2007 Florida Football Post-Game Notes vs. Western Kentucky Sept. 1, 2007
Team Notes UF started a true freshman on opening day for the third straight year under Urban Meyer. UF started two true freshmen on opening day for the first time in school history. (Joe Haden and Maurkice Pouncey) UF has only started eight true freshmen on opening day in school history, but four have come under Urban Meyer. Kestahn Moore, Percy Harvin, Joe Haden and Maurkice Pouncey) Previous true freshmen starters at UF on opening day were: Mike Williams, OT, 1972; Ricky Williams, C, 1981; Reggie Green, OT, 1992; Lester Norwood, FS, 1998; Kestahn Moore, RB, 2005; and Percy Harvin, WR, 2006. Florida scored a touchdown on its opening drive of the game. The Gators did so six times in 2006 against UCF, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Western Carolina and Ohio State. The Gators also had a field goal on the opening drive of the game against Auburn. The last time Florida scored a touchdown on its opening drive of the season was August 31, 2002 versus UAB. The last time Florida scored on the opening drive of the season was a field goal versus San Jose State on August 30, 2003. The Gators crossed their goal line in each of their first four possessions. The Gators scored touchdowns in their first five possessions last season against Western Carolina and each of their first three against Ohio State. The Gators went on to score touchdowns in nine of 11 possessions against Western Carolina. The Gators scored on seven of 12 drives against Ohio State (five touchdowns and two field goals). Today Florida scored touchdowns on seven of 10 possessions. Western Kentucky’s field goal to end the first half were the first points given up by the Gator defense since 13:32 remaining in the second quarter versus Ohio State in the National Championship Game. The last time Florida played its season opening game at 12:30 p.m. was on September 12, 1992 versus Kentucky. Riley Cooper and Andre Caldwell each had over 100 receiving yards today. The last time two Gator receivers had over 100 yards in the game was against Kentucky on Sept. 24, 2005. Jemelle Cornelius had 138 yards and Chad Jackson had 105. 14 true freshmen and 10 red shirt freshmen made their first appearance in the Orange and Blue today. 42 of the players playing in today’s game were freshmen and sophomores. Florida head coach Urban Meyer is now 7-0 in season openers, including a 3-0 mark in Gainesville. In season openers at Florida, he has outscored opponents 38.3 to 8. Due to severe weather in the area, the game was terminated after a 1:02 rain delay with Florida leading 49-3 with 8:23 remaining. Today’s attendance was 90,086.
Individual Notes Joe Haden is the first true freshman to start at cornerback on opening day in UF history. Maurkice Pouncey is the first true freshman to start on opening day at guard in school history. Tim Tebow’s 59-yard pass to Riley Cooper in the first quarter was the longest of his career. His previous long was 55-yards versus Western Carolina last season. Tebow completed each of his first six passes in the game. Tebow set new career highs for attempts, completions, yards and passing touchdowns. He was 13-for-17 for 300 yards and three touchdowns. He also added eight rushing attempts for 38 yards for 338 total yards of offense on the day. Shane Matthews was the last Florida quarterback to pass for 300 or more yards in his first career start. Matthews tallied 332 yards on 20-for-29 passing with one touchdown. Kestahn Moore’s rushing touchdown in the second quarter was his first since Sept. 23, 2006 versus Kentucky. Moore finished the day with a career high 16 carries for 91 yards and two touchdowns. He previous career high was 88 yards on 13 attempts against Iowa in the 2006 Outback Bowl. Making their first career starts on defense for the Gators today were, redshirt freshman A.J. Jones, sophomore Wondy Pierre-Louis, freshman Joe Haden and sophomore Jermaine Cunningham. First time offensive starters include sophomore Tim Tebow and freshman Maurkice Pouncey. Joey Ijjas landed his first three kickoffs at the WKU 2 yard line, goal line and 1 yard line. He finished the day landing his kicks at an average of the WKU 8 yard line.
2007 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer vs. Western Kentucky Sept. 1, 2007
On Tim Tebow’s first running play: “He did it twice today, once in front of me and once on the far side, he stepped out of bounds and I thought tat was very smart of him. That’s something that we’ve taught him, that’s something that he wants to do, it’s something that he’ll do in more games this year.”
On his throwing game “He did very well, obviously we’ll have to watch the film, they weren’t very challenged throws. I’ll tell you what, Bubba (Caldwell) came back and made a great catch. I think he may have cheated, but I’ll let you know more Monday after I watch the film. Overall, very impressed with the way he threw the ball, he was 13-17 with 300 yards.”
On the defense up the middle and the secondary “I don’t know yet, I’d have to ask coach (Charlie) Strong and coach (Greg) Mattison their thoughts. I’ve seen the same thing, they have great push. I thought we had great push off the edge, with (Derrick) Harvey and Jermaine (Cunningham) coming off the edge. That’s nothing new, we just need to create some push, we can do that with games, and obviously we’re looking for the one step up to get in the backfield. Our secondary pats I don’t know, for me to comment right now, I have no idea.”
On Phil Trautwein and other injuries: “There’s a chance that Trautwein is done for the season. As soon as I hear for sure we’ll let you know. (Jacques) Rickerson, (Lawrence) Marsh, Brandon James, everybody will be here next week.”
On how Tebow has progressed: “I think that he’s done a very good job. I thought he probably could have done a bit more last year, but Chris Leak was our quarterback, Chris did a hell of a job and won a national championship. We utilized Tim’s talents, but that was never because he couldn’t function as a quarterback but it was because we didn’t need him in that situation. He has improved but probably not to the extent where last year he couldn’t do it. He’s always been very functional as a quarterback.”
