Week 10: Gators post-game news & notes

Winning their second-straight game, this time in dominant fashion, the Florida Gators (6-3, 4-3 SEC) toppled the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-7, 1-5 SEC) 55-14 in Nashville, TN, at Vanderbilt Stadium. With so much to discuss, OGGOA presents some important notes and quotes following the contest.

RAINEY’s REDEMPTION PART II

Redshirt junior wide receiver Chris Rainey has been one of Florida’s best performers in back-to-back games. With two blocked punts and a 40-yard touchdown reception in which he came back for an under-thrown ball, Rainey is quickly proving to head coach Urban Meyer that he has his head on straight and is ready to be a valued member of the team. “He hit rock bottom and he had one way to go,” Meyer said after the game. “Good for him. To even be on football, good for him. He’s doing much better in school and the thumb is on him real hard, so his whole work ethic has changed and everything.” He also discussed Rainey’s punt blocks. “You talk about a momentum shift. [Chris] Rainey’s a very unique, skilled athlete that can come off that edge that’s skinny like that,” he said. “Ninety percent of the time we win or are undefeated when we get a hand on a punt. Great momentum change.”

TEAM CHEMISTRY AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH

Having won their last two contests, the Gators are feeling good – especially considering one was an overtime thriller and the other was a shellacking. Meyer is pleased with how the team is currently assembled and thinks, now that most everyone is healthy, they can continue their progress. “I just like the chemistry of our team right now. The way they hang out with each other at the hotel. You see a gelling right now,” he said. “You take some good players out of your team and you don’t look as good. I’m very excited about the chemistry of our team right now. We needed this.”

Florida is feeling so good these days that, before the game was even over, players on the sidelines were talking about playing South Carolina next week for the Southeastern Conference Eastern division title. “[They were talking about it] a lot. I tried to encourage them to. I wanted the focus,” Meyer said. “We’ve learned some great lessons around here in the past of a team being ready to play a big-time game and maybe a team not being ready to go play a big-time game. So that was my whole message to them. I like the look. If they’re talking about next week’s game obviously when this one is over, it’s real clear what the focus is. […] I think we’re finishing strong and obviously it’s championship week in Gainesville, Florida. So we’re going to get back to work as soon as we can and everybody’s excited about it.”

REED-IRECTING OFFENSE

Saturday saw the emergence of redshirt freshman tight end Jordan Reed as a legitimate offensive option for the Gators as he accounted for 120 yards through the air, 84 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. Meyer was complimentary of Reed after the game and hopes to utilize him more as the season goes on. “He’s a freak athlete. I think we did it right. Hindsight is 20-20 how we’re pushing him into this offense,” he said. “Obviously you can see what a dynamic runner [he] is, he’s got a nice arm. We don’t have that big runner – and he gives us that. […] He’s tight end and quarterback. He’ll be a single-wing quarterback and a tight end for us.”

PLAYER STATUS UPDATES

» Freshman defensive tackle Dominique Easley: “He’s not on the travel team – just not a part of the team right now. Lot of reasons. […] He’s not part of the travel team.”
» Freshman running back Mack Brown: “He’s been having hamstrings all year, so we just didn’t want to risk it. But his attitude has been fantastic.”
» Junior RB Jeff Demps: “Jeff was available, but we wanted to be smart. He didn’t practice much this week. It was very painful on him this week. We’ll know more this week, but I’m planning on him being ready for South Carolina.”
» Redshirt sophomore DT Jaye Howard: Meyer expects him to return next week after having nursed a serious ankle injury for 2-3 weeks.

QUOTES (After the break…)

Meyer on what concerned him going into the game: “I’m turning into a Florida guy, not liking that cold weather very much.”

Meyer on how the game began: “We stared so darn slow again. They had a decent plan. You can see when Johnny was in they blitzed and then they played the zero hole. So we just got to keep moving, keep moving this thing.”

Meyer on the return game: “We had a major error with Janoris [Jenkins] back there – you got to catch that ball. I’m going to give some thought to that whole situation.”

Offensive coordinator Steve Addazio on redshirt sophomore Frankie Hammond, Jr.: “He played all his special teams reps, all his offensive snaps, the plays that he made in the game. Really terrific to see him come back. Really, he’s a very quiet guy and he’s a real unassuming guy and just works really hard. That’s what he did before too. I think it’s a great sense of pride for him to bring value to this football team like he has, and he’s doing a great job.”

Senior center Mike Pouncey on the last two games: “We’ve picked up a lot of momentum. I think it’s all on Coach Addazio. He brought up the idea of going to the up-tempo offense and it’s helped us out a lot. We’ve been playing great the last two weeks. Now, we’ve got to do it again this week. It’s the biggest game of the year. If we win, we’re in. If we lose, we’re out. We’re all focused on this one game.”

Pouncey on Reed: “He’s a great player. He’s just trying to find a position.”

Reed on his touchdown: “That was the first time. My first touchdown pass. I was excited.”

Redshirt junior quarterback John Brantley on the rotation: “You never know who is going to be at quarterback. As long as we’re winning, I like it a lot.”

Brantley on Rainey’s touchdown reception: “That was a great catch by Chris Rainey. The ball floated on me; it slipped out of my hand. I’m not use to this cold weather.”

Redshirt senior defensive tackle Terron Sanders on the team: “We’ve had a lot of good weeks of practice. This team is starting to gel, and we’re starting to show we’re the type of team we knew we could be. It just took a while to get there.”

Sanders on his fumble return touchdown: “It might have been out of fear. I didn’t want anyone to catch me. That is something I wanted to do before I graduated from here. I finally experienced it.”

Sanders on allowing a punt block: “That was on me. He worked a move, he worked a good move on me. I was real disappointed afterwards, but we got the win.”

Freshman WR Solomon Patton on his punt block return touchdown: “I was trying my best to make it to the end zone. It means a lot. I was trying to help my team with this victory, that’s all.”