Jeremy Crawshaw
Press Conference
Q. How much time are you putting into that mustache?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Well, you know, the past couple years I’ve been doing the mullet, so this year I thought I’d change it up. I think it’s called maturing. You decide not to go with a bad haircut like that, so decided to do the facial hair this year since I can grow it now. So yeah, I’m kind of growing it out since December and learning — watching YouTube videos, how to touch it up. It’s got to look pristine.
Q. You guys and the kickers kind of operate in your own little university away from the team. Has that changed with Billy Napier who’s created — I know you’re still working on that, but do you feel more part of the thing? They’ve talked about the family environment and the way he’s just very adamant about that.
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Yeah, no, most definitely. Billy Napier has come in and done a very good job of bringing us all together since last year. We’ve all bought in, become a bigger family, and he definitely emphasized that point, everyone buying in and becoming whole.
That also involves the specs, the game changes. We changed the name to give us more emphasis. But yeah, that was one of the big points of Billy Napier coming in here. He wanted everyone to buy in, become a bigger family, so he’s done a very good job with that, and he’s involved the specialists, as well, so we definitely like that.
Q. Looking back, do you think that the discipline — people realize the lack of discipline last year? Because everybody is coming in and saying the discipline is so much better this year and stuff like that. Last year at the end it was obvious there were some problems, but going in it didn’t look like it. In retrospect what do you think was the problem last year?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: To be honest, I just kick the ball. I make sure that everyone on the punt team is doing their jobs. That’s all that I focus on. As long as I’m doing my job and I’m stepping up and helping the team, that’s all I can focus on.
Q. About that, other guys have come in and said their position coaches would help them with technique. How does that translate to you? What does a punter do to get ready in the off-season?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: It’s a lot of repetition. It’s a lot of the same, stretching, visualization steps, a lot of ball drops. Being a specialist, that’s kind of like the boring part of it, the stuff that goes on behind the scenes. Specialists are known to just sit off to the side of practice and do nothing. Everyone is like, man, I’d love to be a specialist. But what they don’t know is we go home and we stretch twice a day, we watch film endlessly on technique. We do the same ball drop 300 times a day to make sure when we get in a game, it is perfect. That’s the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and not a lot of people know that. But that’s what happens, so yeah.
Q. What do you think of Trey Smack? I know he enrolled over the summer but I’m guessing you’ve gotten to see a little bit of what he can bring to the program so far?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: He’s done a really good job coming in. Obviously it’s normal for guys to come in during this part of the year as high school finishes, but he’s done a good job at adjusting, following up with Adam, because Adam was here last year. He was able to learn the ropes, and just those two sharing experiences, bettering themselves off each other, yeah, they’re doing really well, those two.
Q. Compared to last year’s regime and now Billy Napier coming in this summer, what differences in your preparation and the structure of your off-season have you seen different this year compared to last year?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Like I said before, I’ve seen everyone buy in. Coach Napier spoke on it the other day that when you show the players that you care and about creating that home environment for everyone, the players want to buy in more. That’s what we’ve done. As Billy Napier said, you’re able to coach a little bit harder, so we are going harder than last year, yeah.
Q. Who have you seen getting punt return and kick return snaps so far?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: I think I said this in the spring: Mate, I just kick the ball. Whoever catches it catches it.
Q. What do you think the impact of Mark Hocke has been in the off-season program?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: He’s been good. He brings the energy every day. He comes in, he’s loud, he’s got these like one-liners he loves to hit every day, mad Monday and all that kind of stuff, get wild with it Wednesday. He brings the energy for us, and that really helps us get into the mood of it, get going and lift some weight and run harder. He’s been really good. He brings in lots of beliefs, discipline, effort, belief, and he instills it in us. He invests in us every day.
He’s been really good for us, and we haven’t taken a step back in that sense. He’s been really good for us, and to help us move forward in that off-season grind. Definitely.
Q. What kind of improvements have you seen in yourself through the program and in some of your teammates? Gervon Dexter looks like a different guy.
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Yeah, I’m 204 right now, but at the end of last year I was 188, so I guess you could say put on the pounds. My squat, bench, everything has gone up, so they were talking to me about moving me to tight end. (Laughter.) I don’t know if I am. So we’ll see.
But no, definitely, we’ve all seen those bigger, stronger, faster, more emphasis on the techniques of everything, which is a really good thing for us to improve as athletes, just to have that edge over the people that we play.
It’s been really good for us.
Q. You mentioned Hocke; he was a rah-rah guy, a lot of emotion, sort of the antithesis of Billy Napier in a way. What’s the most emotional — have you seen Billy get emotional in practice yet?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: No, I’ve seen him be happier. He tells us, you’ve done a good job today, fellas, well done. But yeah, I mean, like maybe a bit of a stoic guy. Keeps it to himself.
Q. Have you ever seen him mad?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Not yet. I mean, no.
Q. What would that be like if he started screaming?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: I have no idea. Yet to find out.
Q. One thing under the previous regime you got to do was some trick plays. Have you talked to Napier about showing off the wheels a little bit?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: I think he’s seen the film. I think he’s seen it for himself. I think he knows what I’ve got going here, so if he wants to run it, give me the nod and I’ll take off with it. So yeah.
Q. Of all the things that you enjoyed in Australia, what do you miss the most being here, and what have you picked up here in the South that you’ve found that just totally weird but you like?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Oh, there’s way too many things to be specific with that. Oh, it’s everything. I think maybe probably the biggest thing is conversations. Just like everyday conversations are different. You talk about different things. You have different hobbies, likes, stuff like that. It’s different here, hunting, fishing, whatever, whatever. I love a bit of that back down under, but just the difference of sports, childhood experiences, that’s probably the biggest difference is just chatting to people.
I do also enjoy that new aspect of it. You’re learning something different from everybody every day. You chat to someone new and they said, oh, I did this and did that. You’re like, that’s crazy. Tell me more.
Q. Is it like learning a new language?
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: Kind of. There’s little slangs in there, and I’ve had to teach other people mine, because when I showed up everyone looked at me like backwards. Didn’t understand me and I had to repeat things all the time. So I guess I’ve lost a bit of the slang because they just don’t understand what I’m saying.
No, I definitely do enjoy learning about the culture here, especially in the South.
Q. (No microphone.)
JEREMY CRAWSHAW: They’re both pretty stellar, I’d say. I think both are pretty good.
O’Cyrus Torrence
Press Conference
Q. Talk about the adaptations for you about the difference in style between Louisiana and Florida. You were adapting to it somewhat; what’s that been like for you and just the amenities, the food, the culture, all that? Give me your thoughts about that.
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: I’ve adapted pretty good so far from the last time we talked and even from when I first got here. It’s a difference from like the area and kind of a culture, but it’s still a college football town, so it’s kind of like I was able to fit in pretty well pretty fast. But the food-wise, it’s different. I’m just used to the spiciness of Louisiana. We talked about it, with the hot sauce and stuff like this. Nobody out here likes their food hot, so I have to kind of find places that have food or I just want to cook my own food. I have to put my Louisiana style to it.
My roommate, he’s from Orlando, and there’s times he tastes it, and he’s like, what you doing with this or asking questions about it and stuff like this, and it’s too spicy, but it’s just a little spicy.
But I feel like I’ve adapted pretty good just with the area and just this place. It’s nice.
Q. People are praising you at practice. Gervon was just talking about how sound you are in your technique, how they’d have to study you to know how to play against you because you’re so smart. Talk a little bit about technique, what you’ve learned and what you’ve learned on top of what you knew before you came here.
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: For me, most of my game I prided myself on my technique. I was always bigger and stronger than a lot of people my age, so I felt like I needed something else. I knew that wouldn’t get me through to get the best I needed to be when I get to the next level and even when I get to the NFL.
I just prided myself on technique and just being sound with it, and I told myself that if my technique is perfect, it would be hard for me to lose a rep in general. Just like running my paths has kind of helped me out. My technique is to me one of my most important parts of my game, and it’s just come from film study on myself more than just other people. I watch myself and I see what I mess up on and I see what I not like, or I might take a step that I feel like could be longer or shouldn’t be as long, or getting my feet down, my hand placement, stuff like that. I like to watch film of myself to help myself get better in areas I know I need work on.
Q. Self-evaluation.
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: Yeah, a lot of it, yes, sir.
Q. What do you think of the schedule you have here? You’re going from playing in the Sun Belt to playing in the SEC, plus Utah, Florida State. A lot to take in.
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: It’s exciting for me because I feel it’s much different than what I’m used to because what I’m used to at Louisiana, it was like two, three games where we know they were big games, where last year for us it was Texas and I knew that game was going to get the most looks so there was a lot of pressure to play good in that game for us.
Here it’s like every week is a big opportunity, so it’s less pressure for me, so I know I can — not mess up, but every week it’s a new challenge to prove I can play and be here, so I’m just ready for that challenge to take on and show everybody what I can do.
Q. You’re the new guy coming in here as far as offensive line. When you saw the group at the offensive line and you started working with them, what were your thoughts on how good they were when you started practicing? A lot of people think the offensive line is going to be a strength of this team. Discuss that a little bit.
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: When I first got here, it took me a little while because I was kind of in a shell, but after like a few practices, not even that many, they kind of took me in as their brother, and I just appreciate them for that. Work-wise they work hard. Like from the first day, they never complained about the work, even if it was different from what they was doing last year with the other staff, because we do do a lot of O-line individual, team reps as an O-line. We do a lot of O-line stuff.
It was a lot for them, but I never heard them complain. I just always seen them attack the work and the willingness to get better. That’s kind of what I like to see because that O-line is always something you can get better and work at — and it’s a team sport, so we’ve got to be together as a team, so just seeing them easily accept the work every day and just attacking it just made me feel like yeah, I can like it here. I like how they work, and I’m ready to play with them.
Q. Going back to your freshman year at Louisiana, I think you were the first true freshman offensive lineman to start in 15 years. What was the message from Napier to you going into the season, and was it a jump that surprised you?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: It kind of surprised me, but it didn’t at the same time because throughout the whole summer Coach Napier — it was more from my O-line coach, just kind of telling me, we’re going to need you this year, just talking to me. I don’t think he’s just telling me this just so I can not — just so I can work out and practice hard, not just go through the motions.
But as the time came and as fall camp came, he kept telling me that I’d start getting more reps with the ones, and then a starter had got hurt, and they just told me it’s my time to go. I was nervous for like the first few plays, which I’m sure anybody would be, but from them telling me all summer and just working me like I was going to start, it helped me without me even knowing it because I was out there. My body just like acted and I was able to play and perform at a high level from the start, and that was because of the work they put me through over the summer in fall camp, practicing me like I was going to be a starter when I was still a third-string freshman.
