[Rafael De Los Santos]

Head coach Billy Napier and select players will be made available to the media at approximately 11:40 A.M.

Follow along for updates.

• This topic was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by Rafael De Los Santos.

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Coach is here

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“The swamp was electric again.”

Napier begins the presser with positives on the fans and the attendance for the upcoming game against USF.

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Napier: “I think the big focus for out team is to get consumed with improvement.”

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Napier: “They’ve got some really good players, I think there’s 15 transfers in the two deep.”

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Napier: “One of Anthony’s special traits is that he’s a loyal guy, a guy that really has a heart to do his job for his teammates. this is just one page in a book of Anthony Richardson.”

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Napier: Says that the team didnt earn the right to win. Says that turnovers and the inability to score deep in the field cost the Gators the game.

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On Richardson’s nerves: Says that the reality is that Richardson is a young player and this is a part of his growth.

“He’s going to take full advantage of this experience.”

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“Sometimes I think in this game you can het too consumed in the result.”

Says that the game has to be digested fully, every play, every player, every unit.

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Napier: “I think a lot of Anthony’s issues, he can fix.”

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Napier says that the turnovers on saturday costed the Gators the game in that they ended in seven points, not the usual three as statistics show.

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On Napier’s family approach being tested after the Kentucky loss:

Napier: “I think the kids tend to be more resilient than the adults.”

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That’s all for Napier

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Justin Shorter is here

• This reply was modified 6 months, 1 week ago by Rafael De Los Santos.

[Rafael De Los Santos]

On how the team moves past the loss:

“In order to have success you have to fail.”

Shorter says that the team went back and watched film but look at the season on a week-by-week basis.

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On Richardson’s confidence:

‘Confidence is built in repetition.”

Shorter says that he gets to go against Jason Marshall and Devin Moore every week, making him better.

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Shorter says that the team needs to stay positive and focus on coming back the next week to and putting up big numbers.

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On Trevor Etienne:

‘When he got here for workouts this summer, and i got a chance to see him cut up i was like ‘oh yeah,ok.'”

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On Ricky Pearsall: He’s probably one of the best receivers I’ve ever seen.’

“He has every aspect you’d want in a receiver.”

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Shorter says that the culture in the facility has changed. Says that he just came from the facility where Reynolds and Bowman were putting in reps.

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On the offense:

“i love how we prepare and i love the playcalls during the game.”

Says he expects the team to be able to bring it all together in their third game.

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That’s all for Shorter

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Richard Gouraige is here

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“Last week it was going as planned.”

Says that the offensive line made minor mistakes and it was noticeable in the film.

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On keeping perspective:

Says that the team has to stay positive and learn from last week.

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“I understand that Anthony has a lot of pressure, it sucks that other people put so much pressure on him.”

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Says that Kentucky played a great game but the difference laid in the Gators who made minor mistakes.

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Says that Austin Barber left no doubt that he was ready to step up.

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Says that Etienne was his roommate during camp. “That man is loud, that man snore.”

Says that Etienne is a great kid that is willing to learn.

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Says that Richardson’s growth was apparent as soon as the new staff came in.

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That’s all for today.

[Mark Wheeler]

Courtesy ASAP Transcripts:

BILLY NAPIER: When you’re presented with challenges and adversity in life, I think that there’s opportunity, and it’s important that we operate in truth, that we keep it technical.

You know, when you try to help the players maintain perspective. I think that it’s very important that you take full advantage of the things that come with an experience like this. It gives you a chance to recenter and certainly evaluate where you’re at as a team.

So it’s important to adjust, to adapt, to evolve, and certainly I’ve seen just in the few days here this group is sticking together. There’s a certain loyalty that comes with this game, and I love how this group wants to do their job for the team. They want to do it better for the team.

So I think the big focus for our team is to get consumed with improvement, right? With our process, our routine, and execution. How can we improve in terms of how we execute?

