Q. I’m going to ask Trey. Trey, what was practice like this week leading up to the game? I mean, this certainly wasn’t what you guys were hoping to do today.
DB TREY DEAN: Well, every day at practice, our players have to go out there, make the plays that we need to make, make the right checks. With COVID and everything, we have good practices, but you’ve all got to put it all together when you get on the field and players got to make plays no matter what age you are or what classification you are. At the end of the day, the Gators standard, we’ve got to play the University of Florida football, and we didn’t do that today.
Q. And then Mohamoud. What can you take away from this game leading into next season?
LB MOHAMOUD DIABATE: I think this is a great learning experience, especially since a lot of the younger players who didn’t get to play this season were able to play in this game. So it really allowed them to have the opportunity to understand where they were and what they needed to improve in the off-season. It really made them realize what college football is like because a lot of these guys came in during the COVID year, things were difficult, and they didn’t get many snaps. And now they had a chance to get some better snaps today. So it really allowed their eyes to be opened.
Q. What were they doing, especially on the ground? And how much did maybe not having Kyree [Campbell] up front make a difference in not being able to stop the run game? And, Mohamoud, start with you since you’re closer to the ball up there.
LB MOHAMOUD DIABATE: Obviously, Kyree’s a great player and that would be a great help for our defense. But I’m not going to sit here and say we gave up a lot of rushing yards because Kyree wasn’t there. Because at the end of the day, Kyree was not there the first couple of games, and we played. Kyree’s a great player. We need him. He’s a big part of the 2020 team. But at the end of the day, just like Trey Dean said, players have to get out on the field and make plays. We’re the University of Florida. We can’t say we didn’t have one guy. This is Florida. So you can’t say we didn’t have one guy who could make a play.
Q. I’ll follow up with that. When you have such a short turn-around from the SEC championship game, only 11 days, it being over Christmas, how much of a difference did that make just in terms of game planning and having enough practice to be ready?
DB TREY DEAN: I feel like it really didn’t take a toll on us because, at the end of the day, we’re in a football season. We’ve got to be ready to play each and every game. No matter if we’re playing Bethune-Cookman or the University of Alabama, we’ve got to play to the Gator standard, no matter what it is. So there really was no bad turn-around. On to the next one. You’ve got to look at the new game plan. At the end of the day, we’re in the Cotton Bowl. So we’ve got to play like the Florida Gators in the Cotton Bowl.
Q. And then, Trey, you’ve been here through three New Year Sixes now. This is your third. So you’ve been through two wins and then through this. What can you take from this into the off-season to prepare for next year?
DB TREY DEAN: In the off-season, just prepare. We’ve got to go out there and work on the little things because I believe that this game is 90% mental and the rest of it is physical. So we’ve got to go out there and work on the little things. Just different things. We’re going to go out there and listen to our coaches. And we’ve got to continue to be the Gator standard. And, at the end of the day or next year, we’re holding up that trophy, the Lord’s will.
Q. Khris, touching on something that Mohamoud said, how important do you think it was for a lot of those guys that really hardly have played at all this year to get out there on the field and do their thing, again leading up to next season?
DL KHRIS BOGLE: We’ve got a young team, obviously, but we’ve got to come together, play as a team, execute, from the younger guys to the older guys, come together as one unit, and just execute. Listen to the coaches, do what we do best, and play Gator football.
Q. A lot of fans are mad. Does three losses at the end of the year taint the way you look at this season as a whole, though? Or is that more of a fan thing?
LB AMARI BURNEY: We don’t want to lose. That’s one thing about us. Every loss, we take it personal. So losing three games, that’s really unacceptable, no matter if we had COVID or a regular season.
LB MOHAMOUD DIABATE: I’ll add something to that. Just like [Amari] Burney said, I feel like three losses isn’t acceptable, but something I will say, I’m proud of the team because every other team did too, but we have to deal with a lot this year. It’s a COVID year, no off-season, no spring together, having young players who didn’t get to go through a spring. So it’s like we’re proud that we made it to this point.