Q. Now all three of you guys are here, new place. What was the message that hey, we need you at Florida? What went into that?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: It was just once I got in the portal, then they started contacting me and talking because I was a little shocked because I didn’t know — I didn’t think they would need me. I thought, it’s the SEC, they’ve got a bunch of needs over here, but they said they needed me because I knew the offense and I would be a good part to the puzzle over here and stuff like that.
My other three teammates, we was in the portal together so we did talk throughout the process, but we never talked about what we was going to do, we just talked it up and talked about how it was going and stuff like that. It was just talking, and I just remember when I talked to the the coaches how they explained about the development of how long I would be here, just for like a year, then how it’s going to hit me at the next level, coming here, playing and dominating. It reminded me of coming out of high school and how they recruited me and just the love they showed, and I was like, yeah, it’s still the right place for me. I didn’t make the wrong choice then, and I didn’t make it this time, either.
Q. How many years were you with Billy before here?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: Three. Three years at Louisiana.
Q. How would you describe his personality, some of his traits of his personality and how they rub off on the team?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: He showed a lot of like integrity and togetherness. Like he’s a player’s coach, and I just respect the way he goes about the work, like you’re going to get the same out of him every day. He’s the same guy, he comes with the same energy. He isn’t big rah-rah, but it’s a calm, but it’s still a nice — it’s a commanding presence with him and you just get used to it and you feel it when you’re out there on the field. I think just the feeling that you get from him, it makes you want to play for him a little harder because you know he’s behind you 100 percent, so he’s just a coach that makes you want to play hard for him.
You know he’s going to work you. He’s going to work you, but he’s going to love you, too, and you love playing for coaches like that. It’s just a good feeling.
Q. Have you been asked about the socks yet?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: Yeah.
Q. How does all that you just said show up with the players, the calm, the attention to detail on the field? How does that show up?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: It shows up with discipline. I think it has a lot to do with discipline. It helps us be more disciplined in the game because in the beginning of the spring that was the problem a little bit was discipline with us and not beating ourselves, just from seeing it from him, if you see somebody ahead of you, if you see somebody doing it the right way, we just seen him do it the right way, and it helps us be able to do the right way, just stay disciplined and play the game like we’re supposed to play it.
I feel like his ways of doing it and his personalities, his traits that he does show, it rubs off on us and it helps us become a more disciplined team, better and together.
Q. Do you see the stamp of Billy Napier being put on this program from what you saw in Louisiana? Gervon talked to us about the discipline issues and some other things. As you came here in the months to where we are now, have you seen these changes?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: Oh, yeah, I seen it a lot. From the first practice we did was like just a regular practice from depth to where we’re at now to the first practice we was going — like going hard but you’re not going too hard, but here it was kind of no different. They were just going hard every play.
It was just learning how to practice, small stuff like that, learning how to practice with your teammates and not getting yourself hurt, stuff like that that Coach taught us and showed them the right ways to do things like that.
That just got us better to where now we can practice and it’s smooth. Like with OTs we’re out there by ourselves with no coach and just practicing, getting it out of the way for like 30 minutes, and we was able to do it, but when we first got here, Coach first got here, we wouldn’t be able to do that because we just wasn’t together enough or disciplined enough. But from the time I’ve been here until now, I’ve seen the growth, and they’re pretty good from then to now.
Q. You’ve been on a lot of preseason watch lists, accolades. How do you process that mentally or how do you during the off-season, and how do you take that into camp?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: For me I use it as fuel. I feel like it feels good to get the type of recognition. I feel like I work hard to get that recognition, but I still feel like I haven’t done anything yet to deserve it. It feels good, but I still don’t feel too deserving, so it makes me want to work harder to prove to myself that I do deserve it.
The list to me, it shows everybody else what I’ve been doing, and it kind of shows them that I’m pretty good, but to me I still feel like I’ve got more to where I can get better. It’s just showing that I’ve still got more to do. If I can achieve that goal, it would just make me feel like, what more can I do if I am out there. Just kind of adds more fuel to the fire for me to try to get better.
Q. You obviously know quite a bit from your experience. What should fans expect this offense to look like? I know in the past couple years they were more 11, 10-personnel heavy, a couple years of airing it out, being one of the better passing offenses in the nation, but from what I understand it’s not going to look exactly like that.
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: It will be more like — it’s a little bit like that but mostly like — I don’t want to say run heavy. We’re definitely going to run the ball, but there’s going to be a lot of depth with play action and then downfield plays I feel like, and then with the staff and the people we have on the team from like the quarterback to the backfield to the receivers, I feel like we can do honestly everything but more of running the ball, like run the ball, play action, just across-the-field type stuff, and like setting up things along in the game and even along in the season.
Q. I think Ethan had said back in spring that he really enjoyed installing a bit more power to you because you could kind of — would you agree it’s kind of like that?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: Yeah, I agree with that, too, like power and like plays that you can kind of impose your will, the offensive line on the defense and like kind of time out, and then as you install, just open the playbook up for real, like start going over their heads, so it’s going to be exciting.
Q. What was it about Billy or maybe even the coaching staff, the whole coaching staff at Louisiana that you think enabled you guys’ success? What did they do for you guys that put you guys on the right track?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: I feel like what they do — I’m going to speak for my position, O-line-wise, like with Coach Sale and Coach Stape, it’s like two head O-line coaches together teaching you the same thing but sometimes in different ways. They have the same emphasis but they’ll teach it in different ways.
They just build experience with their relationships, too. For me I can go to either one of my coaches and talk to them about anything, even family troubles or even if it’s something on the field that I’m not getting. I feel like I can do that with them. It’s just the relationships they build, and then from seeing from what I have seen with Coach Napier and the other coaches how they interact with the players and talking with the players how they say it’s different from how they’re used to, it’s just eye opening to where that actually matters and how the coaching staff actually interacts with the players and stuff like that. It’s more than just football, more than just about football, it’s kind of like a family ordeal.
Q. Why does that allow the team to be more successful?
O’CYRUS TORRENCE: Because like if you’re playing and then the person alongside you knows what they’re doing, and that’s what the coaching staff does to make sure whoever is out there they know what they’re doing and they’re confident in their skills, and I feel like if you know the player alongside of you is confident and he’s like — in practice you’ve been seeing it and he’s confident in his plays, it’s going to make you play harder for me.
Like O-line, like our coaches make sure we are all — like the right guard knows the left tackle job, and the left tackle knows the center job. If we all know each other’s jobs from being coached and stuff like that, it can make us play better and harder, so I feel like this makes us play more together and better together.
Gervon Dexter
Press Conference
Q. You guys have a new coach, new mindset, new expectations. How has Billy Napier’s personality just kind of rubbed off on this team do you think?
GERVON DEXTER: I think Coach Billy Napier has rubbed off on the team in mainly just his leadership role and teaching each individual how to be a leader in their own way. It don’t matter the guy who it is. Everybody can be a leader. I think that’s become — that helped a lot of discipline on our team. All guys are leaning the right way and doing the right thing the same way. It’s really helped, and that’s been Coach nay peer’s biggest thing. Just staying together, everybody staying together, doing some of the things he’s been teaching. Like I said, discipline has been one of his biggest things and everybody going the right way doing the same thing, everybody doing their job and not focusing on outside stuff. That’s been his biggest thing.
Q. How big a change has that been?
GERVON DEXTER: That’s been a huge change for us in my opinion. That was an issue that we had, just discipline. I think that was one of the biggest things that needed to be changed with him coming in. Changing that has made a huge difference on us already.
Q. Gervon, obviously there was a lot of mock drafts and stuff that made waves this summer. How did you feel to see your name pop up in some of those? Does that motivate you? Do you try to ignore that stuff?
GERVON DEXTER: Yeah, I try to ignore it. A lot of that stuff, I’ve seen guys who was on some of that stuff and it never came true. I kind of really like to stick to what’s now and my goal now as far as like a team goal. I’m not really having too much listening to the individual stuff just yet. I’ll do that after the season.
Yeah, not really too much. Like you said, my name is on it. It’s a big blessing for somebody to be looking at me, but I haven’t too much really been looking into it.
Q. With that in mind, when you see stuff like that, how does that affect your work ethic this off-season? What are some of the things that you tried to work on with your game?
GERVON DEXTER: Like I said, I didn’t really too much look into it. I was already on goal this off-season, so that didn’t affect me going harder or anything. I was already going hard.
Q. Gervon, what do you think are the one or two biggest differences that the average fan is going to see with this team compared to last year?
GERVON DEXTER: Like I said, discipline, a huge, huge discipline difference. Just you’ll see a family out there. It won’t be an individual this or that. It’ll be, like I said, all the guys going the same way. That will be the biggest thing you’ll see out there.
Q. I know you had moved around the defensive line quite a bit to start your career; is there a role that you’re kind of settling into within this new scheme?
GERVON DEXTER: Yeah, I’ll be playing like the end in this defense. Like I said, I’m a big team player guy, so if it’s a time where Coach PT needs me at tackle or at nose, I’ll be there, as well.
I think a guy like me, I feel like I can play the whole front almost, so there’s no role really, just wherever they need me, that’s where I’ll be at.
Q. I know Coach Napier has highlighted that there’s inexperience across the front. What are you seeing from some of the young guys?
GERVON DEXTER: I think they’re growing up pretty fast. Like you said, unfortunately they’re inexperienced, but they’re growing up. You’re only inexperienced until you get out there, so I think once they get out there and we get out there and get ready to go, they’ll be ready for sure.
Q. Gervon, how have you seen yourself grow as a leader heading into this fall camp? You already talked about some of the young players. What have you done in order to sort of bring them along?
GERVON DEXTER: I’ve been taught as a child, anybody can talk and say they’re a leader and yell real loud and make everybody think they’re doing it right, but I think I’m a big guy who I like to lead by example. If I’m doing it the right way, they have no choice but to see me doing it the right way. That’s kind of how I’ve been going about it.
Of course you have to be a little vocal, and I like to get a little vocal and kind of talk a little bit, but my main thing is just leading by example for sure.
Q. You talked about the discipline that the new coaching staff is bringing; how have you seen the players respond, not just yourself but everybody?
GERVON DEXTER: Of course at first it was new stuff, but it’s been a whole switch. As far as everything we do, Coach Napier said we’re all outside in white socks, you won’t see a blue sock out there. That’s been the main thing, just big on discipline, doing what he says, and that’s been a huge change in the switch so far.
Q. Gervon, in what kind of ways has this staff emphasized discipline? What have they done to make sure that you guys are improving?
