o Florida ranked tied-for-14th in the FBS and second in the SEC with 34 sacks last season. • Zachary Carter added to his team-leading 3.5 sacks (6.0 TFLs) with one sack (one TFL) against Tennessee.
o Carter now has 4.5 sacks and 7.0 TFLs on the season.
o Entering the game, Carter ranked fifth in the SEC in sacks while ranking tied-for-first in the SEC and tied-for-fourth in the FBS in TFLs.
• After tying his career high with eight tackles last week vs. Alabama, defensive back Trey Dean set a single-game career high with a team-high 11 tackles tonight while tying his career high with 1.5 tackles for loss.
• Ty’Ron Hopper set a single-game career high with seven tackles while tying his career high with 0.5 sacks.
o This marked Hopper’s first sack and first tackle for loss of the 2021 season.
• Mohamoud Diabate added to his team lead in tackles with eight more tackles tonight. o Diabate and Dean are now tied for the most tackles on the team with 26.
• Jeremiah Moon tied his career high with seven tackles.
• After recording his first-career sack last week vs. Alabama, Gervon Dexter got to the quarterback again vs. Tennessee with 0.5 sacks.
• Brenton Cox Jr. paced the team with 2.5 tackles for loss, tying his career high. • Princely Umanmielen tied his career high in tackles (four) and sacks (one).
Florida Special Teams
• Jace Christmann connected on a 47-yard field goal in the first quarter, marking the first field goal attempted and made of his Gators career.
o Christmann made 32 of 40 field goal attempts across his four-year Mississippi State career with a career long of 51 yards.
• Jeremy Crawshaw set a new career high with a 58-yard punt, topping his previous best of 57 yards. o Crawshaw punted three times for a total of 137 yards, equating to an average of 45.7 yards per punt.
o Crawshaw also placed two punts inside the 20-yard line.
Explosive Plays
• Emory Jones: 12-yard rush, first quarter
• Justin Shorter (from Emory Jones): 16-yard reception, first quarter
• Dameon Pierce: 14-yard rush, first quarter
• Emory Jones: 13-yard rush, first quarter
• Xzavier Henderson (from Jones): 20-yard reception, second quarter
• Nay’Quan Wright: 23-yard touchdown rush, second quarter
• Jacob Copeland (from Jones): 17-yard reception, second quarter (fumbled, recovered by Tennessee at UT15)
• Justin Shorter (from Jones): 33-yard reception, third quarter
• Malik Davis: 10-yard rush, third quarter
• Emory Jones: 24-yard rush, third quarter
• Emory Jones: 11-yard rush, third quarter
• Emory Jones: 49-yard rush, fourth quarter
• Dameon Pierce: 14-yard rush, fourth quarter
• Dameon Pierce: 11-yard rush, fourth quarter
Series Updates
• Today’s game represented the 51st all-time meeting between Florida and Tennessee including the 21st time the two programs have faced off in Gainesville.
• With the win, the Gators improved to 31-20 all-time vs. Tennessee including 4-0 under head coach Dan Mullen.
o Mullen improves to 5-0 against Tennessee overall (4-0 at UF, 1-0 at MSU), which is tied for his most wins against an SEC opponent without a loss (Vanderbilt: 5-0).
• The Gators are now 16-5 against the Volunteers in Gainesville and have won nine-straight home games vs. Tennessee dating back to 2003.
• Mullen claims the victory over Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel in the pair’s first head-to-head meeting as head coaches.
• Florida’s 283 rushing yards tonight is the team’s most against Tennessee since at least 1996. • Florida’s 505 total yards tonight is the team’s most against Tennessee since totaling 555 yards of offense vs. the Vols on Sept. 15, 2012.
• UF has now outscored the Vols, 150-57 (+93, +23.3 PPG), while out-gaining them, 1,785 yards to 1,360 yards (+425, +106.3 YPG) in four games under Mullen.
• Florida has now totaled 300+ yards of offense against Tennessee in seven-straight games and in 12 of the last 13 meetings.
Other
• UF has scored in 414-consecutive games — which is an NCAA record.
o The Gators broke Michigan’s record of 365-consecutive games (1984-2014) against LSU on Oct. 7, 2017.
o The next-closest active streak belongs to TCU, as the Horned Frogs have scored in 358- straight contests.
• Florida has finished with fewer than 10 penalties in 36-consecutive games.