So I challenged the staff to let’s do our best work for the players, the level of detail that we can offer the players throughout the week — meetings, walk-throughs, and practice — and try to position in better place as we approach Saturday.

South Florida comes to town. Very familiar with Jeff Scott. As he’s building a program, obviously inherited a little bit of a tough dynamic there being year one and COVID. But Jeff’s a bright young coach, and his team is playing extremely hard. You can see the effort.

You can see the toughness, the week 1 to 2 improvement, certainly some of the changes they made on the staff from a defensive standpoint.

So Jeff’s growing that program up, and certainly you can see it on the film. Tons of respect for what he’s doing and how they’re doing it.

They’ve got some really good players. I think there’s probably 15 transfers in the two deep to go along with a lot of really good returning players here.

So there will be a lot of challenges that come with playing South Florida.

What questions do we have here?

Q. You guys obviously strive to win them all, but are growing pains like the other night somewhat inevitable when you’re in a rebuilt like this first year?

BILLY NAPIER: You don’t get them back. That’s what losing does to you. It makes you very aware that you don’t get back — there’s no redos. You don’t go back and fix those things.

It causes you to have a different perspective, I think as a coach and as a player. I think everybody in the organization taking ownership in their role, maybe what could I have done better throughout the week, that could have impacted the outcome.

It’s critical that you learn from mistakes. I think it’s critical that you have integrity, that you tell the truth, and you make the necessary changes. Then, hey, look, you’ve got to turn the page. I think part of this game is — teaches you a lot of lessons, and quickly you’ve got to get focused on the next task. Certainly that’s what we’re going to try to do.

Q. Did you hear Anthony speak? After the game.

BILLY NAPIER: I did not.

Q. Because he took an incredible amount of accountability for the loss. How do you take that and translate that into improvement?

BILLY NAPIER: I think it just shows you what type of kid you’re dealing with here. This is a guy who’s got character. One of Anthony’s special traits is he is a loyal guy. You’re talking about a guy that really has a heart to do his job for his teammates, and I think that’s one of the things that’s going to make him a special player.

There is just one page in the — one chapter in the book about Anthony Richardson. He has an opportunity. You know, he had one on Sunday. I told him, look, get up Sunday morning, pick the pen up, and write a great page in the chapter of this part of your life and this part of your career.

Still a young player. I’m excited to be a part of that and to observe that. He’s a special kid.

Q. Billy, you talked about earning the right to win a game. Would you define what you think is earning the right? It’s a pretty cool statement, but how do you define that?

BILLY NAPIER: Well, I think it’s about kind of our formula to win. What’s worked for us in the past, right? The top of that list is own the ball, attack the ball.

If you just want to take a bird’s eye view of the game, that’s where we didn’t earn the right to win.

If you include the turnover on downs stat, we turned the ball over four times to their one, right, so we’re minus three. We didn’t play on conversion downs on offense. Had to kick a couple of field goals in the fringe so the four-point play red zone part of the field we weren’t very efficient, so we didn’t do enough on offense to win the game.

When I say earn the right to win, I’m talking about our formula and how we win. We play complementary football, and there were parts of our team where we didn’t earn the right to win. It’s that simple.

Q. You’ve known Jeff for a while. When you think back on your time together at Clemson, what jumps out?

BILLY NAPIER: Jeff’s a football guy. He’s been in football families the entire time. His dad, obviously, Brad Scott was a phenomenal coach and a great mentor to me early in my career.

Jeff’s got great character. He was raised the right way. He has care for young people. He’s in the game for the right reasons. I think he’s got a program there where they’re trying to impact people and use the game in a positive way.

He’s got a great offensive mind. He’s very organized, very much a CEO, got a good business mind, and a guy that I think is one of the bright young coaches in the game.

Jeff’s been successful at all stops here, right? Certainly he’s in the process of building a program there in South Florida.

Q. Brad was where?

BILLY NAPIER: He was at Clemson as a coordinator/assistant coach when I first got to Clemson as a graduate assistant.

