University of Florida Football Media Conference​

Monday, November 4, 2024​

Gainesville, Florida, USA​

Hayden Hansen​

Press Conference​

Q. Seeing DJ going down on Saturday did it take a little bit of the wind out of the sails even though you tried to rally around Aidan?

HAYDEN HANSEN: It's unfortunate knowing how hard everybody in this program works and plays. It's tough to see guys like that go down.

Obviously just happened to Graham not long ago, and seeing DJ in had that same spot, it's frustrating. In this league, as tough as it is, you have to have the "next man up" mentality. That's what we prepare for in practice every day day in and day out.

Q. What was it like seeing Aidan's progress over the last, what, not even two months since he's been able to take reps in practice? What have you seen out of him?

HAYDEN HANSEN: It's crazy. He plays fearless. He came from Yale as a true freshman. He didn't get any playing time there. He comes here to the SEC, and he finds himself in the Florida-Georgia game.

He stepped up, man. He was put some in the spotlight. I can't even imagine what was going through that guy's head. I have a lot of respect for him. He left it all out on the field. We're going to rally around him this week and go out there and compete.

Q. Bill said there was a lot of players in for meetings yesterday. How do you sense you are holding together through thrash of injuries and so forth and knowing the disappointment of the Georgia game as hard as you guys have played?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I feel like the frustrating part throughout the season is we have proven over and over again that we can hang with the best of the best. We consistently come up a little short. We have to finish.

I think Napier said it best. I felt like in that locker room -- I've been here for three years, and this is the first year where there was complete belief we can go out there and play with that team. I think it showed, and I think we fought over and over again.

I think a lot of these meetings that were going on today are just players getting on the same page, taking the younger guys that are going to have bigger roles under their wings. I feel fairly confident. This team has always had depth. I think everyone knows that. I'm excited to see some of the new guys that get their chance. It's going to be fun to watch.

Q. Going back to your home state. A lot of family and friends. What are the emotions going to be like?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I can't wait. It's my first time going back to Texas playing. I have a little chip on my shoulder. I'm going to have a lot of family I haven't seen in a while down there, so I'm going to play my butt off for them.

Q. Were you a Texas fan? Can you tell the fans about the whole "hook 'em" experience and all that kind of stuff?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I wasn't a Texas fan growing up, but I do know about Texas fans, and they are crazy, man. I know you saw some of the clips of trash being thrown on the field. That's not even the half of it. I mean, they're pretty crazy down there, but I would love nothing more than to go in there and get a win.

Q. You talked about the new guys getting their chance. What's the injury situation been like? Is it just stunning to see this many guys go down and filling up the training room?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah, you never want to see injuries happen, especially the number we have now. We have the best trainers in the world, so they're going to go in there and get their bodies straight.

I mean, you always have to prepare. One day like Clay Millen, for example. One day you're not even thinking you're going to play, and then all of a sudden you're up. You're the second man up, or who knows what's going to happen this week? You just always have to stay ready in this league.

Q. You were a quarterback in high school. You're not pushing for any reps in practice?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I can see myself being the emergency QB3 this week. Put me in there; I'll let it fly. So we'll see. I would love nothing more than that.

Q. The confidence, fearlessness standpoint from Aidan, what stands out to you about his game? What does he do well? I know Saturday's performance wasn't what he desired it to be, but what impresses you about what he's able to do?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah, he always keeps a calm, cool composure. That's what I respect about him the most. He looks comfortable in the pocket.

In my opinion I think he's a true pocket passer. He's going to stand back there as long as he can and deliver accurate throws. When he needs to use his legs, he can.

It's just been crazy. I've seen how much he's developed in such a short time, and my confidence has only grown watching him get thrown into that game and not cracking under pressure. That's not for everybody now, you know? I was proud of him.

Q. What's your ticket demand this week?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I've been scavenging around the locker room getting a lot of tickets. I'm at about 50 right now.

