Jalen “Teez” Tabor has never been one to shy away from voicing his opinion, especially when it comes to Tennessee. When Teez Tabor made an appearance on the Paul Finebaum show Thursday, it was inevitable for the subject to come up once again.
“There’s just certain things that happen every year, every day,” Tabor said. “Just like you have your show on SEC Network at a certain time every day, just like the fourth weekend in the fall when the Gators play the University of Tennessee. It’s been the same thing happening for 11 years. I mean, the greatest indication of the future is the past.”
The comments shouldn’t come as a surprise, Tabor has made it clear throughout the offseason that he and the rest of the team expect to beat Tennessee every single year. “It’s really all you guys that are picking them to win the East,” he said. “You guys pick ‘em, and I mean, I don’t see it. I know we have a lot of talent and a lot of great coaches here.”
Tabor believes the Gators are the team to beat in the SEC East, and always have been. “I feel like to get to the East and the SEC Championship, you’ve got to come through the Swamp and the Florida Gators, and it’s been that way since the beginning of the SEC, the beginning of time. You’ve got to come through it this year too.”
Finebaum knew just the right buttons to push to get Tabor going. He knew exactly what he was doing when he mentioned to Tabor that a lot of the media picked both Tennessee and Georgia to finish ahead of Florida in the SEC East this season, teams Tabor is 4-0 against as a Gator.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve beaten those teams two years in a row,” he said. “Two rivalry games. Tennessee’s come close two years in a row, but close only works in horseshoes. We’ve beaten them by two points in two years. We’ll see who finishes the game this year.”
He knows the impact the game in Knoxville will have on both team’s seasons. The winner of the game on September 24 will have a leg-up in the East early in the season and it ultimately could be the game that decides the winner of the East. With all the hype surrounding the game, much due to Tabor’s talk in the offseason, he is excited for the trip to Tennessee.
“It’s going to be pretty fun,” Tabor said. “They’ve got great coaches, they’ve got great players, they’ve got great atmosphere and we’ve got to go there this year. I know it’s going to be real intense, but I feel like we’ve got to win that game to win the East. That’s one of the biggest games for us, so we’ve got to have our mind right when we go there.”
Finebaum mentioned the questions that still surround Florida’s quarterbacks, Tabor doesn’t seem to think it will be a problem with the Gators’ defense and special teams. “Yeah there’s a question mark, but we’ve got four guys there who can get the job done,” he said. “They don’t really have to do too much, they just have to manage the game and not turn the ball over. We’re going to create chaos on defense and we’re going to pin people back with our punt game. Our punt returners are going to be to the highest in the country. We’ve just got to take care of the ball on offense.”
“Just with the defense, I don’t know if you guys are watching it, but if you guys watch the film, the defense is outstanding,” said Tabor. “I feel like we can stop people on defense, and we’ve got great speed on special teams and the offense is coming along. I feel like if the opposing team can’t score, they can’t win. We have NFL-caliber guys on every level of the defense.”
Tabor has done enough talk for the entire Florida Gators team and more on Tennessee in the offseason, but one thing Tabor has always done is backup his word. He will need to back it up more than ever on September 24 in Knoxville. One thing is for sure, that will be an exciting week in college football.
Great stuff Bailiegh!
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