Gators Talk About LSU Tigers

In today’s media luncheon, the Gators talked a bit about the upcoming game vs. LSU. Here’s selected quotes.

“A little bit about LSU. They have done a great job recruiting. They are loaded. Last year there was no question in my mind that they were the most talented team in the Southeastern Conference. I can’t say that yet because we haven’t seen all the film on them yet. It’s gonna be hard to beat this talent and they lost a lot of guys a year ago. So that kinda tell you how well they’ve done. It’s a great way to evaluate recruiting and they’ve done a great job of it the last four or five years. They are a very talented team and we are gonna have to play our very best to win this one. I think this is two very good teams going at each other at this time of the year.”

On the emotions after last year’s LSU loss:”I remember exactly what happened. Jarvis Herring, who I became very close with. Jarvis Herring dealt with a lot of things in his life and during his career here at the University of Florida. When you care about a player and you care about what he’s done, to see him he was a wreck. His life was ruined there for a minute and obviously it was just football and I don’t want to over-dramatize it but I was very close with him.”

On the offensive game plan last year against LSU:”They are very talented defensively and obviously we didn’t have the ability to do this because we weren’t running the ball very effectively. We felt that the mismatch with Chad Jackson or someone out there on the edge or Dallas Baker. We were in a tough situation. They blitzed us, they hit our quarterback and in hindsight would we have done it differently, I’m not sure. This is all personnel driven. If we had a tailback who was hammering it for 100 yards a game but we didn’t at that time. [After the LSU game] I remember calling the coaches and saying get over to my house. We sat there with a little fan going, that was a late one. We just tried to draw plays. We put in a counter, we put in a stretch. I would say our offense is a little more like Bowling Green’s than it was like Utah’s.”

On LSU’s defensive secondary: “They have two very good corners. I think their corners are as good as Alabama’s. Their safeties are dynamic guys that play around the ball, and their numbers reflect that. They have a lot of interceptions and a lot of touchdowns. They’re well coached, they have great personnel and they recruit very well.”

For a complete audio of Meyer’s thoughts and comments, go here…

Jemalle Cornelius

On the LSU secondary from last year:”They blitzed us a lot and pretty much challenged us to beat man-to-man coverage and we couldn’t do it. We have to do a better job of that this year.”

On the loss last year against LSU:”It was a tough loss. You don’t want to lose games like that in the SEC. I think that was the second loss we had in the SEC and you kind of look at the bigger picture. The defense played their hearts out. I remember Jarvis Herring being a senior he played a real good game. A lot of guys felt like we let the seniors down especially on the offense, considering the way the defense played, how many turnovers they got. We didn’t really do much on offense. It was a pretty sad atmosphere.”

Chris Leak

On the LSU game this weekend: “We can’t have early turnovers or miscues in this game. Obviously great teams like LSU will capitalize on them and put points on the board. We have to make sure we stay on schedule and make plays that need to be made. LSU is a great team defensively. They have a lot of veterans. They are a disciplined defense and do a great job running to the ball. We will have to play our best football to be successful. This has always been a big game and a big game in the SEC. This is why you go to Florida to play in games like this.”