Q. How is Jack Miller’s status and some of the other injuries with Ventrell, et cetera?

BILLY NAPIER: Yeah, Jack is making progress. He’s not quite ready for action, but he’s in the process, getting closer. He’s kind of moved in the next stage there of return to play.

As far as other injuries are concerned, we’ll give you that update on Wednesday.

Q. And your defensive line rotation, just how are you feeling that’s coming along at this point?

BILLY NAPIER: I thought we took a step forward in this past game. I thought some of the young players really — you saw week 1 to week 2 improvement, and you think about for them in their career it was game one to game two improvement. So we’re starting to get better play from some of that second tier.

I thought Gervon in particular really was significantly better in the game. When I say that, I’m talking about alignment, discipline, fundamentals. Across the board there we were much improved.

Q. Anthony talked in the first game about just kind of being jittery and his emotions getting to him, and then last Saturday he said after the game that kind of his confidence got shot. How much is that something that he still needs to work on, you work on with him, just between the ears moving on to the next play?

BILLY NAPIER: I think it’s part of being a young player. It’s part of being a guy who’s not very experienced. I would say that we’re all that way, right? As a young coach, as a young position coach, you’re that way, right? As a young play caller, you’re that way. As a young head coach, you’re that way.

Remember when you were getting your start in the profession? That’s reality here. Anthony’s a young player. He’s getting his first opportunity to be the guy. I just think this is part of the story. This is part of his growth.

And he’ll use that. This guy’s a competitor. He’s motivated, and I think he’s going to take full advantage of the experience he’s had, both good and bad so far. Again, it’s important to evaluate each game and each performance and each play independent of the outcome. Are you doing everything that you were supposed to do the right way?

Sometimes you get a great outcome and you didn’t do what you were supposed to do. Sometimes we sack the quarterback and we busted the coverage over here and we could have gave up a touchdown. So sometimes I think in this game you can get two consumed with the result. What you’ve got to do is control the things that you can control, get consumed with preparing, and go execute and do your job for the team.

Q. You’ve talked a lot about operating in truth. What does that look like? How important is that for the players, especially coming off a loss and not lying to themselves about something in the game?

BILLY NAPIER: It comes back to really evaluating the game independent of the result. Is the effort good? Are the fundamentals good? Is the communication where it needs to be? If we’re having execution issues, why?

I think each individual player, each position group, each unit, right? What is each part of the organization relative to is preparing for the game throughout the week.

So many people contribute to a football team, so a loss gives you a chance to hit the reset button, recenter. Everybody kind of gets hit in the gut, and I think sometimes it’s healthy.

The key is that you don’t waste it, right? That’s when I say operate in truth. I say, hey, let’s call it exactly like it is. What caused us to get the result that we had there, and what can we do to position our team.

Myself, what do we need to do to position our team for success in the future?

Q. Was part of Anthony’s struggles were opponent dictated Saturday night?

BILLY NAPIER: That’s a good question. I think a lot of Anthony’s issues are he can fix. I would say that most football games are that way to some degree. You’re going to run into a really good player and a matchup. You’re going to have a matchup issue one side of the ball or the other on special teams. But most games are lost; that’s reality.

I think the big thing here is there’s lots of plays where he can do better and there’s lots of plays where a lot of players on our team can do better, right? I think Anthony is the quarterback, so everybody likes to talk about the quarterback.

But everybody can do better. There’s certain players who played better than others, and they know who they are. What I see is all very correctible.

Now, there are a handful of four or five plays in the game where we didn’t put the players in a sound concept, right? When I come back in and I’m evaluating the staff, that’s what I’m looking at. Are we in a sound play? When we walked in the room today, did we have the answer? We can say, hey, if we’d have done this, we’d have been fine.

A few too many of those in the game for me. Four or five, that’s too many. I don’t want any of those, right? But I do think that there’s opportunity for Anthony to play well in the game if he executes at a higher rate.

Some of that has to do with other players around him playing better, and I think that’s usually the case. When he plays good, it probably has to do with some of the players around him playing well too.