On how the team needed this game: “There were times we needed that game, with the way that game started with all those young players, my goodness, great kickoff we go down and I think three or four true freshman started on kick off and it’s right there and they don’t make the play and it comes out to like the 28 yard line, that should have been tackled on the 15. Then the defense goes out there and you have nine new starters out there and all of a sudden they start moving the ball down the field. You have to settle down. One advantage we have here are that the spring games here at Florida are like game atmosphere. To be able to play this game and let Tim Tebow let so many of these players function, all of the defensive players and special teams players playing in this kind of environment that’s great. I anticipate that we’ll be much better next week.”
2007 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes Florida Players vs. Western Kentucky Sept. 1, 2007
Sophomore Quarterback Tim Tebow On his first start: “I’m feeling great. It was a lot of fun. We just wanted to come out there and put together a great effort. Everybody played hard. Four to six seconds every play and you got to play with a lot of effort. There were mistakes that were made that we’re going to have to correct, but I think overall it was a good performance. We went out there and played really hard.
On his new throwing motion: “Yes sir, it’s feeling good. Going out there it was a lot of fun to get a chance to play football.
On throwing to Riley Cooper: “It sure is nice to go out there and you want to be able to go down there and march down the field, but when you get a long one, it sure does make it easy. It definitely helped us out a lot getting those long balls in, and Cooper did a great job. Bubba [Caldwell] did a great job also, so it definitely helped to get a high score as far as making those big plays.”
On what he liked most: “It was probably getting a chance to go out there and play consecutive plays and get a chance to get in sync and get in the rhythm and be able to manage the offense, which we still have a long way to go, but that was the best part about it.”
On what comes to mind they can work on for next week: “I think next week we’ll be a lot more crisp as far as the not making mistakes, no M.A.’s, protections, calls, there were things like that. They were good today but they can get a lot better, so I think now that’s the first thing we can deal with.”
On preparing for Troy: “We’ll start getting ready for them either today or tomorrow. You know, they’re a good opponent, they’ve played a lot of good teams last year, hung in tough with them, so we’re going to have to be ready for them and prepare hard.”
Sophomore Wide Receiver Riley Cooper On the first score: “It was a timeout play and I had to go and help [Tim Tebow] and, I went over there and scored.”
On the offense: “We’re definitely happy with it. You know, there’s always room for improvement. There was definitely some mistakes out there, but we’re gonna get them by and get ready for Troy.”
On Tim Tebow: “Definitely, obviously [he can throw the ball]. If you watched the game, you know he can throw.”
Sophomore Linebacker Brandon Spikes On his playing in the game: “I played decent, though I could have played better, just try to get the chance to play like that. We had a lot of bumps in the defense today but I feel like we did great. We’ll be better next week.”
On the defense: “I think we played hard out there. A lot of guys made plays and we really needed a lot of playmakers this year. But I think the defense has got it. We know we’re young so we got to communicate better and just play hard.”
On taking a couple series to get started: “You know people had butterflies and stuff like that, but after that I think we came and played pretty good.”
2007 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes Western Kentucky Head Coach David Elson Sept. 1, 2007
On defensive troubles against Florida: “With our defensive backs, it was just a technique issue. They got behind us and that’s not supposed to happen. That’s what is really frustrating. When it was early in the game, it wasn’t a fatigue issue. When we look at it on film, more than likely, it will be where our eyes were or when we got out of our back-pedal. It’s very frustrating for everybody.”
On Tim Tebow: “When he was scrambling early, he made a couple of plays when we thought we had him.”
On the losing starting QB David Wolke: “We are always of the mind that if a guy goes down, the next guys got to go. We’ve got a ton of confidence in K.J. [Black], that’s why we were going to play K.J. There’s also a reason why David Wolke was named the starter. Look at what he did on that first drive.”
On the play of his team: “When K.J. got in there, I thought he played with a lot of poise. I don’t think we turned the ball over, so that’s definitely a positive. For the first time of being out there on a game day, running this new offense, I think we’ve got to be encouraged overall. Three points is three points, though, so we’ve got to find a way to get into the end zone. At the same time, 49 [points] is 49, so we definitely have some places to improve on both sides of the ball.”
2007 Florida Football Post-Game Quotes Western Kentucky Players Sept. 1, 2007 Junior Linebacker Blake Boyd On Tim Tebow “He’s a good player. He makes smart decisions. He knows when to run and when to pass.”
Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback KJ Black On going into the game “They told me initially I would play in the third or fourth series. When Wolke went down with a concussion, I thought I’m going in before I expected to. I said ‘okay, I got to get myself together.’”
On playing in The Swamp “The first time I got out there getting ready to take the snap the crowd kind of kicked in and I was like wow I cannot hear myself think.”
“Never, (have I ever experienced anything like that). It was a rush. From the sideline, is not the same as it is on the field. That rush hits you. You don’t think about anything – you go.”
Senior Wide Receiver Jessie Quinn from Bradenton, Fla. On Florida’s speed “Their speed is great, but it all comes down to execution.”
On playing in The Swamp “I looked at it as another opportunity for us to come out and show our best. It’s always a great opportunity to play in a great (stadium), but I got to put my blinders up and block all the people talking on the outside. I just walked outside and really looked at the stadium. It’s a great stadium.”