• Florida Game Captains: #6 Zachary Carter, #20 Malik Davis, #51 Ventrell Miller • Florida won the toss and deferred; Florida defended the South end zone.
• Attendance: 88,478
o Florida has now drawn 86,000-plus fans in each of its first-three games this season. o This is the first time Florida has drawn 86,000-plus fans in three-consecutive home games since Oct. 5, 2019 – Nov. 30, 2019.
▪ Oct. 5 vs. Auburn (90,584) | Nov. 9 vs. Vanderbilt (86,201) | Nov. 30 vs. FSU (89,409)
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Dan Mullen, Florida Head Coach
No. 11 Florida 38, Tennessee 14
September 25, 2021
Opening statement…
“First, I want to thank Gator Nation. They did an unbelievable job showing up again two weeks in a row, and really, three out of the last four weeks. They created that environment for us here in the Swamp. Getting the Swamp to where it is, to what people think it is, to the stadium people are nervous to come and play here, is because of the fan base and the environment they create. The energy they bring to our team for four quarters, the energy our student body and fans bring is pretty special. You look out there today and there are 27 SEC Championship teams being recognized out there this weekend on campus. Twenty-seven SEC Championship teams – that shows that Florida is special. It’s not just being a great football program, or being a one or two-sport university, it’s about the Gator Standard and being the best we can be at whatever it is we do. We do that with all of our sports. It was great to honor them and it was great to see Coach Spurrier with the ’95 and ’96 teams – SEC and National Champions – recognized out there today. Those guys are all getting older, but I was trying to look at one or two of them for a snap here or there. I don’t know if they have four quarters in them, but they have a couple plays left in them. The amazing things those guys did, winning four-straight SEC Championships then the ’96 winning the national title, was pretty special. As far as our current team, I’m really proud of our guys and how they came out and played. Coming off last week’s game was obviously an emotional and physical game. We came back and had a great week at practice and were happy to go and play an excellent Tennessee team. I think you look at them and they are a physical group on both sides of the ball. They’re good athletes. I thought their quarterback played pretty well today hitting some shots and making big plays. They are an explosive-type offense and you can see the improvements they made in one year with what Coach Heupel is doing with them. Our guys had to come out and play hard for four quarters. In the first half, I thought there were a couple mistakes here and there. If we want to be a great team, we have to play great every snap, we have to execute, we have pay attention to detail and do every small thing the right way. I thought in the second half, we really did that. We came out and played really well in the second half.”
On the double pass play and if it was the same Kodak play in 2018…
“It was executed really well. You call trick plays and a lot of them are about timing and execution. I thought it was a good time because we were driving and they were kind of into a the endzone in attack mode. We executed it really well.”
On how Emory Jones played tonight…
“I think you see him really settling down. I thought he did a great job making his reads, managing the offense, and getting us in the right checks and into the right plays. His decision-making was pretty good in the past game. He had about 15 carries… That is probably a little bit much but I think a bunch of them were kind of scrambles with him improvising. I don’t know if we called many direct quarterback runs in the game tonight, but I think it shows how he is managing things. It was a good night for our backs. I think those guys are doing a pretty good job in running the ball as well.”
On his assessment of the defense tonight…
“I thought they played excellent and I thought Todd did a great job with getting the guys ready to play. They are an explosive offense and a tough offense to play. You look in the first half and we had a couple missed tackles which allowed them to keep the drive alive. And then that one touchdown was a missed tackle. We had blown coverage and had a missed assignment there. But, you saw
what Todd and his guys were able to do and the adjustments they made at halftime. For us to come in and get the shutout in the second half… I think Todd and his staff did an amazing job. Our guys played well, too. At halftime, I challenged the guys to play every single play at a high level, and we did that all the way to the final play of the game.”
On getting the Florida-Tennessee rivalry strong again…
“I think Josh [Heupel] is going to do a good job building that program up, and we’re also trying to build our program back up to get it back that way. It’s a huge game… You see it by the crowd, the environment, the excitement and the crowd that travels. Florida and Tennessee is still a huge game for both teams in the rivalry. Any time you have a game over a period of time and over again it’s top-10 teams playing each other, you’re like, “Wow, this is crazy.” Especially because it’s not just a rivalry here, you’re talking SEC and National Championship implications year-after-year. I don’t think the rivalry has decreased any, it’s still a huge game for both school and fan bases.”