GERVON DEXTER: Like I said with the socks, Coach Napier is a big guy on everybody looking the same, everybody doing the same. Just all the little things as far as jumping offsides or extra activity after the plays and just big on stuff like that. He came in letting us know that’s not going to happen, or consequences. Like I said, that’s been his big thing. It’s just the small stuff that come people may know that can cause you to lose a game, he’s been really impacting on that.
Q. As a leader on the defensive line, how important is it going to be this season to kind of develop a big-time kind of consistent pass rush? And your own pass rushing ability, what have you done in the off-season in terms of that?
GERVON DEXTER: So I’ve been working with Coach Spencer. Some of the things that he’s taught me has been almost like crazy because it’s like some stuff that some of the passers already in college football already probably know. I feel like with Coach Spencer coming in, it’s kind of been a blessing almost because the stuff that he teaches, I can’t even explain it. It’s crazy. He’s just a great coach. He’s helped me change my game. I wouldn’t think this could happen, but in probably a month he’s changed my game, so imagine what four or five months could do. That’s all I’m going to say.
Q. How good is O’Cyrus as a newcomer? What’s the scouting report going against him daily?
GERVON DEXTER: Yeah, that was huge for me because O’Cyrus is a big, big guy, and he can move well. Just the way — his approach. You wouldn’t know you’re going against a pro until you go against O’Cyrus. Physically he does all the right stuff. Like you really have to sit down and — when you’re pass rushing against O’Cyrus, you’ve really got to sit down and figure out what he’s doing because if you just go out there and try to rush him freely, it ain’t going to work. He’s been a huge, huge — that was a big gift for O’Cyrus to come to Florida. He’s a great player.
Q. You mentioned that your game has improved and evolved. Specifically what steps have you done? What has he taught you to do?
GERVON DEXTER: The biggest thing has been technique-wise. I’ve gotten away so far with me just being physically gifted and stuff like that. Coach Spencer coming in and just — kind of like a tune-up on a car. He’s tuned me up and stuff like that.
Just all the small things that I didn’t know, hands, feet, get-off, some of the stuff like that has really helped my game so far, and then just knowing the game a little more, knowing where the quarterback is or where the running back is and what type of player I’m going to get or how is the guard going to play off of me or how is he going to block me. That’s been the biggest thing, just the small things in the game that I didn’t know.
Q. Back to the discipline thing, how did players react to that at first? Do you think they craved it, or was it a jolt to the system?
GERVON DEXTER: It was just kind of new for everybody. Like I said, with the white socks, some guys are like, man, we didn’t do that already. So coming in it was a little — you know what I’m saying? That’s what it is when you get something new and you’re not used to it. But he’s pretty — he stuck his foot down and wasn’t changing, and we just had to get on the same boat as him.
Q. As a Florida native, kind of speak and reflect going into your third year what it’s meant to you to be a Florida Gator and the experiences not just on but off the field, as well, and just what that means to you as you come on the down side of your career.
GERVON DEXTER: It means a lot to me. That was one of my biggest reasons on why I’m here, just to represent the state of Florida, just me being here, being from Polk County, it just meant a lot to me to be able to come here. It means a lot to me to wear that logo every Saturday.
I feel like as a recruit or as a player, why not stay in the state of Florida and get to represent where you’re from and what it means to you to play in Florida. I feel like that’s been a huge big reason on why I’m here today.
Q. Give us the name of someone who we may not know but you look forward to big things going into it season.
GERVON DEXTER: There’s so many. As far as one or two that I could choose, I would say Jalen Lee, Princely. I ain’t going to try to say his last name up here. But there’s guys like that for sure.
Q. Being a new dad now, different kind of motivation, different kind of thing waking up in the morning. What’s your life like as dad and player and what kind of motivation does that bring going forward?
GERVON DEXTER: It’s been a huge motivation for me because as far as before I was a dad, it was kind of like everything I was doing, it was kind of for me almost, like my goals. But I’m sure some of you guys know if you have kids, it’s not about you anymore, it’s about him now. Everything I do now is trying to set his life up for the better.
It’s just been a blessing, and it’s crazy. Today we start camp we got to go up to the hotel, that’s probably one of my saddest days is leaving him. But like I said, it’s for the better, and it’s been — I can’t even explain how good it’s been for me being a father.
Mark Hocke
Press Conference
MARK HOCKE: How extensive and how good of a job ya’ll do being journalists and covering us. So we really appreciate the work that you do.
We really believe that the guys work really hard and they’re going to have a story that needs to be shared and that’s where y’all fit into the puzzle, so we appreciate y’all helping share their story.
Also want to recognize the strength staff. So much has improved since we’ve gotten here, and I think it has a lot to do not only with the players hard work, but the strength staff members. So obviously this is a game of speed, and we’re always trying to create more efficient movers. So I think of Tiger Jones and Ed Thompson. They’re kind of our speed development guys offensively and defensively, done a really good job. The guys have done a good job buying into what they have been coaching fundamental-wise and just the hard work.
I think of Karmichael Dunbar. He does the majority of the training with the bigs. It’s no secret, if you want to have success in the SEC, it starts up front. You got to run the ball and stop the run, and I think Coach Dunbar’s done a really good job of training and developing the guys in the trenches.
And then I just think about the relationship aspect, how important that is. I think Alex Watkins, Frank Ogas have done a tremendous job creating those tight-knit bonds that’s going to get that player buy-in you need in order to push the gas pedal and get them to work hard and get ’em to work consistently.
I think it’s been a productive seven months really since we got here and really a productive summer. We call that phase of training the regimen. For me personally it’s been great to see the overall transformation of the entire team from that first team meeting until the last team meeting, this past regimen, during the summer.
I think it all starts with believing, right? Belief is so important and we believe that belief is developed through preparation. Coach Napier is a firm believer in the work, right? And that’s why I love him and I think that’s why his process works. The work is what we believe in. You can’t train gladiators pillow fighting. That’s why the relationship with Joe Danos, our director of athletic development, so strong. It’s been my experience that sometimes guys in that sector want to hold back the work or water down the work. And that’s why I love Joe Danos. I think he does a good job of knowing when to pull back and when to push even harder. So I appreciate him for that.
This whole process has been about changing how they think. Think about it for yourself. The way we think determines our entire day. So asking yourself, the way I’m thinking right now, is this going to benefit my job, benefit my many roles. And if it’s not, then it’s about changing the way you think to benefit your day and benefit your roles.
And then obviously for the guys if they’re thinking right, they’re going to train right. And if they’re going to train right, the right results are going to come. It’s about thinking the right way so you can have the right habits and ultimately the right results. At the end of the day it really comes down to one’s example. Every player can ask themselves, you can ask yourself, is my example worth following? I’ve been really impressed with the leadership on this group. You met with some of ’em. At the end of the day, little brother’s going to do what big brother does, right?
And it’s about educating big brother and, really, educating ’em all so that they have a good example to follow and really how they communicate with one another. I think that’s been really impressive over the summer, just seeing them encourage more, encourage each other more, and then also confront things that might not be in place.
So I’ve been really impressed with the direction they’re giving one another and their encouragement they give one another. At the end of the day growth comes at the point of resistance, skills come from struggle. That’s the purpose of what we do. That’s the purpose of training. So we’ll have written down: So what? Now what?
And that brings us to fall camp. We’re prepared to wipe the slate clean and now attack each day like a new day. Excited to watch all these guys compete for jobs. Got a quote: It’s not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive, but those who can best manage change.
You’ve got to love the challenge, and you got to love the work, and that’s what this is all about. I think at the end of the day winners persist. I’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Can you tell me about these curves I think that guys ran during the spring? I know they had done stadium runs here before. I don’t know if that was an augmentation to that or if that was a new thing that O’Cyrus and Montrell knew was coming that maybe the guys who didn’t?
MARK HOCKE: So curves is part of our identity phase, the off-season program in the winter or right before spring ball, and it’s really just much like curves on a track, if you’ve ever been to a track. And it is definitely part of the conditioning that really will test the players mentally and physically, and it will expose the guys who aren’t living right or training right.
Q. Real broad question, but what should people expect to see from this team just physically this year on the field?
MARK HOCKE: That’s a great question. Football is a violent sport. It is a lethal sport. And if you aren’t physical and you aren’t known for being physical, you’re not going to get the results you want. So that’s something that we’re going to be working on on a daily basis and we have been working on since day one.
What I’ve seen so far in spring, these guys are about it. They’re not afraid to buckle up, and they’re not afraid to thud, so I’m hoping that we see even greater transformation going into fall camp. Obviously we hadn’t strapped up, yet but that’s got to be one of the main pillars if we’re going to have success in the SEC.
Q. You were there early on with Coach Saban at Alabama and saw his plan firsthand and how he goes about it, the blueprint, so to speak, that he’s known for. What similarities do you see with some of the things Billy’s doing here with that?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah, that’s a great question. Obviously we are a collection — or our experience and I think that’s where Coach Napier really benefits from time with Coach Saban. I can even say for myself I’ve learned a tremendous amount from him.
I think Coach Napier is extremely diligent, right? When you look at the journey we take the guys on, every second, every day is planned out, everything’s quality controlled, so we’re going to continue to improve upon that journey no matter what it looks like.
Q. You talked about the players in terms of those who can best manage change and you’ve been around them the most over the last few months. So how have you seen the team sort of manage that change. Gervon talked about the different disciplinary things that Billy Napier’s brought in. How have you seen the team sort of adapt?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. I would say much like life, it’s a daily battle and a daily challenge that we all face in our own journey, but as a team, I’ve been really proud of how they have come together in just a short period of time, seven months of training.
I’ve seen them maybe react to some of the those things quicker or better than maybe when we first got here. I think there’s a little bit more buy-in. But it’s still, it’s a one-day-at-a-time battle, right? Like, they’re going to come in really excited about camp, but it’s about being able to maintain it and work consistently at that high level.
Q. How important are those little things? Gervon mentioned the socks. You have to have the same socks when you’re walking around. How important are those little things to the team?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah, I mean, it kind of goes back to that saying, how you do anything is how you do everything, right? So I think Coach Napier has some of those little things installed to force the player to kind of think, Am I going to do it the team’s way or am I going to do it my way? And really that’s how it comes down to. You got to get out of yourself, into the team, and be coachable and do what’s being asked of you.
Q. You can’t get a player up on the podium without them mentioning the change in discipline. How do you define discipline in your shop? Was that an example of what you just gave there?
MARK HOCKE: Sure. So probably we could talk discipline for an hour, but I’m going to spare you. I think the best quote that I have on discipline is Mike Tyson said it. You got to do things you hate to do like you love doing it.