Q. Is that enough? Is 50 going to do it?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Hopefully. I'm going to see. I'm going to guess maybe 65 will be the max.

Q. Who is going to get to see who doesn't normally get to see you?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I have family down in San Antonio that I haven't got to see a lot because you miss Thanksgiving and stuff here. I'm going to get to see them. A lot of my friends and boys that are at college, like A&M, they're all spread out, they're all going to come together. Obviously my parents, my sister. Yeah, it's going to be a really fun time, and I'm really excited to see all those people.

Q. Does Aidan's intelligence level, does it stand out in some way to you? He went to Yale. I know this isn't a chop liver school, but Yale, getting into a school like that is extremely difficult.

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah.

Q. Do you notice it? Is he kind of a brain?

HAYDEN HANSEN: When I was in high school, Yale was recruiting me. That whole recruiting process was interesting. They're a little different from everyone else. They can different things. They expected different things. They were more GPA first and stuff like that.

Just knowing that he went through all that, checked all their boxes in the classroom and stuff, you've got to be bright. I mean, talking to him, I'm not in their meeting room and what not, but he picked this playbook up pretty fast. My true freshman year, that was a big reason why I redshirted because I wasn't confident enough to go out there and execute over and over again. Him being a quarterback true freshman coming in here and picking it up that fast and being able to play, I think that speaks levels to his intelligence.

Q. Does he sit in the locker room reading French poetry or --

HAYDEN HANSEN: (Laughing) I don't think I've ever seen him read anything, but to each their own.

Q. Was it ever serious going to Yale or not?

HAYDEN HANSEN: I was until I figured out you can't get like a sports scholarship. You would have to pay, and that was out of my budget, so yeah.

Q. You said they ask you different questions. Did anything stand out?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah, some of what they were talking to me about was how they would like look at your body. They do these blood tests and have these machines that read different parts of your body and stuff like that about what side you strain with more and stuff like that. It was just stuff like that I had never heard before. It was pretty cool, and they were talking about the academic side and everything else.

Princeton was the same way. I talked to Princeton I think junior year, but it was really unique down there. It's really cool people. Even Joey, like Joey -- you are speaking of French poetry. I have seen Joey -- he writes in his journal almost every day. He goes and meditates bare foot on the field. So, yeah, the guys that come from there, they're sharp for sure.

Q. Going back to the pregame Florida-Georgia, what specifically -- you said this was the first time you really felt like you guys could compete with them. What specifically was being said, or what was the attitude, mindset? Can you just take me back to that a little bit?

HAYDEN HANSEN: These past three weeks -- I mean, I know we didn't get the result we wanted to in Tennessee. We came up a little short, but I think that was the turning point. Obviously we came off a win against Mississippi State too, but we were expected to do that.

We go into -- they were probably 7 at the time going into their place, one of the loudest stadiums I've ever been in. There's no moral victories, but we should have won. Didn't, but we took what we needed to from that game.

Went played condition Ken. Gave them all we had. Almost put 50 on them. We saw how they played Georgia. I think that gave us even extra hope. Going into that game I just think the way we practice, it's so physical. It's just over and over. Even to this point in the season it's physical. It's a fight in the trenches for Tuesday and Wednesdays.

I think that just rolls over into Georgia. We were watching film on their front seven and stuff. Listen, I go toe to toe, head-to-head with Jack Pyburn every single day. There's not going to be an end in this country that hits me harder than that dude does. I promise you that.

Q. Do you take that mindset into Texas? Obviously another top-5 ranked team. It's going to be pretty hostile environment. How do you guys take that we believe we can win, us against the world mentality?

HAYDEN HANSEN: It just kind of goes back to "spot the ball." All the media can talk. The rankings can talk. Spot the ball, and let's find out. Why not us? Why can't we be the top-5 team?

I think we go in there, we play Georgia, play Tennessee, and we're going to get the result we want. We have to clean up these little things. We have to raise our play for Aidan. Tight ends, the receivers, the running backs, the O-line, the defense, we all have to come up and help Aidan out. We're going to take that with a lot of pride.