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Florida Student-Athletes
No. 11 Florida 38, Tennessee 14
September 25, 2021
#5 Emory Jones, Redshirt Junior, Quarterback
On his confidence tonight…
“I’ve always been pretty good at throwing the ball on the run. Every game, I’ve been getting more confident and trying to build that. For the most part, I trust in my guys so I could be more confident sitting out there throwing in and outside the pocket. The guys up front did a pretty good job. They helped me out and made a lot of plays for me.”
On the trick play…
“It was actually kind of crazy, honestly. I’ve been watching different quarterbacks run that play and I’m on the sideline. Being in there and actually executing the play is kind of cool. I’m just glad to get the opportunity to go out there and play with these guys every Saturday.”
On talking to Jacob Copeland after his fumble…
“I told him just keep your head up. I said I’m going to hit you again. I’m going to keep coming to you. I just told him to keep his head up and keep his head in the game. That’s what I tell everybody who goes out there and makes any type of mistake. I never want to see any of my teammates down. When I’m down, they come pick me up. That’s the guy I want to be for everybody on the team.”
On rushing for 144 yards…
“A lot of the runs were passes. I just went through the reads and probably felt pressure or none of the guys were open. I just used my athletic ability to go make a play.”
On beating Tennessee…
“Coach Mullen told us earlier in the week, that this is probably a bigger game than last week because of how big the rivalry was and how it is here at the University of Florida. He preached that every single day to make sure that we stayed motivated and prepared on how we needed to come out here and get the win.”
#27 Dameon Pierce, Senior, Running Back
On Emory’s ability to keep the defense off balance…
“Yeah, he has more to come. That just scratched the surface for Emory. He’s a guy with a lot of potential and a lot of grit. He’s still getting comfortable and he’s still getting his feet wet, so expect more of that for Emory.”
On Tennessee being the nations number five rushing defense and seeing that as a challenge… “We came out and did what we always do. We run the ball and it’s going to set the tone on offense. We like to get things going early in the run game. Tonight, it was obviously a good showing of that. We still have things to fix on the offensive end – little reads here and there and a couple missed blocks. Just things we’re going to fix Monday. As far as them being the number five rushing defense, that’s pretty much every SEC team. They’re all going to have a good rushing defense and we expect that week-to-week.”
On what he’s learned about this offenses’ potential…
“The sky is the limit, not only as an offense, but the team in general. We have a lot of great guys. Coach Mullen says we just have to play together as a team and find our little thing. We’re just missing one thing and we just have to find it. We’re trying to find it week to week, and as soon as we mesh together, we’ll be a great team.”
On what Mullen’s challenge was at halftime…
“To go out there, just play and stop all this thinking. We were moving kind of slow because we were thinking a lot, not because we didn’t have the right calls or the right reads. They did a lot of things defensively that we didn’t really expect them to do tonight and it really caused us to think a lot. Coach Mullen shut down the play calling and just wanted us to go. That was our challenge and I think we did that the second half.”
On what the game was like last time in Kentucky…
“I remember that being a very hostile environment… Until Kyle Trask went in and won the game for us, then they got really quiet.”
On what the offense will look when Anthony is ready to play…
“Same as always. Anthony had a little tweak in the leg and we have to be careful with that injury. But, it’s pretty much going to be like what you saw. Kind of like with the running backs, we’re all very capable. We still have to rotate, so it’s just a matter of when and where.”
#11 Mohamoud Diabate, Junior, Linebacker
On Mullen’s challenge to the defense at half and the adjustments they made… “I felt like we were playing really well in the first half and just gave up a couple of big plays. The first touchdown, we had a missed tackle, and on the second touchdown, there was a missed assignment. We felt like in-between those plays, we were playing great defense. The message was just to eliminate those big plays and to play every single play with the attention to detail that is necessary to execute. We came out in the second half and did that and you guys saw the result.”
On how to improve tackling…
“It is personally something that I just spoke to Coach Robinson about. Obviously, we have been getting better at it as time has gone on, but something that we need to do is stay after practice and get extra work in. We can even call a few running backs over and have them do a few moves on us to see if we can size them up well. We don’t get a lot of opportunities to tackle on the ground in practice, so we need to put ourselves into situations that can simulate that.”
On how they kept the intensity up with the injuries
“We are a deep team. With Ventrell out, I had to switch positions, but it was nothing considering I have played a lot of SEC football. So, at this point, moving positions and having to learning something new isn’t much to me. With Kaiir being out, the young guys have done an incredible job preparing themselves. I personally told them after the game how proud I was of them because of the work that they have put in, both Jason and Avery. I feel total confidence in them being out there. I have confidence that they can execute when they need to execute, just because I see them in practice and around the building. They care about it and that is half the battle.”
