From his press conference:
“Looking forward to this game, you know this is a ball coach in Ruffin McNeill that I got the utmost respect for, he’s a guy I consider a friend. I love the way his team plays, they play with passion. They’re physical, they fly around and play with a lot of speed. When you look at them offensively, they’re a team that’s not going to come in here at all and be wowed by the Florida Gators. They’re a team a year ago that obviously we played in the bowl game, they put up 530 yards on us. And the key to that offense as you guys know, it starts up front. They got four returning offensive linemen with (junior offensive lineman J.T.) Boyd that seems to be the guy that kinda triggers it at guard, but that experience really helps you. I think what makes them so hard to defend is this (Bryce) Williams guy, the tight end, and the multiple formations. They list him at tight end, but he plays at running back, fullback, H-back, flex him out into wide receiver. What that allows you to do — and I love that versatility at that position and that’s something that we look to get to — now you don’t have to personnel sub to get into certain things of what you want to do package wise. So now you don’t become predictable based on who’s on the field. I think he really keys that. Both running backs played a ton last year. You know, obviously, they have the guy (Chris Hairston) who had four touchdowns last game, and although they run that spread, the balance — as you take a look at what they did last game — the balance rushing and passing is something that causes you issues on that side of the ball. Defensively, I really think that you see a team that has Ruffin’s fingerprints all over it. Very, very physical and fast, triggered by the one inside backer and outside backer in (Montese) Overton and (Zeek) Bigger that kind of key everything that they do. They disrupt when they pass rush. They’re able to cover in space and they cause you issues with their different pressures and kind of coming from everywhere out of that odd package they run. (Josh) Hawkins is a secondary guy who has a lot of picks and had one against us last year and obviously had one in the last game. But I think the overall thing when you see is you see a guy who the program is what he wants: A team that’s been to a bunch of bowl games, plays everybody and doesn’t back down."
“Looking forward to this game, you know this is a ball coach in Ruffin McNeill that I got the utmost respect for, he’s a guy I consider a friend. I love the way his team plays, they play with passion. They’re physical, they fly around and play with a lot of speed. When you look at them offensively, they’re a team that’s not going to come in here at all and be wowed by the Florida Gators. They’re a team a year ago that obviously we played in the bowl game, they put up 530 yards on us. And the key to that offense as you guys know, it starts up front. They got four returning offensive linemen with (junior offensive lineman J.T.) Boyd that seems to be the guy that kinda triggers it at guard, but that experience really helps you. I think what makes them so hard to defend is this (Bryce) Williams guy, the tight end, and the multiple formations. They list him at tight end, but he plays at running back, fullback, H-back, flex him out into wide receiver. What that allows you to do — and I love that versatility at that position and that’s something that we look to get to — now you don’t have to personnel sub to get into certain things of what you want to do package wise. So now you don’t become predictable based on who’s on the field. I think he really keys that. Both running backs played a ton last year. You know, obviously, they have the guy (Chris Hairston) who had four touchdowns last game, and although they run that spread, the balance — as you take a look at what they did last game — the balance rushing and passing is something that causes you issues on that side of the ball. Defensively, I really think that you see a team that has Ruffin’s fingerprints all over it. Very, very physical and fast, triggered by the one inside backer and outside backer in (Montese) Overton and (Zeek) Bigger that kind of key everything that they do. They disrupt when they pass rush. They’re able to cover in space and they cause you issues with their different pressures and kind of coming from everywhere out of that odd package they run. (Josh) Hawkins is a secondary guy who has a lot of picks and had one against us last year and obviously had one in the last game. But I think the overall thing when you see is you see a guy who the program is what he wants: A team that’s been to a bunch of bowl games, plays everybody and doesn’t back down."