Q. Does that say a lot about where the program is at under Coach Napier going into year four?

HAYDEN HANSEN: We're playing for him, and that's one thing that I have kind of seen misconceptions of. This locker room is playing for him and playing hard. There's belief still. There's belief. We're going to go out and try to win out, get bowl eligible, win the bowl game, and carry over this big momentum into next season.

I mean, I think there's been huge strides since the first two years, so...

Q. Was there any particular turning point this coming season when you guys just decided things had to click, when talking about the attitude of wanting to win out? Is there any particular moment, game, practice, week where things just clicked for you guys?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah, for sure. I would say it started the first bye week. The first bye week Napier divided up the whole team into orange and blue team, and for that whole bye week we just competed every day. It was a points system. Losers ran at the end. It was just fun.

We forgot about all the narrative. We forgot about how we started the season. We just came together and competed. All we cared about was winning for our team. That was kind of the emphasis.

Then the second bye week we did it again. I was just, like, you know, we're having fun. We're going to go out there and play like this. Play stress-free. Ever since then is we've just proven it to ourselves that we can hang with the best of the best.

We're going to be a dangerous team moving forward.

Q. You said Jack Pyburn, he talked to us last week. I was joking with how big his neck is. The guy definitely looks the part. What is his mentality? Have you seen a guy with a motor like him? He seems to kind of raise the level of defense a little bit in terms of effort?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah, that guy I have not seen a motor like him. He's just -- he's different. He's a hard worker. He's going to give it all for his team. He was just waiting for that green light. When he got the starting spot, he took off with it.

I'm proud of him. I came in with him. I used to be his roommate when we first got here. I've seen the growth too. Obviously he was one of those guys that went down last year with an ACL, and that was unfortunate to see, but that was probably one of the quickest turnarounds I've ever seen with an ACL injury. That's how bad he wanted to come back.

Just him coming back, seeing him excel now, I'm proud of him.

Q. One year tomorrow that he injured it.

HAYDEN HANSEN: Really? Really? That's insane.

Q. November 5th I think.

HAYDEN HANSEN: That's insane.

Q. Might have been the 4th actually. It was one year ago today.

HAYDEN HANSEN: That's insane, man.

Q. I think he has almost 50 tackles.

HAYDEN HANSEN: The guy is going to give it his all, that's for sure.

Q. 24 hours ago people were saying DJ Lagway is probably on the shelf for the rest of the season, and then Bill came in and said, There's a chance. When did you all hear that he might be up, and when you first saw that injury, did you think, uh-oh, you know, he's gone? Did that sort of lift up the team at all knowing maybe he might come in back, and how surprised are you to get that given what was going on Saturday?

HAYDEN HANSEN: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, seeing him go down, it was kind of just like a punch to the chest. I know about as much as you know right now, but knowing that there's a chance he comes back, it excites me. He's a great player. I've never seen a deep ball like that guy.

He's going to be very special whenever he does come back, but yeah, God speed, I hope he comes back fully healthy. We would love to have him back this year. If not, we're going to rally around Aidan or Clay or whoever it is, and we're going to win some games.

Could not even make it through the first half of the Florida-Georgia game, had his current coach comment that it was a "pain management" situation (calling out his manhood), and now he will be maybe a mid round pick in April.

I'd be embarrassed to have a POS mom like this.
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University of Florida Football Media Conference​

Monday, November 4, 2024​

Gainesville, Florida, USA​

Aidan Mizell​

Press Conference​

Q. You got to tell us, where did you get the nickname from?
AIDAN MIZELL: My dad came up with it when I was young. It's my initials, AM, like morning, early. It just coincides, so yeah.