Q. If that number is zero, do you win the game? Instead of four or five.

BILLY NAPIER: Probably not. Yeah. I think we made a few too many mistakes. Not only did we turn the ball over, they were significant. They were immediate points. There’s a compound effect to that.

Most turnovers on average turn into about three points, if you just do the research. When they’re seven or lead to seven, there’s a compound effect of that and the momentum that comes from that.

You think about, I think it’s 16-7 with three minutes to go in the second quarter on the first one, and then it’s a tie game in the third quarter there with the second one.

So those — if we don’t have that, we don’t have the fourth downs that we’re going for and we don’t end up — we’re playing with a lead and the game’s completely different.

Got to earn the right to win, right? Turning the ball over, that’s not part of the equation.

Q. You talked a lot about the family approach and environment as well as handling adversity. When that was tested on Saturday, how do you feel the team responded, especially when it comes to supporting Anthony?

BILLY NAPIER: Couldn’t be better. I think I can’t compliment the guys enough on that. They’ve been great. I think sometimes the kids are more resilient than the adults are, truth be known.

This group is (no microphone.)

[Mark Wheeler]

Courtesy ASAP Transcripts:

Justin Shorter
Press Conference

Q. How do you guys kind of move past that performance? I was asking Billy, there’s going to be some growing pains with a first year staff, quarterback in his third start?

JUSTIN SHORTER: Absolutely. I would say definitely taking a loss is hard thing for everyone. I couldn’t even sleep last night. It’s a new week. I feel like our main goal is to go 1-0 each week. We weren’t able to get that done last week.

In order to have success you have to fail as well, so we were able to go back and watch the film and really see all the mistakes we made. Those are like the simple stuff we could’ve fixed up.

I’d say we just went back to the drawing board, and now we’re going to focus on this next game going 1-0. That’s the goal every week.

Q. At some point maybe one or two things that you feel you guys really need to make strides?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I’d say really we can look at all aspects of the game, literally like every aspect. We can go in there, and you can watch the film, and you can see, okay, there’s a small mistake we made here. We’ve got a missed assignment here. I could have gotten open and read the coverage better there.

It’s just small stuff. We just really need to go back and go in practice and work hard and just really come together. Whenever we’re all coming together, we just play so much better.

Q. Anthony brought up the term “losing confidence” on Saturday in terms of as the game went on. As a veteran, how do you try to restore his confidence this week?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would definitely say confidence is built in reputation, so I’d say in practice, you know, going out there every day and really giving it your all in practice even though we did lose last week, just really focusing on a brand new week and trying to go 1-0 every day and trying to win every day in practice, every rep going hard, because I get to go up against Jason Marshall every single day at practice and Devin Moore. They make me ten times better, 50 times better.

So it’s just really taking it rep by rep and just going as hard as you possibly can.

Q. Why did the passing game struggle on Saturday?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would say we were just kind of maybe off a little bit. But I’d say it’s a brand new week again. We’re focused on this next game. 1-0, that’s the goal each week. We’re just going to go out there and hopefully be able to put up huge numbers this week. That’s the goal to really come back off of last week.

Q. Coach talked about earning the right to win. What does that mean to you?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would say earning the right to win, that starts in practice. Just literally doing everything that you possibly can, being in this building as much as you possibly can.

I try to live in here honestly. We’ve got this brand new locker room. I can go and sleep in there, wake up, and really give full effort to the team and really try to communicate and get everyone together so that way we can just play as one.

Q. Anthony often throws a fastball even on shorter or intermediate routes. As receivers, how can you guys adjust to that?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I’d say it’s just second nature. You’ve got to see the ball and just react to it. It’s simple.

I would say that also starts in practice, just reps. Reps on reps on reps; that’s how you build confidence. Game time you don’t even think, and the ball is in your hand.

Q. Anthony was clearly distraught afterwards. What as a veteran was your message to him? What did you see from him in terms of a response?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would say definitely all of us, I feel like it just wasn’t him. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Everyone, we were in the locker room trying to help each other out, talk each other up, and stay positive.