And I think that’s what we do in the weight room. They come here to play football. They don’t always come here to do the conditioning, running, the sprints, the heavy lifting, waking up really early. They don’t have a problem waking up and playing in front of 90,000 on Saturday night, but what about at 6 a.m. on Monday morning after the weekend, that’s a little bit different waking up for that. But it’s doing what you don’t necessarily love to do like you love it. And that’s what I can say about this team. They’re learning to love it and the second you learn to love the hard work is the second you got a chance to separate because at the end of the day, you can’t play in the SEC unless you’ve been blessed ability-wise.
But if you can get a group of guys that love the hard work too and are all great examples for each other in that locker room, that’s when you’re cooking with hot grease.
Q. Football’s an injury sport and often injuries are unavoidable. What’s your philosophy as far as injury prevention and what have you guys done in terms of the stretching and that sort of thing?
MARK HOCKE: That’s a great question. So we kind of believe that we should be doing one of two things in everything we do, and that’s either developing the guys, right, so making more efficient movers or stronger or more powerful, or preventing injury. So we actually have a DARI system that we started implementing, which is a camera approach, and it’s objective analysis of their movement, and we do that twice a year and based on that we can kind of create an individualized development plan.
So we have a blueprint on how we’re going to train the guys, and I’ll tell everybody, I don’t see a weight room, I see a football field, so we’re trying to develop you to be the best at the position you play, and we have a position coach in the weight room that works hand in hand with your position coach on the field.
But we also do that movement assessment twice a year because that’s going to be unique to your movement patterns. And then based on your unique movement patterns, we can put together an individualized approach that kind of benefits you. Maybe you’re stiffer in the ankles or the hips and maybe we can catch and be proactive and catch an injury before it happens.
Now, we all know football’s a violent sport and it’s part of the sport that you’re going to have injuries in here or there, but for the most part we want to prevent as many as we can.
Q. You had mentioned Tiger Jones. Amari Cooper sent a video message to an unnamed recruit basically saying that he should come to Florida because of Tiger Jones. How instrumental has he been to this team’s development this off-season, especially when it comes to speed?
MARK HOCKE: Amari Cooper is great. We actually coached him together there. He’s obviously still doing it at a really high level.
So that’s where I first met Tiger too is when he was at Alabama and then obviously working together now. He was with us at Texas A & M and UL, the last spot. But Tiger does a great job, first and foremost, of developing that relationship. He’s a guy that’s been in their shoes, been in their cleats, done it at a high level.
And then when we talk about skill development, he played receiver on the college level. He played receiver professionally. So he knows what these guys are going through and he does a good job. It’s nothing out of the norm for him to throw on them cleats and show what he’s looking for.
Q. Which players do you feel like have made the biggest strides from when you first met them to where they might be right now?
MARK HOCKE: I kind of look at it holistically. Just from a team standpoint, and I want to reemphasize this, I can vividly remember the first meeting we had with the team. I believe it was like the first week or second week of January when Coach Napier addressed the entire team to where we are today. I think holistically we’ve come such a long way and we’re starting to see what a team looks like.
Now, with that being said, there’s a lot of work left to be done and some can say that fall camp in itself is some of the most challenging days. So we’re going to have to buckle up and do it one day at a time. But holistically we’re starting to see what a team looks like.
Q. Are there any individuals physically with weight changes or how they have improved physically that stand out to you from these last couple months?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. I guess I could start with the first guy y’all met with, Gervon. He’s been really excited. I think he’s done a tremendous job working with our nutrition staff. Kelsee Gomes does a Grade-A job. And Gervon did a great job of committing to the plan that they put in place, and then working really hard with Coach Dunbar, and really everybody in the building too. I think he’s in a position to have the best season he’s had yet and he’s confident and excited and he’s earned it. He’s done the hard work.
Q. I want to go back to regimen. Coaches said that that’s basically designed to prepare the players for training camp. What do some of those workouts entail and how do you feel like the guys responded to some of those difficult workouts?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. Sure. I think every phase kind of segues into the next phase, if that makes sense. So naturally where a regimen falls, it segues into fall camp. So I think the biggest thing is, obviously, like I mentioned before, making ’em more efficient movers. We want to make ’em faster, not only just straight line, but multidirectional, especially at the position that they play. So giving them a taste of that.
Also, it’s no secret the humidity that you face in the summer. So them getting a taste of that is going to prepare them for the humidity that they will practice in during the August.
And then just the overall fundamental and skill development that they get introduced during the summer also helps prepare for the on-field training that practice presents.
Q. Within the regimen, you guys also have the players split into teams. There’s captains that are selected and you guys even have these standings that you put out every week. Just what does that do to create ownership and create competition to where those guys feel a sense of pride when they’re going through these workouts?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. It’s a great point. I think all these guys to their very core are competitors. So I think that’s just another thing that you can add into your potion or your blueprint, if you will, to even up the ante a little bit as far as competition’s concerned.
Also, there’s a bunch of other benefits to it, just player engagement crossover. So there’s some buy-ins. Guys get to draft guys based on who they think are disciplined, who they think are accountable. That kind of sets the record straight to where if we’re telling a player, hey, we can’t count on you. No, this is coming from your own teammates, right, because you got drafted first or you got drafted last.
And you can’t fool them. All the players are smart as the coaches, so I think that kind of sets the record straight at the beginning of the draft. And then there’s a lot of crossover as far as you got different positions kind of working together with different positions. Instead of just O-line with O-line or just defense with defense, there’s some crossover.
And then you kind of create some leadership opportunities for some of those guys that do draft their team, and then force them, just like in life you’re going to have to work together in small groups to kind of accomplish a goal. So it kind of, it brings that to light as well.
Q. You mentioned you being a new comer and all. How is that culture in that weight room? How is your energy with those players?
MARK HOCKE: Me personally or them?
Q. You personally.
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. It’s a good question. Like I kind of hinted at earlier, I think what we ask of them isn’t normal, and I think we ask a lot of them as far as the intensity of the work and then the consistency that we wanted. So I think we just try and have kind of an upbeat or intense or exciting atmosphere. And obviously there’s rules and we’re going to confront them whenever rules aren’t being followed.
But I think you can work hard and still enjoy it, and that’s kind of our saying. We love it. So I want to create that kind of atmosphere to where they’re not dreading, not only coming into work, but dreading the people that they’re going to be around, if that makes sense. So if we can get ’em to fall in love with the hard work, like I said earlier, you can separate. So that’s kind of the environment.
Q. Having been at Alabama, Georgia, A & M, three juggernauts, how close is the weight room that you’re going to inherit soon to being what you need to have to get done what you want to get done?
MARK HOCKE: Sure. Yeah. At that point, I think you’re losing any and every excuse because, not just the weight room, that whole building is going to be really impressive head to toe.
I think Coach Napier’s said it before, that that’s going to get us in the ballpark or conversations to where that can be the premier facility in college football. And at the end of the day, if you want to be the best, that’s what your resources need to be too.
So really excited. I think the players are really excited to move into that here soon. I’ve always kind of felt like, man, I just need any kind of weights, mud, sticks, bricks. We’re going to find a way to get it done. But when you have a place like that, how can you have a bad day, right? Show up and do this every day, every day’s a good day.
Q. Does the strength and conditioning coach, does he get a cot there? Is your office going to literally be like 20-hours-a-day-type place?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. I was actually joking with my wife because that’s kind of camp. That’s what it is for you. You’re going to be here early in the morning until late, late at night, and I think it is a practice by many coaches, not just here, but around the world, that during camp, there might be some blowup beds or cots or you might just make your floor a bed some nights.
But yeah, if that’s what needs to happen, that might need to happen.
Q. Is the ring on the right index finger significant of anything?
MARK HOCKE: Yeah. It’s just an Oura Ring. So it’s something that, I don’t know if it got released yet, but it’s just another measure that we’re using and just wanted to be a good example to the guys that are wearing it on the team. All it does is it’s another piece that our performance team, Coach Danos and Coach Ogas presented to the team. And basically it measures your sleep quality, so how long, how you been sleeping, what your efficiency of the sleep, and really it just helps create an awareness.
They say the best growth hormone is God’s given growth hormone and that’s sleep. So you always have athletes and people who say, What supplement can I take, hey, what protein should I take, all this.
And it’s like, well, have you gotten eight hours of sleep? Let’s start there. And then we’ve talked about how hard they’re going to work. Sleep’s going to be really important to recover so you can wake up the next day and push the gas again.
Rob Sale
Press Conference
ROB SALE: Yeah. Exciting time. Fall camp’s here. It was a quick summer. Players did a really nice job of embracing everything that was thrown at ’em. We were able to be here in June, and July was a lot of player-led workouts, and then obviously you had some full-time coaches that are there and they’re off this week.
But our guys are ready to go. They have had a good summer, especially looking through a strong offensive line, and those guys. So get ready for guys to go compete. That’s the message that’s going to be, compete, compete, compete, enjoy every single day, set goals for every day, every week, and then see where we’re at.
Right now, we’re just working on the Gators, so…
Q. Your mantra has been better people make better players. What have you seen since the end of spring to now that you’ve seen in the development of these guys as people, people first, players second. I know that players is important, but they got to be better people too, according to what Billy says.
ROB SALE: Absolutely. It goes to back what Coach Napier says. Players are going to model leadership. We have a great example in Coach Napier, and then he hired the right people to model that for their individual position rooms.
Once players see that, you see how coaches interact with each other, then coaches to players, players to players, you want ’em to speak the right things, choose your words wisely. So they’re going to model the example that we give ’em.
They have done a good job of that. There’s things that we do as coaches. Coach Hocke just probably spoke about the regimen phase to create true leadership, offense to defense to special teams, understanding relationships. Nowadays age, when you go to the cafeteria, you go wherever, they’re on the phone. Like, hey, you know, kind of encourage ’em a little bit, put the phone down, ask somebody how their day was doing.
So everybody nowadays, you want to be on the phone, put your face in it, but you want to have real conversations and I think it goes a long way.
Q. Discipline was a problem on the offensive line last year. How you have you seen the discipline improving in the time that you’ve been here?
ROB SALE: We came a long ways since the spring. What was in the past is the past. I don’t really, obviously you go through and watch cutups and how they play. We’re going to put ’em in the spots we need ’em to be.
But they have done everything Coach Stapleton and I asked ’em to do when it comes to discipline and taking the coaching, coach me coach mentality. So I’ve been very pleased with the group, so I expect good things, and we’re going to play well.
Q. You’ve been with Billy off and on for awhile now, so you know his personality and what he brings to the table. What are some of those qualities that stand out to you and how are they rubbing off on the team, do you think?
ROB SALE: He’s obviously the boss and a friend, but I don’t know if there’s a week spot kink in the armor. I really don’t. Understands the big picture. As a coach, you’re look at your head coach going, all right, you know. So it’s very detailed. Every plan that we have, there’s, we quality-control. He quality-controls everything we do so that we don’t make the same mistake the next time.
