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Florida head coach Billy Napier, defensive lineman Desmond Watson, quarterback DJ Lagway, and receiver Chimere Dike met with the media after Friday’s 33-8 win over Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl.
BILLY NAPIER
Opening Remarks
“We have a great group of seniors. This senior group is special. We have overcome adversity all season long and this group came together.”
“What an incredible event. Staff with Gasparilla Bowl was first class. A great experience for our players. To see Gator Nation out in force was special.”
“Lots of credit to Tulane. Tough bouncing back from their conference championship to make it a tough game.”
“We had some red zone challenges. We created some takeaways, played really good defense. Great to finish the season in the right way.”
On struggles offensively in the first half
“We were a little rusty. Had penalties and sacks that hurt us.”
On Ending on a 4-game Winning Streak
“When you are in a leadership position you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. After our first month, I am really proud of how the coaches and players collaborated to get us back on course. It could have easily gone sideways after the start of the season, but we got confidence and belief and felt we could play with anyone over the last half of
the season.”
“To win four in a row in impressive fashion against really good teams is a great way to finish.”
“One way we have turned it around is by playing good defense and I thought we did that again today. To be a consistent championship contender you have to play really good defense. We went to Tennessee and played pretty good defense and we have kept that going the rest of the season.”
DJ LAGWAY
On What Being a Gator Means to Him
“It’s just a blessing to be in orange and blue and having an amazing fanbase has been good.”
On What this Win Means for the Offseason and His Future with Florida
“It definitely gave me an edge. It’s a bad taste in my mouth with my performance. So it’s going to be straight to work this offseason.”
“I have some goals, you know personal and for the team, so it’s gonna be a great offseason.”
CHIMERE DIKE
On His Performance and Game
“You know I wanted to be a part of it and finish off the right way. You know, I think that the adversity we were up against this season really brought this team close, guys like DJ are the reason I wanna play this game. I’m so excited for their future.”
“Coach Napier has done a great job of leading our team. He is someone who is a role model for each and every person on our team. Not only the coach he is but the leader he is and the man he is. And obviously I just wanna go out there and play well and I think I was able to do that.”
DESMOND WATSON
On His Favorite Play in the Game, Picking up Thompson or Running the Ball
“Um, I think running the ball. It’s something I haven’t done in years. I feel like tackling people is routine or picking people up or something like that is routine.”
When Asked if He Can Catch the Ball too
“I can do it all. Every time I do something more athletic than they expect me to, I just look like this, I can do it all.”
On What the Whole Play Call Meant to Him
“Feels great. Since I came to college, every time I would go on the internet I would see somebody saying that I should be on some type of package, getting the ball, especially wearing number 21, a running back number. I never really looked too much into it and I never went and told to Napier about it, but I feel like he’s seen it too – great moment to finish off my career as a Florida Gator.”
Transcripts courtesy Florida Sports Information | Videos courtesy GatorVision
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