That’s a big thing, because teams can lose games and just go down in the hole, but you can also lose and come back next week and be 50 times better.

It’s just one loss. There’s a lot of championship teams with one loss, so we’re just going to come back next week and try to put up huge numbers and really win.

Q. What does it say about Anthony that he was so accountable after the game?

JUSTIN SHORTER: That’s the kind of guy he is. He’s a leader, hard worker, and he’s obviously a special talent, as you guys have seen. He’s a very impressive quarterback. He makes some throws in practice and games and I’m like, wow.

He’s obviously out there running the ball. He can jump over people. I’d definitely say he’s definitely a very smart, very humble, humble kid for the spot that he’s in now.

Q. What do you think so far of Trevor this season? When did you realize that he was going to have a chance to make an impact?

JUSTIN SHORTER: He is a different character. He’s a different, different person. I would say, definitely, when he first got here for workouts over the summer, just watching him run and really seeing how he cuts and stuff like that, I was like, okay, this is going to be special. When we finally got there in camp, he puts the pads on, and that proves to everyone he’s that guy.

Q. When you say character, what do you mean?

JUSTIN SHORTER: He’s just funny. He loves everyone that he’s around. He’ll walk in a room and pick up everyone around. Everyone is going to know that he’s in that room, which is what everyone needs, I feel like.

Q. You said Devin Moore was someone you go against that made you better. What have you seen out of him?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I always call him Mr. Patient because he’s very, very patient. We go one-on-ones every day, going out there seven-on-seven, and I’m just so thankful I’m able to go up against DBs to that caliber because it just makes me honestly better.

Q. What’s Ricky brought to the receiver room?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I love Ricky, man. That’s my brother. He’s been here for a short amount of time, but he’s very, very talented. He’s probably one of the best receivers I’ve ever seen, just what he can do. And his work ethic speaks for itself.

That just adds on to everything else. I can’t wait to really see when he really gets open and do his thing.

Q. You said one of the best receivers you’ve ever seen. What qualities? Can you give a couple of them?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I’d say he has every aspect that you would want in a receiver. Speed, he can beat you quick, beat you deep. He could jump over you, catch the ball, make three people miss and score a touchdown. He’s going to be screaming afterwards, jumping up, celebrating with everyone.

I feel like that’s the kind of guy he is, and you can see that in the game. He’s making those crazy catches. You see the speed. He blocks too. Great blocker. Great, great blocker. He had some key blocks last game. It’s just good to see him really put that work in.

He’s a cool guy to be able to play with.

Q. When you talk about the patience of Devin, does that mean he’s not jumping at your first move, and you have to get deeper in the route before you commit?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I’ll never forget my first time going one-on-one with him when he first got in. I like did a little move on him, and he didn’t do nothing, just stood there. So I was like, okay, I know how to play against him. I just get out and go. I just call him patient because, if you see him in games and people run slants on him, he just sits there and holds tight. So I feel like that’s a good trait for defensive back to have.

Q. Ricky goes to the facility every day, hundred catches with the jugs gun. Has that rubbed off on everybody? Everybody coming in early and doing that too?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would say definitely the culture here has changed drastically. I feel like now you can go down to the indoor facility. I was just down there. I think I saw eight guys down there, linemen, running backs running, doing drills, linemen snapping balls, kids over there catching jugs.

I think I saw Bowman, Daejon Reynolds, and I was just down there catching, playing a little bit. It’s just work, so I feel like it’s definitely rubbing off, and we’re going to be a great team.

Q. You said the whole culture. Everything in the building has changed about everybody from last year.

JUSTIN SHORTER: I’d say definitely there’s more of a hunger to be great. I feel like we know what to do, like step by step to take that. That’s thanks to Coach Napier and his new coaching staff.

Obviously having this brand new place is definitely helping us a lot to keep us motivated and really have us work hard.