But everything is going to be detailed. We’re going to go over it thoroughly. We’re not going to wait on the back end to fix something. And the players see that. Players understand when you’re watching and you’re observing, are we organized? Are you organized as a coach when you go in your unit room, when you go in your position room, when you go to off-season program? Everything you’re doing, right, eyes are watching you. So if we’re prepared, they’re going to be prepared, and it starts at the top.
You came in with Nick Saban at Alabama. You saw him come in and put a plan in place. It took off pretty quickly. What similarities do you see in Billy Napier’s kind of so-called blueprint with Coach Saban’s and the implementation of it.
ROB SALE: We’re always trying to, Coach Napier’s always trying to find — open to opinions to do things a different way, but I would say the nuts and bolts are very similar. But he puts his personality on it. He doesn’t try to be somebody else. He’s his own man. He’s very genuine. It doesn’t matter if you’re the CEO or you’re somebody in the program, he treats ’em all the same.
He’s genuine. He’s authentic. So when you’re talking to him, he’s not trying to get to the next thing. You can tell he’s looking right in your eyes. You have his full attention. And that’s a quality that goes a long way. I try to take more of that myself and put into me a little bit because I know my strengths and my weaknesses, right?
Q. Anthony Richardson said he has never seen Billy Napier yell or get mad, and Jeremy Crawshaw described him as a stoic guy. I’m sure you’ve probably seen him get mad before, but what is his demeanor? How does that affect the team and his coaching style?
ROB SALE: He’s consistent every single day. You got to have, as he says, complimentary people around you. So he might get his point across a little bit different than I get my point across. But that’s football, that’s how people that are, have complimentary strengths and weaknesses. But he tells you upfront the things that he has zero tolerance for.
One thing he’ll get ready to tell the players here shortly when we go to the offensive meeting tomorrow will be you got to know what to do. No missed assignments. Because we have a teaching progression, you got different resources, if you don’t get in the meeting room to be able to close that gap. But not knowing what to do is no excuse.
Q. I think a lot of people going into this year expected guys like Richard Gouraige and Kingsley Eguakun to be some of the leaders for this team. To see Michael Tarquin identified in the regimen face as one of the leaders, how big is that for the offensive line that he’s kind of emerged as one of those guys?
ROB SALE: You know, I got three young pups that are in here and I kind of throw it back on them sometimes. Hey, name a player that you think does it the right way. And Michael Tarquin’s the first one that comes into mind.
Man, you’re just talking about a guy that approaches everything the right way. It doesn’t matter if it’s film study, prehab, rehab, how you take the field and practice, it’s everything’s 110 percent.
I’m very pleased with Michael. Obviously we’re expecting big things from him this year, but he’s going to answer the bell. He’s a stud when it comes to his attitude and his daily approach how he does everything. Sometimes just kind of crack jokes with him a little bit to see the other side, because he’s so straightlaced. But, hey, I’ll take 20 of Michael Tarquins every day all day.
Q. How have you seen Darnell Stapleton use his experience to impact this group? Like in what ways does he share his knowledge from his playing days to be able to kind of impact these players?
ROB SALE: What a stud, I’ll tell you that first, Coach Stapleton. I learned a lot from him. We share the room together, do it together. But the player approach, a guy that undrafted free agent and had to make the team, when it comes to center value, guard value, he was able to do both. Had four years in the National Football League, able to win a Super Bowl.
But we think like minded. We really do. We’re on the same page with everything. I ask things, how he done things in the past, it’s not Rob Sale’s way, it’s our way, how we do it together, we embrace it together.
But he cares about the players. He’s always has players in there and makes sure there’s nobody ever falls through the cracks, it’s about true relationships and meaning. It’s not just about always X’s and O’s. A player will run through a wall for you if they know that’s you care about him.
And he’s an awesome person an awesome coach and I’m glad he’s on our side.
Q. How would you describe this team’s offensive identity, like what are you guys going to look like come week 1?
ROB SALE: We want to be able to dictate our style of play. We want to be able to run the ball, play action. We want to be able to create different tempos to put pressure on the defense. We want them to play the width of the field and the length of the field. We can win the game in many different ways if we need to throw it, we can throw it. If we need to run it more, run it more.
First couple years, first year at UL, we were, Coach Napier was able to probably in my opinion win games we probably weren’t supposed to be in there by slowing the pace of the game and then we were able to put it all together, play complimentary football in all three phases.
So that’s still remains to be seen. Each week is different, your matchups and the teams matchups and individual matchups. So that still remains to be seen.
Q. Being at Louisiana and then spending some time with the Giants and now coming back to the college game is there anything that, from Louisiana to the NFL, that you’ve been able to bring back here to the University of Florida that you think will kind of press upon the individuals that you’re working with now, anything you brought from the NFL, an ah-ha moment?
ROB SALE: Good question. I think ball is ball, in my opinion. Some would probably argue that. But it’s just, when you get to the National Football League — Coach Napier does a good job of stressing in this program and hired people that’s the best in their field of work. Either it may be Hocke and his crew, Kelsee with the food nutrition the dietician aspect and then all the way to the training room. To me you’re getting the best year-round plan set by Coach Napier here.
So let’s go to the National Football League. When they feel like when they leave college now it’s like the ah-ha moment. It’s not like things you were preaching daily in our program, right? When it comes to getting your body right for practice, so that player has about 50 minutes from the end of a meeting before they go out and practice. Hot tub, cold tub, stretch, they’re preparing their body.
And when you have install meetings in the evening say, Hey — I’m sorry — when you get through meeting as coaches doing game plan you say, Hey, I’m going to push as much information when we get it done to your iPads. And if it’s about 8:30, 9:00 o’clock and they don’t have it so they can review it the night before you’re getting a text message, Hey, where’s my stuff.
Then when you go in the training room in the morning, when they’re eating their breakfast, they’re going over it. So when you have that remote in your hand and you’re installing it, if there’s something not on paper that is exactly what you’re saying, you’re going to get called out.
So I think the level of attention to detail, but it’s the same thing you’re stressing in this program daily. They’re getting no coaching, no different treatment, it’s at a high level here. Coach Napier’s hired people that are masters in their program or in their area for the best player experience here at Florida.
Q. Torrence is obviously a guy you coached, developed at Louisiana before you left for the Giants. What makes him special, different, unique as far as an offensive lineman is concerned?
ROB SALE: Talking about O’Cyrus? Is that right?
Q. Yeah. Yeah.
ROB SALE: Sorry. Unbelievable human first, right, person and character. Identified that when we were there at the other place. But he’s big, he’s twitchy, football comes easy to O’Cyrus, it really does. But we have a plan and a teaching progression to get a freshman to be able to play early. If they are ready. But you got to meet us in the middle.
The teaching plan is, there’s no holes in it, but the player also has to do his part being full in. O’Cyrus missed like the first two series, first game of his freshman year and then he started the rest of his career there and he was ready to go.
But an unbelievable person first. Does everything the right way. Football comes easy to him and he’ll have a lot of success here.
Q. Curious about the install process. How much did you get done in the spring and how much more do you have to go in camp do you think in terms of the offense?
ROB SALE: Kam Waites?
Q. The install process of your offense, where are you in terms of that installation.
ROB SALE: There’s a little bit left. But we’ll hit reset. I mean, there’s always game plan things that you’re putting in, but I would say, if I had to give a percentage 80, 85 percent’s already in. So we’ll go back and hit reset, install 1 and install 2 and then things on our shelf that we did not install we always got to go back and put it in.
But first-year staff when you’re trying to come in here in spring ball you’re trying to also install but identify who can play. Who can do what. And then what do you got to do in your recruiting needs to fill the roster. So hopefully that answered it.
Q. You’ve known Mark Hocke a long time now. What was your initial impressions of him when he first got to Alabama, how is he — I see you laughing — obviously how has he evolved in the job and just kind of what kind of impact does he have on these guys in the program?
ROB SALE: Started off as a guy that was living on a couch, probably threw all of his stuff in a vehicle and came there. You have different people at that part of the year in the program that just show up and you’re trying to figure out, All right, title, who is on salary, who is working for free, who is trying to make their way up.
And he was a guy that was a freebie at the time and then worked his way up to probably making hourly wage and then he became, by the time he left, he was a first assistant.
And then we worked at another place — we worked at three schools together. So, but unbelievable person, it’s about just like, I would say, relationships with our players. Obviously he’s around more of the players than the staff and in a calendar year. But he speaks words and knowledge into ’em every single day. He just doesn’t ramble. He has a plan and a message every part of the year within the program where Coach Napier identifies the eight phases.
So you’re always trying to highlight the rest of your staff that he has around him. Of how those people can help the student athlete make their craft better. And he has a lot of people to manage, a lot of responsibility, but he does a phenomenal job. I wouldn’t want to go to battle with anybody else but him.
Q. (No microphone.)
ROB SALE: We were at Alabama together, we were at Georgia and then we were at UL and then here. This is the fourth, fourth stop.
Q. Philosophical roster-building question. The numbers in the portal for offensive linemen weren’t very high relative to other positions. Is that a position where you need to get high school guys because you can’t count on the portal as much or sort of what’s your philosophy on developing and where that talent acquisition is best?
ROB SALE: I think every year’s a little bit different. Who you got coming back, who you graduate. So those needs could change. If you done a good job of recruiting high school players I think it’s going to sustain itself. But that’s not necessarily true all the time. You don’t know how, what O-lineman is going to, it’s going to click to ’em. It could be a freshman like O’Cyrus, right? I remember I had three O-linemen in college, I was a second-year player, I wasn’t as athletic as some of these guys, but I thought I was smart and tough and knew what to do. It clicked at a different time.
Might be a deal where we have to get a portal guy or we try to find high school kids with the right character and identify the right guys that have the movement skills that we’re looking for to develop ’em.
So it’s different every time. And then you got parameters where the transfer portal and you got NIL to where that’s kind of changed it, right? I always kind of go, All right, what’s wrong with this situation? Why is he trying to leave?
Now you got NIL opportunities for these guys and they’re just all over the place. So you got to kind of figure out that dynamic as well too.
But it starts with their head coach. And he knows, he’s a closet O-line guy, right? He knows how to identify offensive linemen. We sometimes see different things and we’ll work it out and some things, you know, but he knows what he’s looking for. And he’s done a good job at every place he’s gone, UL and here, identifying offensive linemen.
So we can’t worry about all the stars and all that stuff. We know what we’re looking for, we know what we’re identifying, and coach ’em up. That’s our job to do, develop ’em and coach ’em.