Q. A lot of injuries at wide receiver this year. Kahleil, obviously Tre and so forth. How do you feel like you've tried to take advantage of your opportunity through that?
AIDAN MIZELL: Not much has changed. Even when they were healthy and everything else like that, I've been trying to always put in 100%. When I get my opportunity, I just try to make the most of it.

Q. Just what happened to you in the Mississippi State game? What was the process getting back?
AIDAN MIZELL: I just had a little injury. They just thought it wasn't the best idea for me to play the next week, and I just trust them. That's what we did.

Q. You wanted to play?
AIDAN MIZELL: Absolutely. I always want to play. Especially we played UCF next week, hometown team. I was bummed, but it is what it is.

Q. What was it like to have two touchdowns called back?
AIDAN MIZELL: It was unfortunate, but I mean, we got the win. We did our thing, so I wasn't too bummed out.

Q. What has been kind of just the path to kind of getting on the field for you? Bill has talked about you trying to build up physically, learning how to run your routes more sharply, what the defense is doing. Can you kind of discuss some of the elements that have gone into kind of getting you on the field?
AIDAN MIZELL: It's really just for me just staying consistent in every aspect, whether that be in the weight room, in the lunchroom, meeting room, on the field. Just staying consistent and just taking the knowledge that my coaches and the staff is giving me. It's helped me.

Q. What do you think you bring to this?
AIDAN MIZELL: Speed mainly, but (laughing). Yeah, I just think speed, but when the ball is in my hand, I just feel dangerous with the ball. So I feel like I can score from any yard line of the field.

Q. When did you realize that you had kind of special speed growing up?
AIDAN MIZELL: Speed? Probably elementary school. I used to beat -- we all used to race, but they used to, like, almost kick me out of the races. There was no point. I was, like, Okay, yeah, that's cool.

Q. Did you do track early on? Did you do football more?
AIDAN MIZELL: Growing up it was really soccer. That was my main sport growing up. I wasn't allow to do play tackle football because my mom, she wasn't going for it. Couldn't do that. So soccer, flag football.

I was a running back in flag football. I think that's why I'm a little shifty. Just a lot of things. I did jiu-jitsu, volleyball. Just everything but tackle football.

Q. When did you start playing tackle football?
AIDAN MIZELL: Middle school I played two years, but I was at quarterback. Then high school I made the switch to receiver.

Q. How long did you do track for?
AIDAN MIZELL: Track... like when I was young, we just used to show up to meets, like not for a team. Used to run, have fun. Middle school I ran, but it wasn't really coordinated or anything, but high school is when -- after COVID because my freshman year is when COVID canceled the track season, so sophomore and junior year is when I dedicated myself to track in the spring.

Q. What's the fastest 100 that you have run?
AIDAN MIZELL: My 100 was 10.6, but I wasn't really a 100 guy. I only ran the 100, like, three times in high school. I was more of a 400 guy.

Q. What's the fastest time there?
AIDAN MIZELL: 46 something. 46.9 I think. That was more my event, yeah.

Q. How did you get mom to relent on tackle football?
AIDAN MIZELL: I mean, I just kept asking. It was more of a thing where I kept asking and bugging her when I was young, so she was, like, Fine, when you are in middle school, we'll let you play. Then middle school rolled around, and she couldn't go back on her word, so yeah.

Q. Is she a mother hen about that as far as, Hey, you're my son, don't get hurt, don't get hurt?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, especially because me and my brother play. We're both in season at the same time. She's deathly nervous during this time. You can tell she's got a little nerves going on. She loves the game. She loves to see us play.

Q. How much credit do your parents deserve for your speed?
AIDAN MIZELL: 100%. They definitely gave me the gift of my speed. I've definitely worked on it and everything like that and gotten faster, but they definitely deserve a lot of credit.

Q. What did they do at UF?
AIDAN MIZELL: So my mom was mainly a 400 runner. She got here and hurt her hamstring, so switched from the 100 to the 400. She was a 100 runner in high school.

Then my dad was a decathlete, so he did ten events. He was a well-rounded athlete. I think he was a better jumper than actual runner, but yeah.