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Josh Heupel, Tennessee Head Coach
No. 11 Florida 38, Tennessee 14
September 25, 2021
Opening statement…
“Obviously, extremely disappointing that the second half unfolded the way that it did. We competed and we responded extremely well in the first half all three phases of the game. I thought [there was an] opportunity in the second half, didn’t take advantage of certain opportunities and didn’t play smart football down the stretch. Not a question of wanting to as we came out of the tunnel for the second half, but obviously not good enough to cut it or smart enough competitors to go play the way that we needed to as a good football team”
On penalties getting in the way…
“Obviously the two on the special teams—disappointing, and the guy that’s catching the football early and unsportsmanlike conduct on the course of the play. Two things you just can’t do. Can’t take away from an effort of what everybody else on the football team is doing. Couple of penalties on offense that hurt you in situational football. Had some moving parts up front that played a little bit of a part of that. But, at the end of the day, playing at this level, you’ve got to go execute. Didn’t do a good job of that the second half.”
On timeouts…
“At the end of the situation, there was maybe 14 seconds on the clock there. Wanted to stay in tempo, that was just a choice by me. They got the ball spotted a little bit closer than I anticipated, but it felt like we had a chance to hit a shot and catch those guys out of position. Didn’t hit it. Felt like we had to go kick a field goal at the point we were at. Had a couple of issues with our snaps and that type of thing. We were right on the fringe of his range, and we decided to take the field goal at that point.”
On Hendon Hooker’s game & status…
“I really didn’t want to play Joe in this game just based off of the amount of work he got during the week and where we felt he was at the end of the week. I thought Hendon played hard, competed, made big times plays inside the pocket, used his feet, opportunistic. He had a play or two down the
field that he didn’t connect on. I thought he handled the noise, the communication, for the most part in a really positive way during the course of the game. Handled the ups and downs and He continued to fight and compete and do it in a positive way there on the sideline in his demeanor, too. A ton of positives there. As far as his health. I don’t know where we’re at this point. We had a few guys that got banged up over the courses of the game, a little too early to tell where they’re at.”
On how team is better than against Bowling Green…
“I think we’re a better football team in our understanding of what we’re doing and, in some ways, execution. When you’re playing a really good football team like this, you lose opportunities, and those things arise. You’ve got to make those plays and today I didn’t feel like we did that.”
On losing momentum in the second have after Jimmy Calloway’s drop…
“The second half, just the flow of it, the clock is draining on everybody’s drives in the second half. There weren’t a ton of opportunities. You have to maximize every one of those drives and a couple situations we were in fourth down. You’ve got Calloway on a simple drag route. He’s got a chance to maybe pick up the first down and go the distance. We’re in fourth and short and it was a unique situation. Had to move centers and you have a delay of game there and you feel like you have to
punt the football. Too many things that unfolded that you can’t do if you want to win against a really good football team like this. You just can’t do it as a program, so we’ve got to get better.”
On running the game, Tiyon Evans performance and on the health of Jabari Small… “Jabari’s health, we will find out. I thought he fought and competed hard during the course of the game tonight. A lot of production out of him. Beginning of the second half, one of those drives, I thought we did a great job of consistently running the football and picking up nickels and more than that at times. I thought they ran with great pad level, restraint, and effort. I thought we moved the line of scrimmage in the second half. I don’t think we did it consistently enough in the first half, a couple of those drives where we didn’t get it started. We’ll go back and watch the video and see tomorrow.”
On Elijah Simmons…
“Just got hit on the knee as far as I know. That’s what they told me. I didn’t actually see it happen live. We’ll find out more as we finish tonight and get back to Knoxville.”
On whether he was surprised to see dropped passes…
“I didn’t anticipate that tonight based on what we see in practice.”
On program closing the gap between other SEC teams…
“It’s in everything that you do. There’s plenty of plays out there for us as coaches and players to close the gap tonight. We had a chance for it to be a tie-ball game going in. It’s who we are and how we continue to develop as we build this program. It’s in recruiting, too. We have to continue to grow or to race against ourselves. I said it last week, I said it the week before that. There are things for us to do that we can do better than what we showed in the second half, in particular tonight.”