A transcript with: Sean Spencer
123375-1-1044 2022-08-02 17:07:00 GMT
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http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/1109/1358/transcripts/123375.html
University of Florida Football Media Conference
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Sean Spencer
Press Conference
Q. You’re coming from the NFL and teaching — Gervon even talked about it, very high-level technique. He says in one month he’s grown so much. He can’t wait so see how it continues. How quickly have guys assimilated that and what’s the challenge for young guys there?
SEAN SPENCER: I think what you have to do is be consistent. If you’re consistent with what you’re teaching, they believe that you believe in what you’re professing to them. I think he’s a student of the game. He’s constantly in my office trying to perfect his craft. One time I asked him, Could I borrow my office so you could get out of here one or two times?
But in terms of assimilating the techniques from the NFL, it’s stuff that I did backdating back to Trinity College, and just as it grows, you just get better football players. I’m very consistent and we are very consistent with what we’re teaching ’em.
Q. What are your expectations — I know you guys don’t like singling out guys typically, but of Tyreak Sapp?
SEAN SPENCER: Well, he had a heck of a spring, right? He had a heck of a spring, just unbelievable football, played great energy, work ethic, always. He’s a guy that I use as the example a lot of times in the meetings to show ’em how we want to practice. He’s got great a skill set, powerful kid. We’re excited about him.
No one rises to low expectations, so the expectation is set for him, for him to be one of those a ascending players. But obviously we keep it grounded with that. We’re not going to use that every day. I want him to be consistent just like I’m going to be in teaching.
Q. Gervon said that two guys that he expected to really make a jump this year with Jalen Lee and Princely Umanmielen. What do you think about those two guys that you’ve seen from them yourself that you feel like they can make a jump?
SEAN SPENCER: First of all, you a did a great job with his last name. So a lot of times I just say Princely.
Q. Princely Umanmielen —
SEAN SPENCER: Exactly.
But both of those guys had really good springs. Obviously Princely played a lot of football last year. Jalen not as much, but he did play some. He had a rotational role there.
So same thing with everybody else. We expect them to ascend from what they were prior, where they were prior. So prior to that, in the spring, they had a level. I want it to go up a notch. I’m excited about both guys. I think Jalen Lee is a technician. He’s like Sapp. He’s on the tape all the time as the example of how to do things. The thing is he’s not as big as those guys. He’s not as big as Big G or Des, right. So he has to be exact in his technique, and he works on that.
And I think Princely is really a guy who has not even reached a ceiling of where he can go.
Q. You mentioned Big Des. Where is he at in his weight and also just his ability that you guys feel like to contribute on a consistent basis?
SEAN SPENCER: He’s working at it. He’s very persistent in getting himself in playing shape. That’s kind of all we are concerned about. We just want him to be in great playing shape. He’s working at it real hard and we’re excited to see him here in a few hours.
Q. Discipline is something that the players talked a lot about this morning and kind of instilling that discipline over the past few months. How have you seen that play out over these past few months and before camp now leading up?
SEAN SPENCER: When you first come into a program, you got to establish the discipline. And as I talked to him about, you got to be, you have to be consistent with what you talk about and what you’re expecting them to do.
And then you got to hold them to a standard, right? You got to hold them to a standard and if they don’t do it, if they don’t do what you ask ’em to do, there’s got to be a consequence. The consequence has got to be one such that they don’t want to mess it up.
What you want to try to do is you want to make them try to not want to let their teammate down by failing discipline. I think the peer pressure is one of the tougher things that we can do. I seen it in the NFL. I seen it at other levels. So that’s how we try to stay consistent with that.
Q. Was there somewhat of a hard learning curve early on in the process with dealing with that discipline?
SEAN SPENCER: Yeah, it always is. So you come into a new program where — there’s an expectation here the at the University of Florida and obviously prior to us getting here, it was different, and we’re going to try to change that and make it the way Napier wants it. We have the same vision. Coach Napier has a vision. All the assistants see the vision, and then the players see the vision.
Q. It seems that the basic idea here is: Do as I do, not do as I say. You know a lot of guys have that do as I say, but I’m not going to do it myself. And here it seems to be: Do as I say and do as I do or else you’re not going to be here long.
SEAN SPENCER: Well, in terms of not being here long, that’s Coach Napier. But you hit it on the head. I like the way you said that and I like the way you phrased that. That was pretty smooth.
I’m just going to tell you, for me and my room, I’m going to tell them that they can’t match my intensity every day. So I’m expecting those guys to have a certain intensity, so I have to bring it every day. I have to bring it every day, and they have to — they can’t see any flaw in that intensity.
And in terms of doing what they’re supposed to do, there’s an expectation that’s set. The bar is set high, and we’re going to reach that goal. There’s nothing in between. And like we talked about discipline, there can’t be wavering. There’s a standard set by Coach Napier and that’s where we want to take it.
Q. I would imagine that spring practice, you had ’em for 15 practices, and I would imagine there were a lot of deer in the headlights looks on their faces. How have you seen in the months since then that they’re adjusting to everything they took in and absorbed in the spring and putting it into work now?
SEAN SPENCER: It was a little bit of a shock when we first got here, right? Like, we come and everything is on and off the field full speed. I think the deer in the headlights, and then the anticipation that they wanted to get better, knowing that here’s change, right, and you got to be willing to accept change.
So I don’t know necessarily if anybody was just like, oh my, what just happened? But they understood that it was just going to be different and this is the way we’re going to do things.
Then I think when it becomes nature to them and natural to them for them to do this thing and they meet our expectations, they see that it’s really not that difficult. It’s really what’s required and let’s get a little bit higher.
Q. Can you give examples of consequences for lack of discipline?
SEAN SPENCER: We can’t tell. We can’t share that right there. (Laughing.) Pushups, pushups, pushups, chaos. We just say chaos and it’s all good.
Q. But you also mentioned that internally when — the peer pressure of it, how do you get guys to get involved in that or does that come naturally to leaders picking themselves, as it were?
SEAN SPENCER: One of the great things I saw in the end of spring was Justus Boone got on one of the players before I did. He turned around and he said, That’s not what we do. We expect more. And when you start to get that, you start to get them talking like that, man, it can be special. So that would be an example.
Q. What does a guy like Brenton Cox off the edge do for a defensive line in your ability to be able to scheme around him and open things up front?
SEAN SPENCER: That guy’s done an incredible job changing his body type. He was a real muscle-bound kid in the spring, I looked at him, I said, Wow, he’s really big. He did look like an NFL football player, but he’s really changed his body and leaned up, slimmed down. I tell you and I tell the guys all the time, especially in my room, that guy is a professional in the way he handles himself day-in and day-out. He is going to work at his craft. He is constantly changing what he does and evaluating it. So I’m excited about that.
In terms of singling him up and things like that, we got 11 guys on defense. And he’s going to, we’re going to get, everybody’s got to get touches. So he’s a guy we expect to excel in the defense, but we don’t put that type of pressure on him because there’s 10 other parts that work with him.
Q. How have you seen Desmond Watson improve and maybe that’s physically or on the field, like in what ways has he changed his body at all?
SEAN SPENCER: Right. So as he asked before, he’s constantly working on it. He’s really bought into doing what he’s supposed to do off the field to get him himself right to play. And it’s just more about conditioning because if you watch the guy he can move at that size. I mean it’s pretty incredible. It’s like it’s a wonder that he can move like that.
So he can hold points and do things like that, but what we’re trying to do with Des is just not make him a guy that’s just a two-gap stop guy. We’re trying to make that guy a complete football player. So I don’t treat Des any different than I treat Big G in terms of what I expect him to do on the defensive line, if that makes sense.
Q. Just reading your bio, defense line, had 40 sacks for the Giants in 2020. How do you develop that kind of pass rush here, pass rush techniques and so forth and what do you see in the potential on this unit as well?
SEAN SPENCER: Yeah, one thing I tell you, you get real good players, that helps you out. So when you got those good players you make a lot of sacks. Carl Nassib when I was at Penn State had 15 and a half sacks, so he was a really good player. But in terms of that it’s how we, in my opinion, every guy has a touch on that on that ball, so each guy has a chance and an opportunity. Whether it’s schematically or physically, those guys can excel to their potential.
And I think once they buy into that it’s the group, right, it’s the group. And if you do what you’re supposed to do — if you’re on left side and you hold point and this guy does an up and under move and you’re standing where you’re supposed to be then we got a chance to sack as a group. So we all celebrate together. If that answers your question.
Q. Gervon mentioned that he’s kind of focusing on end right now. I believe his first two years he was kind of a three-tech nose moving around. What are the strengths of his game that kind of just fit in there at end?
SEAN SPENCER: Yeah, he’s guy that really can play a lot of multiple positions for us. So he can play end for us and he can also do some other things. So he’s just a guy that the techniques, no matter where he plays, inside, outside, those techniques will carry over.
So you still got to stay low if you’re on outside, you still go to the stay low if you’re on inside. So those things I think have great carryover. And because he’s such a talented guy we can use him in different positions.
Q. When you’re showing Gervon what he can become, a lot of coaches find guys who are comparable at the next level. Are there some dudes that either you coached or that you saw at the Giants and you have shown Gervon, This is what your tape can look like?
SEAN SPENCER: Yeah, you know, I’m careful making comparisons, but I will. Reminds me a lot of a combination of Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence. Very, not as big as Dex, but kind of more Leonard’s body type. And he can do some things in the short area with his quickness and he’s got good length and all those things that he can really create one-on-one pass rush moves. But I don’t like to compare, those two guys are first-round picks, so that’s a lot it to put on him.
But as I talk to him I do say there are many similarities between you and those guys right there.
Q. I heard the pad level for those guys is sometimes a problem. How do you address that? Is that just through reps or is it a mindset?
SEAN SPENCER: We put ’em in the chute without their helmet on. I’m just kidding. (Laughing.)
Q. That sounds like a good consequence for discipline.
SEAN SPENCER: That will keep you down, right?
But, no, it’s something that you got to emphasize in practice with your drills and things.
Like I said, we will get under the chutes and constantly calling out the expectation and the thing that they’re not doing. So say for instance someone’s pad’s a little high and they make the play. Well you can’t commend them on making the play if the pad level is not what you wanted. So the expectation has to be that of such each play.
So we’re going to work on that all the time. We’re always going to work on ball get off and those things, so we prevent ourselves from jumping offsides, so…
A transcript with: Patrick Toney
123377-1-1878 2022-08-02 17:26:00 GMT
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http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/1109/1358/transcripts/123377.html
University of Florida Football Media Conference
Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Gainesville, Florida, USA
Patrick Toney
Press Conference
PATRICK TONEY: Appreciate y’all having me. Obviously, really excited to be entering the next phase of this season, training camp. Really excited about the work our team has put in this summer to be in the best physical condition they possibly could be in. I think they’ve done a really good job of that.