Q. They met here?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah, yeah.

Q. Was there any way you were going anywhere but Florida? What was your recruiting process like?
AIDAN MIZELL: I didn't get my first offer until midway through junior year, which was UCF ironically. Yeah, was going through the process. I wasn't trying to -- I was trying to make it more of a business than, you know, like a personal decision. So I tried to rule out just, yeah, family ties and everything like that, but it was just the love for the campus, the family feeling. Everything just brought me here.

Q. How much was weight a challenge for you early on trying to get to the weight that you -- they wanted you at or that you needed to be at?
AIDAN MIZELL: I mean, I've always been a smaller guy, a skinnier guy. It was difficult, but just consistency.

Q. What did you come in at, and where are you at now?
AIDAN MIZELL: I can't remember what I came in at. I was tiny. I don't remember. I'm about mid-180s right now.

Q. Were you in the 60s, 50s?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah. Probably 167. Yeah, I was 160 probably.

Q. I guess from freshman to redshirt freshman year, your first two years, Bill talked about route trees and stuff like that. What was that process like translating your speed to football speed?
AIDAN MIZELL: It was just something -- I haven't played much receiver I guess as a lot of guys have here. It was just putting in work just doing the little extra stuff that really helped me out.

Q. Your senior year I think you got hurt your first game.
AIDAN MIZELL: Yes, sir, first play.

Q. That first play. Yeah, I remember reading that you were -- one of the analysts was saying if that hadn't happened, you would have been pushing for maybe a five-star ranking.
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah.

Q. How much did that set you back in your confidence, in just kind of getting here ready because you seem -- now you're blossoming, but it took a little while?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah. It was hard just finding out the news that I wouldn't be able to play senior year. Everyone looks forward to that senior year.

Q. First play?
AIDAN MIZELL: First play, yeah. When I got here spring ball, last time I really had played football was my junior year playoffs, so it had been a minute. There was a big just -- I don't know. There was a big change with athletes and everything like that, but it just took time, but I feel like I'm here now.

Q. I'm sorry I stopped you. You said, it was very disappointing.
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah.

Q. How did you kind of get through that process and make the decision to come here and then kind of get here and feel like you were behind?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah. At first my decision was to -- I wasn't going to enroll early. I was going to go through and run track because I love track, but once I found out I got hurt, I was, like, Oh, maybe it would be a better decision to get here, you know, get in, learn the system, get the treatment here. That just wound up being my decision. My family played a big part in my decision, but --

Q. Did you feel behind for a good while, and then when did you feel like you finally caught up?
AIDAN MIZELL: I don't think I ever felt like behind-behind, but I felt like, Oh, yeah, these people can ball. I have to step up my game.

Q. You go from Graham to DJ and then you seem like a perfect fit for DJ and his deep ball acumen, and now you're trying to get to a third quarterback, get comfortable. What's that challenge like to go from week to week to week to a different quarterback?
AIDAN MIZELL: I feel like at least for me it's not that difficult because in practice we always run like a multitude of quarterbacks. I have caught balls from every quarterback on roster. Obviously I've caught more with DJ and Graham, but I know Aidan. Me and Aidan have played. He's from Orlando. We've caught balls together. He's thrown against me. Then Clay. Everyone is -- it makes it easy to have the switch-up.

Q. A moment you had in the Florida-Georgia game, 42-yard touchdown pass, 43. What kind of confidence do you think that could give you for the remainder of the season?
AIDAN MIZELL: Oh, absolutely. Just going against a rival, high-ranked team, it definitely gave me great confidence, but I always knew I had it in me. Just showing everyone else, it was real nice.

Q. Have you thought about running track here at all?
AIDAN MIZELL: I haven't yet. I've debated about running track, but there's no decision for right now.