Even though we wanted to win and it wasn’t our desired result at the end, we’re still proud of ourselves because there’s a lot of people going through a lot of things in this world, a lot of distractions going on in this world today and during this time, but we were able to come and finish the season. And whether we finished it with a win or a loss, we finished it like men and we finished it — when that scoreboard said 0:00 with no time left, we finished it. So I’m proud of my guys, every single one of them, from K.T. (Kadarius Toney) to a walk-on. Every one of them. That’s how I feel about it.
Q. How big of an accomplishment is it just to even finish 12 games in a COVID season like this?
LB MOHAMOUD DIABATE: It’s a great accomplishment because I don’t even think we could meet as a team until — like, we saw each other as a whole team in person until July. That was odd. We went all the way from March to July without seeing each other. So things like that, that’s really difficult for a team. Football, this is a game of being together, being close, forming a brotherhood, forming bonds. And it was a difficult time not being able to do that, and I think it did have an effect on the season. But we look forward to things getting better in the condition in America so things can get better with us.
Q. Could you follow up on this? What’s a fair assessment of this game by outsiders? We don’t know what’s been going on within the team. You guys were undermanned, some of your best guys didn’t play. What’s a fair assessment of what we saw?
LB AMARI BURNEY: Everybody played this game, from the freshman never getting a snap. We were putting everybody out there to see what they can do.
DB TREY DEAN: I say a fair assessment, at the end of the day. If we won by 80, we still got to go back to the drawing board, see the things that you did wrong. So I say a fair assessment, we know who we are as a team; we stand as a team. So like I said, we go to the drawing board, do the corrections, and put playmakers in to make plays. And then, when the player didn’t make the play, we’re going to ask why they didn’t make the play — or not necessarily why they didn’t make the play, but how can you make the play next time?
I feel like we all got a talent. I’ve got faith in everybody on my team. Like Mahomoud said, I got faith in everybody on our team. Everybody can make the same plays. Anybody can make those plays. At the end of the day, we’re the Florida Gators, and we’re going to play to the Gators standard.
Q. Tell me your feelings on Coach [Todd] Grantham and how you have his back. A lot of fans really are not happy with the direction of the defense under him.
DL KHRIS BOGLE: Coach Grantham comes out here every day, just like we come out here every day. During COVID, we still have film on Zoom, stuff like that. He can only do his part. We’re the ones that’s on the field, and we’ve just got to take care of what we can take care of.
LB MOHAMOUD DIABATE: At the end of the day, players got to make plays on the field. It’s their responsibility to teach us it, but we have to make the plays. If I don’t make a play out there, I can’t blame Coach Grantham because I was on the field.
I know Coach Grantham cares because I left something at the facility on game week. I came back at 2:00 a.m., and Coach Grantham’s car is still there. Nobody’s car is there. I’m not going to listen to somebody say he doesn’t care. No. Coach Grantham has had a long, successful career. He’s respected in this league. He’s respected in the NFL. We respect him.
In these two years with him, he’s taught me a lot about the game, and I know Bogle can say the same thing. We were both in his room. That’s how I feel about it. Players got to make plays, period.
DB TREY DEAN: Coach Grantham called the same defense the whole game. We should be able to execute. Even the offense knows, we should be able to execute. At the end of the day, like he said, players got to make plays. Coach Grantham is a great defensive coordinator. But like Mohamoud said, I’ve seen him late nights, sleeping in his office. I know the time that Coach Grantham put in. He’s going to give us his all; we’ve got to give him our all. He called the same defense the whole time. We’ve got to go execute.
LB AMARI BURNEY: Like Bogle said, Coach Grantham’s not the one on the field with us. Coach called the play; we all got to know the play. One person out of position, that mess up the whole defense. Everybody’s got to hold each other accountable. When we mess up, everyone wants to blame Coach Grantham. It’s not his fault. When we watch film, when we look at the plays that Coach Grantham called and everybody executes, then we’re going to stop them.