Not only that, doing a good job of mastering their craft, mastering what we’re asking them to do at their individual positions on their side of the unit to be best prepared for fall camp, and I think just everyone is anxious to get out there on the field tomorrow and see what we can do.
With that, I’ll open it up to any questions.
Q. First question, Trey Dean has always been a guy with tremendous ability, but it just seems that it’s never been harnessed. What have you seen from Trey Dean starting in spring practice and then in the development in these months since then?
PATRICK TONEY: The big thing we talk about at the safety position specifically, since that’s my group, not only do we want to be the most gifted players on the field, we want to be the most skilled prayers on the field.
That means we have a mental checklist when we line up. We’re scanning the formation. We are seeing the down in distance. We are knowing the exact alignments. We are knowing our assignment. We’re seeing a specific key to get our on job done.
I think that translates to what you asked with Trey. I think Trey has done a good job on focusing on those areas of his game, the details of becoming the most skilled player on the field. I think you’ll see that translate in the season.
Q. Explain a little bit in layman’s terms the creeper defense. I know Ron Roberts is famous for that, and you’ve worked with Ron. What elements of the creeper do you use here? Is it part of the staple of the defensive philosophy here?
PATRICK TONEY: Yeah. I think when you say that word, you really are just talking about simulated pressure.
And really all you’re saying is you are blitzing an unknown rusher and dropping a known rusher to replace him, right? It’s still a four-man rush. Just a different way to create pressure.
I think you’ve kind of seen football evolve where early on if you blitzed, it was man, and there was a lot of high-risk/high-reward to that. Then it became zone blitz where you still rushed five, but were able to play with zone integrity and zone eyes.
Then it’s kind of come full circle with the advent of spread and really the passing game is becoming more sophisticated where you don’t always want to sacrifice coverage, right, to send another rusher, but you can create the same amount of pressure by blitzing a second-level, third-level defender to replace him with a first-level defender.
When you say a creeper, that’s really what you are talking about. Still a four-man rush. You haven’t sacrificed anything in coverage, and you are just doing something to affect the protection by sending someone they may not be prepared for or asking the running back to have to block in protection rather than the five-down. That’s the way I see it.
Q. How would you describe your philosophy on third-down defense?
PATRICK TONEY: Yeah, get off the field. (Laughing). No. Third down is so interesting. Analytics have taken over the game in college, and you’re seeing it go to the NFL as well.
Philosophically we want to contest every route. We want to make it hard for the quarterback. We want to affect the quarterback. He is, obviously, the guy with the hardest job. He has to deliver it on third down.
So how can we contest him, make him throw in tight windows. And then with that being said, how can we affect the quarterback directly, get the ball out of his hand, hopefully not in rhythm?
The other thing we have to do a good job of is anticipating four-down territory in today’s game and all those aspects. When is it really third down, and when is it four downs? That’s a big part of the game today.
Philosophically, we want to play close and tight to the receivers. Don’t want to let them have free access, and then we want to affect the quarterback with our rush or pressure.
Q. We got to visit with Gervon earlier, and he talked about playing more end this year. How do you feel like he fits in there in your scheme and just what he brings with that flexibility on the definitive line?
PATRICK TONEY: I think he is a real flexible player. I know he has played a lot of nose here in the past. He has played some end.
I think the biggest thing he brings is length, obviously, at that position, and that’s why you want to put him out there because his length will match up with tackles in this league very well.
His overall versatility, his basketball background, his athleticism, that lends to help him across the front. You’ll see him play in a variety of techniques and positions throughout the course of the year.
I think he has done a really good job of embracing that role. And then the thing I respect about him a lot is he spends a lot of extra time. Every great player I’ve been around has spent a lot of extra time in the film room trying to match their craft on the field, and that’s what he has done a really good job of.
Q. Secondly, there’s a lot of competition in the secondary for the corner spots and nickel spots. How do you see that playing out in fall camp and just some of the guys there that have kind of — what they’ve shown you so far?
PATRICK TONEY: I think we have good depth and a lot of guys eager to develop their role on the team, whether they’ve been here for a while or they’re young players.
I think we’re going to play a brand of defense where we utilize the secondary quite a bit. You’ll see five defensive backs on the field a good amount for us, on some situations six. We’re going to find roles and put them in the position they’re most capable of playing.
You may see guys that are featured in certain packages, and you may see every-down starters. A lot of that will be seen here in the coming weeks as we jockey for playing time and really compete on the field.
Excited about the guys we have to work with. I know Coach Raymond and myself are very excited.
Q. On the same note with the younger players, Ventrell said in media days that Devin Moore will actually be a problem pretty soon. What have you seen from him as well as the two others that you had early enroll back in January and have got to spend the entire offseason with the team?
PATRICK TONEY: Devin is the first recruit I talked to when I took this job. He has done a really good job, man. He is extremely mature for his age. He is smart. He picks it up fast, very athletic, has great length. He has just done a tremendous job in spring football, and then continued that throughout the summer program.
So I do think Ventrell was right. I think he will play a factor in our secondary for sure. Been very excited working with him. He is great to work with.
Those other freshmen that enrolled early, same as. Very smart, very mature, eager to learn, great work ethic. Just have got to go out and prove it here in fall camp and compete for playing time.
Q. What’s the identity of a Billy Napier team, and he is an offensive guy, we know, but how does that also trickle down to the defensive side of the ball?
PATRICK TONEY: We play complimentary football. When you talk about the identity of the head coach, we play complimentary football, meaning that what we do offensively compliments what we do defensively, and then our special teams will compliment that as well.
I think we create a practice environment that is conducive for improvement. First and foremost, we’re going to play physically. That’s what you are going to be known for.
Coach said it the other day. I think anyone that’s played on a team coached by Coach Napier, one of the first words they would say is physical. A lot of that has to do with how we practice and the identity of our football team being built up front. That would be the biggest thing.
Then like I said, complimentary football. We want to control the clock. We want to control the critical situations of the game to win the football game.
Q. There’s, I guess, new rules with the contact. It’s been curtailed even a little bit more, I think. NCAA rules, right? You can’t do a day-after-day now two days in a row, something like that?
PATRICK TONEY: Yeah.
Q. What challenges do these kind of rules create and things like tackling, for example, always gets talked about, but this team had some issues with missed tackles the last year or two. How does that all work?
PATRICK TONEY: I think, number one, it’s great. Anything we can do for player safety, keep them fresh during fall camp, I think that’s great. I think we do a good job with our sports performance department, Coach Hocke and Coach Danos, of monitoring that.
As far as tackling goes, very few college teams, NFL teams tackle to the ground much at all anymore. I think you can improve in tackling every day.
The biggest aspect of missed tackles in my opinion occurs in the approach to tackle. What is my body position? What is my leverage? What is my angle? You can work that on every rep even without going to the ground in attack mode or a thud tempo.
And that’s something we’re hard on in practice is the finish phase of the play. We want all 11 people to get to the football, have relentless pursuit, and then we want to own our leverage. If I’m coming from the left to the right, I want to own my right shoulder leverage and make sure I tag off or thud off on the appropriate aiming point. That’s what helps eliminate tackles.
We work tackling every day against our offense, good-on-good. We never go to the ground. It’s all angles, leverage, and approach.
I think that’s how you get better at tackling in today’s game when you can’t go to the ground all the time, and you really don’t want to go to the ground. That’s when injuries occur.
Missed tackles really occur on the approach and leverage more than anything. That’s what we’re hard on in every period whether it’s seven-on-seven, individual, or team period against our offense.
Q. I wanted to ask about recruiting. I know you can’t get into a lot of details or any details on the ’23 class. What’s your assessment on how you’ve been doing on the recruiting trail since the traditional signing day?
PATRICK TONEY: I think the class we have put together here is great. I think we’ve done a really good job of being meticulous in our evaluation and really looking for people that fit our schemes, our system, and then, most importantly, our culture. I think we’ve done a really good job of identifying those guys.
Obviously, the competition in recruiting is as heated as it is on the field in this conference and at this level. It’s not over until it’s over, right?
I think we’ve laid a great ground work. I think the people in the recruiting department — Katie, Bri, Sierra, Jacob, the list goes on — have done an unbelievable job as far as that goes, and I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction for sure. I’m happy with where we’re at.
Q. There was a rumor that you had played Playstation with Shemar James before signing day. Is that true, and if it is, can you talk about that a little bit?
PATRICK TONEY: We did not, no. Me and Shemar talked a lot before signing day. I don’t know how that rumor started. I do have a Playstation, and I will play him and probably beat him, but, no, we hadn’t done that.
Q. As far as what you are trying to accomplish identity-wise defensively, what do you think you guys are going to go into the season looking like on that side of the ball?
PATRICK TONEY: I talked about this in the spring. The first thing, and I think we made improvement here, is we want to be a fundamentally and technically sound defense. You will win and lose games because of your technique and fundamentals. That’s number one.
We want to be known as a team in this league that plays with physicality and effort in this league. A lot of mistakes can be covered up with effort and physicality. That’s the brand, the foundation, of where we need to be defensively. Fundamentals, technique, physicality, and effort.
Then we want to really focus on the critical factors that determine winning and losing. That’s run defense. That’s limiting explosive plays, which a lot of that has to do with tackling, which goes back to fundamentals and technique.
We want to win the critical downs, which is obviously third down, Red Zone, two-minute, which are critically important in today’s game. Most importantly, we need to take the football away, which also goes back to technique and fundamentals.
Q. Coach, I wanted to ask you about Ventrell Miller and Amari Burney coming back for their fifth and sixth years respectively — or sixth and fifth years and what they’ve meant to the defense. Then, what improvements you have seen from them coming out of the spring going to this fall season?
PATRICK TONEY: I think both those guys you could see their veteran leadership on a day-to-day basis. I think Ventrell is one of the more vocal, if not the most vocal leader, on the defense. And then I think Burney does it through example, being a veteran and having done this for such a long time. He really handles himself like a professional.
As far as improvement goes, first and foremost, you definitely know the difference from Ventrell Miller is out there for us on defense. He does a great job of taking charge, making calls, and then playing extremely fast.
I think Burney has really improved. He has always been a very good edge player. Watching past film, he has done a really good job of being a hybrid player. I think he has improved from the spring and going into the summer playing in the box, playing physically, really becoming an every-down linebacker.
I think that’s what you’ll seal this fall. Really happy with both those guys and what they bring to our defense.
Q. Patrick, we spoke with Gervon earlier, and he talked about how much discipline is being instilled within this program. Can you just talk about how much the team has bought into that? Even the little things like wearing the same socks and things of that nature.