On slowing down offense with Hendon & quarterback finding read…
“We hit a couple plays tonight, we missed a couple plays. The quarterback has to move in the pocket, and doesn’t hit it. We got some things underneath that are wide open too, that are big runs and catches afterwards that we don’t connect on, whether that’s the throw or the catcher. We just have to continue to get better. We’ve got to do it quicker.”
2021 Florida Football Postgame Quotes
Tennessee Student-Athletes
No. 11 Florida 38, Tennessee 14
September 25, 2021
#3 JaVonte Payton, Senior, Wide Receiver
On the Florida defense in the second half…
“The defense wasn’t really doing much, as far as when we had a lot of third-and-long situations. They were playing cover two a lot. As far as changing their defense, it was pretty much the same. It was just about us trying new plays and doing new things. I don’t think the defense really changed much.”
On upcoming SEC play…
“I honestly think playing Florida this early was great for the whole team because they’re a team with that much talent. They had talented defensive backs, talented defensive linemen, a talented offense, and all around. Going in the film room and watching it, we will just try and get better off that. It’s going to help us for the for the rest of the season.”
On his touchdown…
“I realized I was open immediately. The safety crashed hard, so I knew I was going to be open. Connecting on that was amazing. It’s just about executing our plays in practice. We are going over that constantly – executing the plays at a very high level. It was just amazing getting that opportunity and getting to put up points for the Vols.”
On team injuries…
“In practice, it’s not too much different. We have guys rotating all throughout practice. Every player gets to rock with every quarterback and every lineman. It’s not anything new for us going on the field. We all have that chemistry, but it’s just about us executing the plays and getting the job done.”
On the team’s attitude at halftime…
“Everybody was still locked in. Everybody was still focused. There wasn’t a moment during that game where I felt we couldn’t win the game or thought we were out of it. I’m really impressed with how well the team stayed together and just kept pushing forward.”
#2 Alonate Taylor, Senior, Defensive Back
On Tennessee’s penalties and execution tonight…
“Disappointing, you know? You kind of want to win those aspects of the game and you also don’t want to make it close. You want to be there early and make that play. Sometimes, you just can’t control things like that. You got to clear it and go to the next play.”
On being able to stop the running backs, but being unable to contain the quarterback… “Coming in at half time, they were running everything we knew they were going to run. They didn’t really change much up. We just have to tackle at the end of the day. We knew that we had to contain [Emory Jones]. We kind of had the same issue against Pittsburgh, so that is something we need to tighten up this week. No matter who you play, the quarterback can get lose and if you don’t contain the quarterback he is going to make plays with his feet. The emphasis was on stopping the run and I feel like we did a pretty good job with the running backs, but as far containing the quarterback we didn’t do so well. We just got to wrap up and make more tackles.”
On Tennessee’s rushing defense in the first half versus the second half…
“We just didn’t execute as well. We missed a lot of tackles in the second half as well. We just got to come out better. We got to be able to play games together from the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter.”
On having a good first half and a bad second half…
“Really both I guess. If you watch the last three games we had, I feel like we played all four quarters. This game, we didn’t do that. Something we need to work on this week is, we have to win during the four minutes before the half and also when we come out after half time. We knew defense was coming up first after the half. A couple plays like that and a touchdown is something we can’t allow to happen. Then, we needed an extra three points to start off the third quarter.”
On what the mood was like in the locker room during half time…
“We were just positive. Everybody just had a good mindset and the coaches were making sure we stayed even-keeled. Not too high, not too low. We knew that we had another half of football to play. On top of that, we knew we had them by their necks, we just had to come out and do what we were supposed to do and we didn’t execute well. We have to go back to the film room, see the things we messed up on, and get ready for a good team in Missouri next week.”
On the forced fumble on Jacob Copeland…
“I was just playing a trap to the field. I knew it was either fourth and two or fourth and three, and I didn’t want him to get the first down, so I kind of trapped a little too early. Henry saw it, and kind of just made a whole shot to Copeland. Then, Trevon Flowers made a good stop on him, but I just came in there to finish up the tackle. We always talk about getting the ball out and I knew it was a good opportunity because I saw the ball was loose and I took that opportunity.”
On how to prevent Tennessee from falling apart mid-season similarly to last year… “We won’t fall apart let me start off with that. We are going to get closer as a team, we are going to watch film, and continue to build that bond. Come next week, we will handle that when it comes. One thing I will say is that we will not fall apart this year and you can quote me on that.”