Q. I have to ask you, always a hot topic in the offseason be, but fastest guy on the team, your name has been brought up a couple of times. Have you had any races with Tank? How does that go in the offseason? Did you go off the numbers you put up in workouts, or do you all get together and actually race?
AIDAN MIZELL: We usually just go off the numbers we put up in workouts. Me and Tank, especially this summer, we were going back and forth because we had different lift groups, right? So he would lift in the morning, and I would lift later in the morning. We would just always go back and forth.

Real fast dude. I'm a real fast dude. So it's just good to have that competition.

Q. So miles per hour on the treadmill?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah, yeah. We have it on our little Catapult, and we'll do sprints. Did you say what was it?

Q. Is it 23?
AIDAN MIZELL: His was 23.1. Mine was 23.2, so...

Q. At 23 in the offseason, though?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah, it was built up. I think it was really through us pushing each other. Yeah, just me hearing -- like, I would show up to the weight room, and the weight coaches be, like, You heard what Tank ran? I was like, That's smooth, just wait to what I show you what I got. You know what I mean? There was always that competition and drive. We used to joke around with each other.

Q. At some point would you like to line up against him?
AIDAN MIZELL: I'm always down. Yeah, yeah.

Q. Do you want to race him in a 40-yard or 100 meter?
AIDAN MIZELL: It doesn't matter. I feel like we're both track guys. We can go one or 40. It don't really matter.

Q. Would you take yourself?
AIDAN MIZELL: Oh, yeah, always.

Q. We need an answer. You committed and signed holding a pair of live gators. How did that happen? Where did you get them from?
AIDAN MIZELL: Once I told my parents that I wanted to go to Florida, my dad was, like, All right, we got to do it big.

I'm, like, Okay.

Then one day we're in the car. I can't remember where we were going, but we were in the car driving, and it just hits him. He is, like, I'm going to get you some Gators.

I was, like, Ha, ha, ha, real funny.

The day of the commitment, I had to get there early. We set it up and everything. My dad takes me to this back room, and he was, like, You've got to practice. I'm thinking, What am I practicing for? You know what I mean?

I hear hissing in a bag. It's like whipping. There's like this little Gatorland lady. She had to teach me how to hold them. I thought we were just going to do one. He's like, Got to go big. So I do both.

Yeah, it was definitely an experience.

Q. Were you scared at all?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah, I think the gator was more scared than me, to be honest because when I walked out, I walked out, and as soon as everyone started screaming, they both just started peeing all over me. Yeah, it was not -- it was not the best option.

Then I just try to keep it cool and everything like that. Made sure no one noticed, but when I handed it to my brother because once I start speaking to the mic, I had to put the hat on, but a little occupied. So I handed it to my brother, and it starts peeing on him. He starts to freak out in the back. Yeah, it was definitely a cool experience.

Q. You had a long-sleeve on?
AIDAN MIZELL: No, short-sleeve. It went straight down the arm, straight on the pants, yeah.

Q. Did you manage to keep your composure pretty well? That's a stressful thing.
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah.

Q. If you can be composed through that, what is it to go to Texas?
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah. Football is nothing new.

Q. When you committed to Florida, who was your second?
AIDAN MIZELL: It was between Florida, Bama, and Tennessee.

Q. Would have had trouble with an elephant.
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah. Yeah, elephant would not have been fun.

Q. That 41-yard touchdown with DJ at Samford, that play, that was a pretty -- it might have been the best highlight play of the season offensively from my perspective. What happened on that play? What do you recall about that one? You were blanketed.
AIDAN MIZELL: Yeah, I had a little -- basically like a hitch and go, and I seen the dude was real off. I really tried to sell the hitch route, and he didn't bite at all. I just got out of it and just tried to be as fast as I can.
I couldn't really see much because the line, the way they shifted, and then the DBs in front of me. So I can't see much. I hear something in the crowd. Everyone goes, Oh, and I look up, and the ball is just spiraling. It's a perfect ball, so I just ran under it. Yeah, it was a great ball.