PATRICK TONEY: I think the buy-in has been really good. We obviously have some room for improvement for that, but the buy-in has been really good.
The discipline has been a major factor for us. We want to eliminate undisciplined penalties on defense. That will also help us win football games.
I think the buy-in has been really good. Obviously, that starts with the veterans buying in and holding themselves accountable as well as their teammates. I think that’s been really good.
I like to use the quote, “How you do anything is how you do everything” with our position group and our defense. That definitely carries true to the discipline.
Q. Have you seen Gervon step up as a leader to help instill that sort of discipline on the team?
PATRICK TONEY: Absolutely. I think he has done a really good job.
Billy Napier
Press Conference
BILLY NAPIER: Before we get going here, I just want to thank our student body for their support. Sold out the season tickets for the students. Without question, I think if you talk to opponents, our student section is a factor, and they can impact the game, and we’re certainly excited about what they’re going to bring, the energy, and how they can influence the game to certainly help our team.
Today is day 1 of a 22-day training camp. School starts a little later for us, so this is going to be 22 days of work. It’s our sixth phase.
We’ve got a lot of momentum. Been very impressed with the progress that we made from the summer. Coach Hocke and his staff continue to do a really good job, and there’s a lot of people that contribute to the development of our team in the summer.
When you start talking about Paul and Toney and his staff and Kelsee, her staff, Joe Danos and his crew, to go along with Mark, that whole performance team and their working relationship I think is a big piece of the puzzle.
We individualize our development plans for the players, and we’ve seen strides there. I think we’ve made a ton of progress in the testing component, the strength level, speed improvement, the body composition numbers. Really good things there.
I think we grew. Our culture grew. I think our rookies were kind of introduced. This is the first time we’ve done this with the veteran players, but I think togetherness, the chemistry, the morale, and overall the level of discipline improved the accountability. Our future leaders program was beneficial for some of those guys.
As we get going here, I think in training camp it’s almost as if you’ve got to stay present, you’ve got to treat each opportunity throughout training camp as a very competitive event. Whether that’s sleep, what you eat, hydration, each lift opportunity, each recovery opportunity, each meeting, each walk-through, each practice. There are lots of opportunities to improve, to put yourself out there, to get feedback, to make the necessary adjustments.
Each player’s best relative to the things that they can control. We’re talking about their discipline to execute, their effort, their toughness. We’re talking about acquiring knowledge. It’s going to be a lot of information put in front of them.
They can improve their fundamentals. They can improve their techniques. Really big focus for me in terms of galvanizing our team and being a great teammate. What do your peers say about you relative to your role on the team?
Our team, like I said, at SEC Media Days is very much a work in progress. We’ve got a lot of roles that are to be determined. It’s going to be highly competitive. I think not only with the starters at some positions, but even within those twos and threes, we have a big chunk of our roster that has very little experience here.
It’s a critical time of the year. We want to work really hard, but we’re going to work smart. How we execute the plan is the most important part. Everybody is going through training camp. It’s going to be our diligence when it comes to the discipline and the detail, taking feedback.
It’s one thing to know. It’s another thing to do. I think we’ve got to take the hearing, and we’ve got to do the doing. You have to have information. You’ve got to have application.
I think we’ve got to be really intentional with our actions and really deliberate in terms of how we practice, create intensity as an organization, the urgency, the detail, the focus that’s required. This training camp is going to be difficult. It’s going to challenge the intangibles of not only the players, but the staff as well.
I really love this time of year. You’re really developing the identity of your team. Individual players are developing their identities as competitors. Position groups are taking form, each unit, the six phases of the kicking game here.
We want to develop a tough-minded team. I think we all understand what we’re getting ready to take on from a challenge standpoint. We want to have a tough-minded team that can handle adversity and overcome obstacles. I think that’s one of the things that’s critical is that we galvanize the team and we prepare to play through and prepare through and practice through the gauntlets in front of us.
We have to build mental toughness during training camp. It’s designed difficulty. We’ve used that term before. We’ve got to get comfortable with getting uncomfortable and breaking through barriers, and I think training camp presents those opportunities.
First time for us to do training camp here in Florida. Really having high expectations and set the standard. We’ve got to hold each other accountable. Coaches, players, all the people in the organization doing their best and taking pride in their role. You know, really living life with some integrity here. Taking ownership. We’re going to make some mistakes along the way, but making the necessary adjustments here.
I think that our team is excited about this opportunity. We’re going to work hard to build a strong foundation here, and overall, this is one of the best times of the year. Really the first opportunity for this entire group to work together at the same time if you really think about it big picture-wise.
What questions do we have?
Q. Billy, what’s the most significant change you’ve seen in this group since your arrival, and what needs do you want to see change these next few weeks or evolve?
BILLY NAPIER: I think we probably know each other a little bit better is what I would say. I think the relationship piece is important.
I think the connection inside the building, that’s one of the things we’ve really focused on. I just think there’s a certain loyalty that comes with this game. There’s a human element.
When you have a relationship with the people that you are competing with, when you know their story, when you’ve had in-depth conversations, when you know what to say to motivate, you can push a button. I think it’s critical for the leadership on our team going out of your way to connect. To sit down with someone that you don’t know. We make everybody learn everybody’s name, their hometown. We’ve got little things that we do. We shuffle the deck in the locker room. We pair them — their roommate for training camp will be somebody that they don’t really know.
We do all types of things. We’re very intentional about the human element of the game. I think there’s something to be said about developing loyalty and galvanizing the team.
I think we’ve made progress in that area, but this group will be the first time we’ve actually done anything as a whole cell. Hundreds of people contribute. We’ve got students in equipment, in training room, and video, and every part of our organization. They can be the difference, whether their role is really small or their role is big.
I think that’s the big thing here is having an appreciation for everybody’s role and what they bring to the table. This will create opportunities for us to continue to improve in that area.
Q. That’s a unique answer. Anthony, speaking of one player, you spoke at Media Day about a lot of talk about Anthony Richardson. You see it all the time. I saw he was No. 4 pick in next year’s draft. He started one game. How do you go about tempering expectations? How grounded have you seen him with all this buzz going around him?
BILLY NAPIER: That’s one of the things I’m learning about University of Florida. We probably get more media coverage. It’s like being an NFL team in the Northeast, if that makes sense.
I think part of the job of a player like Anthony and really any player that’s had success or any player that maybe has made a few mistakes, maybe didn’t perform the way they wanted to, is really not allowing some of this noise to affect your process in terms of how you prepare, your character, your values, your expectations, your standards.
I think when your standards and expectations are much higher than anyone on the outside could have for you, I think that gives you an opportunity. I think Anthony is very aware. That’s one of the things I really like about him. I think he has good awareness, good self-awareness that he is an inexperienced player, that he has potential, but also, that he can improve. There’s lots to learn.
Getting comfortable with his role as a leader. The importance and value of his example to the other players. I think quarterback in particular, there’s a certain level of responsibility that comes with that.
Anthony is focused on the work, and there’s certainly a lot of work to do. Improving as a leader, growing and maturing as a person, very much a young person. Increasing his football intelligence, developing his skill. There’s just so much more out there for the young man.
Anthony has lots of work to do here. I think he is fully aware that, understands that, comprehends those things, and has worked extremely hard. I think his focus is on the work, and that’s exactly where it should be.
Q. (Inaudible) — just the discipline and how it’s improved throughout the offseason, and even with guys and how they wear their socks a certain way. What are some of those little things that you have seen them pick up on, and how does that carry over into camp and make a difference on the field?
BILLY NAPIER: It all matters. I think the key is that you provide structure and routine, that you define expectations for the players.
And there are some detailed things we ask them to do, and they do matter, but the most important part of those little detailed things that we ask them to do is they have to make a decision to do it, if that makes sense.
It’s an opportunity to say yes to the expectations and the standards and for everyone to buy into the team concept. Individual players don’t make a great team. I think that we have a lot of really good individual players on our roster, but if you are going to have an exceptional team, then there’s got to be a certain level of detail and discipline on the roster and a buy-in.
One of the great things about this game, we could take Gervon Dexter and put him as X receiver and take Justin Shorter and put him at right tackle. Crawshaw could play quarterback. Anthony could play outside linebacker. Ventrell can’t play running back, right?
This game requires different skill sets. I just think that puzzle, a reality that, hey, look, I’m nothing without the others. Coming to grips with that fact.
The gray area is the enemy. That’s what I would tell you. We want to have very structured routine process for our players. I think players develop confidence from that. I think routine and great preparation, that breeds confidence. When I know what to expect, I execute my plan.
I think we have an organization of people that just providing the information and wisdom in terms of how to improve. Any person that’s had success in life, discipline is a direct part of that.
I think these things carry over into life after football, too. That’s one of the great things about the game of football. These things apply in a lot of different settings. It will be a big part of what we do and certainly a big part of our success.
Q. Digging in a little bit on the team-building stuff. How often do you shuffle the deck in the locker room to get these guys to know each other? How do they know everybody? How do you get them to learn everybody’s hometown, and do you know everybody on the roster’s hometown?
BILLY NAPIER: That would be a challenge probably, but I would be pretty good at it. I don’t want to take a quiz, by the way.
I think that a couple of times a year we’re going to rearrange the locker room, if that makes sense. We did it in the beginning here. I just think interaction — there’s a term called propinquity. I challenge you in the next press conference we have, you can give me the definition of that. I’ll work on my hometowns. You work on propinquity.
I just believe in that part of the game. It’s one of the things that you really — when the game is over and you are sitting around here down the road, that’s what you are going to remember. You are going to remember your teammates. You are going to remember the things that the game taught you.
It’s a team sport. I think as much as we can do to create that culture, the better.
Q. Just to follow up on that, the belief is that if you know this guy and you know a little bit about him, you’re going to play harder for him?
BILLY NAPIER: Absolutely. 100%.
Q. Just general assessment of the depth of this team and how many players you think are ready to step in if the starter gets down and compete at an SEC level because you’ve talked about roster-building. How close are you to getting to that level to where you can lose a guy and plug a guy in?
BILLY NAPIER: I think all those things are very much to be determined. I think we’ve got a core group of veterans. If you really evaluate the experience, how many plays have the players played in games, I think we’ve got a core group that has some experience, and then I think there’s a big chunk of the roster that has minimal experience. Maybe that’s just on special teams. Maybe there’s little experience at all.
Then you have a group of rookies that just showed up. I think we kind of have three categories of players. I think that’s what we’re getting ready to find out. That’s what we’re getting ready to try to coach and develop and try to get players in position.
I don’t necessarily know that there’s an answer to that. I think it’s to be determined.
Thank you, all.