Q. How is the human jugs machine, your mom?

JUSTIN SHORTER: Amazing. Still throws me every single day. We caught earlier today, and then tonight I’m going to catch again because I feel like I didn’t do everything I could last game to help us win, so…

Q. I love hearing it every time, so what’s the process?

JUSTIN SHORTER: 250 balls every single day, probably more because we use tennis balls now. I go in there, we go to a field outside — like today we were outside. It’s hot outside, so I want to be able to sweat, get a good workout in.

I’ll be tired afterwards, and she’ll be sweating too. It’s a good workout for both of us.

It gets me better. She has a cannon now. She can really zip.

Q. She is throwing the tennis balls to you now?

JUSTIN SHORTER: Oh, yeah, everything. She does everything. She really helps me out.

Q. I knew she was throwing the balls; I didn’t know she was throwing the tennis balls.

JUSTIN SHORTER: Yeah, my dad, when I was younger, he used to throw to me all the time when I was younger. Now his shoulder is starting to get a little messed up, so she took over, and she has a cannon.

Q. What’s her pitch count?

JUSTIN SHORTER: She can dial it up. I ain’t going to lie.

Q. What’s her name again?

JUSTIN SHORTER: Paula Shorter. She looks just like me.

Q. What are your thoughts on how things have gone for you guys offensively and from an operational standpoint? It’s one thing to practice in a new system, but it’s another to actually play. You’ve seen it for two games now. What are your thoughts on how everything is going to go?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would say definitely I love how we prepare, and I love the play calls when we’re in the game. I don’t have a problem blocking for the running backs. We have all those running backs back there are great. We have a quarterback who can run it, and all the wideouts can go deep and really take the top off.

I really say we use all aspects in your offense. I feel like this is the third game. We’ll be able to start to master it even more and run and run and run and throw it deep. It’s really just reps. It all starts in practice, you know. Getting more consistent.

Q. How much is blocking a focus for the receivers in the off-season?

JUSTIN SHORTER: I would say just as important as catching the ball honestly. Every day Coach Casey has us doing some kind of blocking drill. He’s out there with his cleats on trying to make a move on us like a real game. It definitely helps us out a lot in the game because you definitely see it carry over.

Q. I know we only asked you about Ricky, but Bowman got a target in the game. What have you seen on him?

JUSTIN SHORTER: He’s like a jackrabbit. He’s like every time he touches the ground, he has the ball. He’s just super fast, super quick guy, great hands, confident. I can’t wait to really see him get more time out there so he can really show everyone what he can do too.

When the ball’s in his hand, like every time at practice, whenever he catches the ball, he scores. Not blinking, and he sprints towards the end zone. That’s the kind of guy he is.

[Mark Wheeler]

Courtesy ASAP Transcripts:

Richard Gouriage
Press Conference

Q. How would you evaluate offensive line play week 1 to week 2?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Every day we’re just trying to get better, 1 percent every day. I know last week it didn’t go as planned. Tomorrow we have a new opportunity to keep getting better.

Q. What did you think of Richie’s performance coming in at guard?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Richie is a great asset for the team. Having him rotate in the offensive line has definitely helped us. He’s just a great asset for the team.

Q. When you say last week didn’t go as planned, what specifically didn’t click that maybe clicked week 1, do you think?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: We just had minor mistakes and stuff like that. Watching the film, we knew that there’s some mistakes we could have definitely tweaked up and minor issues we can address. This week is a new week to get better and work on the little things.

Q. What helps you keep perspective? You guys are on top of the world after Utah, now it’s this. It’s a pretty big emotional roller coaster for two weeks. How do you keep perspective and stay the course?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Just staying positive. Just believing in one another that every day our end goal is just to win every game. I know last week it was pretty rough for everybody. It’s part of life is you’ve got to learn. You’ve got to lose in order to win. I know it sucks that we didn’t win last week. We have a new week for this week to keep getting better.

