There was some good, and there was some bad in Florida’s close win over Missouri on Saturday. It was a slow start offensively in the run game, but the running backs flourished to kick-off the second half of play and played good enough for Florida to edge out Missouri. Trevor Etienne finished the night with a career-high 86 yards on a career-high 10 attempts.
The defense, however, arguably played their best game of the season as a unit. Ventrell Miller had one of his best games as a Gator, tying a career-high of two tackles for loss and finishing the night with 11 total tackles. Miller wasn’t the only superstar of the night though; redshirt sophomore Jaydon Hill made his presence heavily known after being injured on and off since he arrived on campus back in 2019.
Hill finished the night with not one, but two interceptions and three solo tackles. Ventrell Miller and Jaydon Hill both showed NFL scouts that they can be major impact players on Sunday’s if they can stay healthy.
“I don’t know how many times where they got a play that looks like it is going to develop and then 51 just comes out of nowhere,” Napier said. “Ventrell [Miller] is productive as a player, but it is more impactful than just the production. That’s the thing that is significant. The guy is inspirational relative to his example, his consistency as a person, his leadership, his presence. He makes other people around him better. That showed up today.”
The numbers Ventrell Miller put up Saturday speak for themselves. The dedication, commitment and passion this player plays with is totally unmatched.
Jaydon Hill has had a large amount of ACL injuries in his football career, including high school. The sophomore cornerback has put on a fascinating display of true grit over the past three and a half years.
“He was the first person that we called up in front of the team,” Napier said on Jaydon Hill. “If we were giving out game balls, we would give one to him today. What a story, if you really dig into it, what the young man has been through. The ACL in high school, the ACL here early in his career, then the LCL.”
“The discipline to continue to rehab. The toughness to stay the course. He’s got passion about this game. I always felt like, watching him in spring ball, he was one of the best players we had. That showed up today. He’s a character. The guys stayed the course. To get him back, he was a difference maker today.”
Jaydon Hill, who was beaming with a huge smile on his face walking up to the podium, couldn’t help but feel grateful for being able to play a part in Saturday’s win.
“Honestly, it’s just a blessing,” Hill said. “Words can’t even describe the feeling honestly. I’m just grateful for being here and being able to play.”
Jaydon Hill knew he was going to intercept that ball, and there was no chance anyone was going to stop him from doing so.
Hill has been in the film room all week with his eyes glued to the same scenario he ran into Saturday.
“Really the route combination came from a lot of film study,” Hill said on what led to interception. “Honestly last night, I watched that same play like three times.”
The preparation and attention to detail certainly paid off for Jaydon Hill, and that showed for him tonight. Hill didn’t mince words either when preparing for Missouri this past week.
“I was like man, I know what we are supposed to do, we are supposed to beat Missouri,” Hill said. “That’s something that we are supposed to do and what I said, I had to back it up. And we came out there and we did that.”
Ventrell Miller almost seemed more excited for Jaydon Hill than he was for himself in Saturday’s post-game press conference.
“It feels great to see him make some bigtime plays,” Miller said on Hill’s performance. “He has been working extremely hard throughout recovery. I have been working with him through recovery. I am extremely happy for him and I am glad he got to make a couple plays like that.”
The defense is slowly coming together but it’s been a work in progress. This is similar to what we’ve seen from the offense the past three weeks.
“We came out and did a decent job,” Miller said on the defensive performance. “There are some long third downs that we have to take advantage of but other than that I feel like the guys came out and executed and made plays when we needed to.”
Despite over pursuing Brady Cook and Nathaniel Peat more times than I’ve seen this season, the defensive line did their job and may have played their best game of the season.
Amari Burney and the Florida linebackers were also a huge help for Miller tonight.
“The guys did a great job doing their job. They had me free to the ball, so big shout out to my d-line and linebackers. I feel like the mentality of getting to the ball. Finding my way to the ball wherever, sideline to sideline linebacker,” Miller said. “My defensive line made it easy on me so it was pretty easy to make the plays.”
Overall, I’m sure most can agree that the defense took a step forward today, at least the front seven. The defensive line was in the backfield all day and brought pressure when they needed, especially in the second half finishing with four sacks as a group.
The defense finished with 13 tackles for loss tonight, which is the most since the Gators had 16 tackles for loss against Miami in 2019.
Although Anthony Richardson and the passing game took a step back this weekend, this whole team is slowly finding themselves each week. We’ve now seen both sides of the ball heavily struggle, but somewhat show some level of improvement. The Gators will need to show some consistency as LSU comes to The Swamp next Saturday night.