Q. Just how difficult of an ending was this to what’s been just a special season and last two seasons for you here at Florida?
QB KYLE TRASK: Yeah, obviously, it’s difficult because this isn’t the way you want to go out. But at the same time, you’ve got to look at the big picture. And we had a ton of young guys playing. At the end of the day, it was getting them reps and getting them ready for next year and getting them opportunities. But, yeah, obviously we didn’t get off to a great start. But it is what it is, and we just want to get it coached up and move forward.
Q. Dan [Mullen] mentioned a couple times that you’re going to be an NFL draft pick and you’re going to be playing in the NFL. Does that mean you’re not going to be pursuing your Ph.D. and coming back to Florida next year?
QB KYLE TRASK: You know, I still haven’t made that decision yet. But I’ll talk to my family members and talk to Coach [Brian] Johnson and Coach Mullen in the next coming days and get that figured out.
Q. Your story has resonated so much with college football fans, just regular average people all over the country, the backup to the Heisman finalist. Everyone can relate to that. What does that mean to you to see how much your story has meant to so many people?
QB KYLE TRASK: It means a lot. It’s been a crazy journey here. I got really nothing else to say. It’s just been a wild ride, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it.
Like I said before, this isn’t the way you want to go out, but when I look back on all the memories and friendships I made here, it’s all worth it.
Q. I actually kind of want to just go down the line — Emory [Johnson], [Jordan] Pouncey, and Nay’Quan [Wright]. Dan [Mullen] talked a lot about how important it was to get young guys in tonight. What sort of experience is this for you? How different was this from maybe a regular-season game? What can you take from this into this off-season?
QB EMORY JONES: Well, first off, it was an opportunity for the young guys to get in and get some reps. And just being on this stage, I feel like the young guys that played, they’re going to be ready to step on any stage. They got in and played here. Some of them made some plays. You just have to get better from that.
WR JORDAN POUNCEY: Transferring from Texas, I was — we waited a couple of weeks to get the waiver through. Once I got the waiver through, kind of just got more — more to work. And I waited in the wings a little bit, waited until my time came. We had the receivers that didn’t make the trip with us.
I’ve been preparing the whole season, no matter the opponent, to step up and fill whatever role I needed to. Actually, I was supposed to play X, but Trent [Whittemore], he didn’t come back out, and I actually ended up playing H. So I played all positions this year, and I was just waiting for Coach G (Todd Grantham) and Coach [Brian] Johnson and Coach [Dan] Mullen to give me my shot, and I was able to get out there and score my first touchdown.
RB NAY’QUAN WRIGHT: I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be out there. We all started in practice. We just go out there and practice, I mean. I feel like I prepared myself and the coaches helped me prepare myself in practice. And then once I got the opportunity to come on in and perform, it was just a blessing.
Q. My question is for Jordan [Pouncey]. You’ve had a long career, you’ve gone through some changes to get here, and now you have scored that first touchdown. So with your veteran experience, how have you been able to kind of lend a hand for some young guys, especially to come out and do this tonight in a big bowl game, kind of encourage guys that their time will come as well?
WR JORDAN POUNCEY: Yeah, I think the first thing is playing in the Cotton Bowl. It’s one of the greatest bowl games in all of college football. So much history behind this game. Reminding the young guys like Xzavier [Henderson], J.Fraz (Ja’Quavion Fraziars), and [Ja’Markis] Weston, and all them, like, as a younger guy who probably doesn’t get as much reps but still has the experience, I try to give maybe a situation that I was in before I got here and just lend a helping hand.
It would be stupid to be selfish and keep those thoughts to myself. So I just try to really help and be as supportive as I can to everybody in the room, from the older guys to the young guys. And especially next year, I have two more years of eligibility left, so I’ve got these — these young guys, I’ve got to pull them along with me. So that’s just kind of what it was.
Q. Emory [Jones], the quarterback position in a Dan Mullen program, there’s so much development. We’ve seen that with Feleipe Franks. We’ve seen that with Kyle [Trask]. He’s now a Heisman finalist. And you’re next here. You got to play a lot tonight. So how do you feel about how you’ve developed and how much you’re ready to take over this role next year?
QB EMORY JONES: I feel good about it. I mean, I’ve been working my butt off for three years. I’ve been waiting my turn. I’ve been grinding. I have some great guys to look up to and just been studying them. They’ve been helping me out and bringing me along. So, I mean, just — I’ve just been growing just watching them just do everything the way, like Kyle [Trask] conducts himself, like even just walking around the facility, I mean, the way he just like carries hisself. I mean, he’s just been helping me out a lot. So I feel like I’m ready.
Q. My question is for Emory [Jones]. And like everyone’s been saying, a lot of young guys got some reps out here today. And looking in the future, this is a group that you’ve been playing with that you’ll probably be playing with coming up next season and beyond. My question is, doing it on this big of a stage, how was it building that rapport and getting a feel for that?
QB EMORY JONES: Like I said earlier, I mean, it was a great feeling to get out there, and the young guys getting out there on this big stage, I mean, it just put them in a position to be ready to step on any stage. I mean, they’ve been preparing a lot. They’ve been getting a lot of reps in practice. So I feel like they played pretty good today.
Q. Kyle [Trask], one more, please. Just how difficult was it not having your main targets, just for chemistry, timing? I know you worked with all those guys, but did it make it more challenging?
QB KYLE TRASK: I mean, it definitely — I mean, it obviously was a little more challenging. I mean, when you just, you think about it, you’ve got a whole off-season to get timing down with that group of guys. And we essentially had about two or three days to get the timing down. Since we had so many opt-outs, we only had about two or three days of practice to get the timing down with the next guys up.
That’s not making excuses or anything, but that’s just the amount of work that goes into this, you don’t just flip a switch and everything, you end up in end zone. It takes a lot of work to get there.
You know, we’ve got a lot of talented guys, a lot of big-time dudes here. So they’re going to have a great off-season and we’ll get back to work and get back to where we need to be.