Q. You’re a veteran guy. How do you impart that to Anthony? Obviously he’s played sports his whole life. He gets it. But he’s still very young in the position. How do you kind of bolster him there?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: To be honest with you, it’s all part of life. I understand that Anthony has a lot of pressure, and it sucks that a lot of people put a lot of pressure on him. But I just know, like a veteran guy, like for instance, Wani Taylor, he always told me after he lost his games, he always told me like next day is another day to get keep getting better and better.

That always sticks with me, and I try to lend that to Anthony Richardson as well and keep getting better.

Q. Coach talks about earning the right to win. What does that mean to you?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Earning the right to win, we have to follow the formula in order to win. As long as everybody is doing their job to their full capacity, there shouldn’t be no doubt that we wouldn’t come as victor.

Q. How do you personally flush a loss like that? If you’re not positive, as you were saying, things can snowball the way it kind of did last year too.

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Like I said, it’s all part of life. You have to lose in order to win. I’m just grateful to have an opportunity that the guys are willing to look at the film and see that the minor mistakes they saw and brush it off.

Hopefully next week we can come out with a big victory.

Q. Justin talked about how the entire culture of the team has changed. Can you talk about that?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: The culture has definitely changed. A lot of guys on this team definitely bought into the system. They believe in Coach, the system that he has for us, and everything that he’s doing. We definitely believe in his formula and everything.

Q. What’s the difference between now and last year?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Last year worked for them. We just had — I don’t know how to explain it. Last year we bought in, and this year is a new system we have to buy in. Everybody just — everybody, our overall goal is just to win.

Q. What did Kentucky do early on to kind of take you guys out of what you wanted to do?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Kentucky didn’t really do it. Kentucky played a great game; kudos to them. Like I said, we saw in the film that we had minor mistakes. We just have to get back on the field and go back to practice and just keep getting better.

Q. It seems like you guys had better success running inside versus outside. What happened to the blocking scheme, why you were so successful rushing on the edge and maybe why you weren’t as successful rushing up the gut?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: It was just all part of whatever the defense gave us and what Coach Napier believed that was going to work. We just wanted to execute as best as we can.

Q. How do you feel about Austin standing in for Michael, just being in that starting role?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Austin stepped up big time. I knew he was the guy and stuff for that. I just had no doubt that he wasn’t ready at all to play this game. I’m just glad that he contributed a great way.

Q. And another young player, Trevor Etienne, when did you realize he was going to be a special player and make an impact for you guys as a freshman?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: I remember in camp he was my roommate. I’m looking on film and I’m like, this man’s good right here. I’m seeing it face to face, going crazy in the game. It’s great to see that young players buying into the system and then taking coaching. He’s been doing great.

Q. He’s a character. What was he like as a roommate?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: That man’s loud. That man can snore. I remember one time 5:00 in the morning he set his alarm because he’s a hard sleeper. Set his alarm. I’ve got to wake up at 7:00, so I wanted two more hours of sleep.

Man, the phone going off. I’m like, man, what are you doing? He’s still sleeping, like leave me alone. All right, man, come on. Turn your alarm off.

Other than that, he’s a great kid. He’s willing to learn. I’m glad to have him as a teammate.

Q. I guess someone said coming from Louisiana this feels like New York City to him.

RICHARD GOURAIGE: He talks crazy, loud; he’s just a little character.

Q. Anthony had his coming out party last year against USF. Now a year later facing USF again, where have you seen him grow, the most growth in him?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: I seen it since January since the staff came in, buying into the system, believing Coach Napier, he’ll put him in a great position.

I knew from the beginning that he was going to have good strides this year, and I seen it in the summer how he holds guys accountable, hold himself accountable.

Q. What do you remember about that game last year? Do you remember Anthony? Is that what you remember? That USF game.

RICHARD GOURAIGE: I just remember that we just came out with a victory last year.

Q. Won three?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: Represent for the city, man. Great playing for the hometown.

Q. How many guys at USF do you know?

RICHARD GOURAIGE: I know one, probably Donovan. He played left tackle. Other than that, then nobody else.

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