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Gators Legend Says Something EVERY UF Football Fan NEEDS to HEAR! · A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators

0:00
Speaker 1: All right, guys, welcome back to A Peak Inside Gator Football.
0:03
Speaker 1: Allie Peek here. I've got Tate Casey on. I think
0:05
Speaker 1: you guys are really going to like this. This video
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Speaker 1: is presented by PrizePix. Hey, guys, Allie Peek here. You're
0:10
Speaker 1: watching A Peak Inside Gator Football. I am joined by
0:13
Speaker 1: one of my longtime friends, Tate Casey, former 2006-2008 national champion. Tate,
0:20
Speaker 1: it's been a while. Good to see you.
0:22
Speaker 2: I know. It's good to see you, too.
0:25
Speaker 1: I always feel very old when I have you come
0:28
Speaker 1: on because I feel like it's, I mean, I think
0:30
Speaker 1: I was 19 years old when we met and you
0:32
Speaker 1: were 18, maybe even 17. I don't know. It's been
0:34
Speaker 1: a lot of years. But you have such a cool
0:39
Speaker 1: and special role with this team. I mean, obviously you're
0:42
Speaker 1: a former player and you'd want to be back anyway
0:44
Speaker 1: because of that. But the sideline reporting that you do
0:49
Speaker 1: for Florida's radio game day broadcast has been kind of
0:53
Speaker 1: given you such an interesting perspective on what goes into
0:57
Speaker 1: the locker room now. And I feel like you're in
0:59
Speaker 1: such a unique position because you also know what it
1:01
Speaker 1: was like back then as well.
1:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of funny because, you know, a lot
1:07
Speaker 3: of times I'll find myself flashing back to 2004 to
1:11
Speaker 3: five in a.
1:12
Speaker 2: Coaching change with a lot of unknowns.
1:15
Speaker 3: You knew what the locker room was before and it's like, okay, well,
1:18
Speaker 3: you know, what's a new coach going to be like?
1:21
Speaker 3: What's the mentality going to be like? What is the
1:22
Speaker 3: off-season program going to be like? And I think at
1:26
Speaker 3: least back then we shared a really good mindset in
1:28
Speaker 3: that locker room. And I look at it now and go, okay, well,
1:32
Speaker 3: we transitioned to Napier. I saw what that looked like.
1:36
Speaker 3: I didn't get to see the McIlwain year, but my
1:38
Speaker 3: first year was Mullen's first year. So I got to
1:40
Speaker 3: see what a new coach impact there was. And so
1:43
Speaker 3: really when you think about it, that's three coaching changes
1:46
Speaker 3: that I kind of got to see firsthand.
1:48
Speaker 2: Yeah.
1:49
Speaker 3: More so when I played than now because you don't
1:51
Speaker 3: get to see all the inner workings. But it's really
1:54
Speaker 3: unique in a sense that you can draw a lot
1:56
Speaker 3: of comparisons from Ron Zook to Urban Meyer that you
2:00
Speaker 3: can in these new coaching changes. And so really excited.
2:03
Speaker 3: Had a great conversation with Summerall at the scrimmage on
2:06
Speaker 3: Saturday and really looking forward to what he's.
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Speaker 2: Going to bring.
2:10
Speaker 1: You know, and as you've said, you've been around a
2:13
Speaker 1: lot of these teams. Do you, one week out, what's
2:16
Speaker 1: your gut feeling about this team and this staff?
2:20
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, one, for me, the mindset seems to
2:23
Speaker 3: be a lot different. And listening to, you know, coaches and,
2:27
Speaker 3: you know, talking to Phil a handful of times with
2:29
Speaker 3: Coach Troutwine and what his offensive line is, you know,
2:32
Speaker 3: what's he excited about. And talking to Coach Summerall about,
2:37
Speaker 3: you know, defense and leadership. I think what excites me
2:40
Speaker 3: the most and coach tomorrow said this the other night,
2:42
Speaker 3: he feels like he's got some leaders in the room
2:44
Speaker 3: and that's, I've harped on that for a few years now,
2:48
Speaker 3: you know, and you're starting to see guys like miles
2:50
Speaker 3: Graham and LJ McCray and some of those guys on
2:52
Speaker 3: defense that can really step up and be not only
2:55
Speaker 3: vocal leaders, but set the bar at a really high level.
2:58
Speaker 3: And I think you've also got a really hungry locker
3:01
Speaker 3: room that is looking to, to win championships. And that's,
3:04
Speaker 3: that's really what it takes. Um, Be surprised at what
3:07
Speaker 3: the mindset can do for you. And you know that firsthand.
3:10
Speaker 3: From 04 to 05, I think our biggest problem was
3:14
Speaker 3: the mentality, how we approach every day, how we approach.
3:18
Speaker 2: Class, film room, practices, off-season workouts, you know, everything.
3:23
Speaker 3: And I think if you can get that right, it
3:26
Speaker 3: makes it a lot easier to start making your way
3:28
Speaker 3: towards some wins.
3:29
Speaker 1: And, you know, it does feel like what has been
3:32
Speaker 1: missing the last two years is toughness and accountability. And,
3:36
Speaker 1: you know, we hear coach talk about those things all
3:38
Speaker 1: the time. And like you said, you know, that's part
3:41
Speaker 1: of the culture that it has to exist to win.
3:44
Speaker 1: Do you feel like, you know, and coach can tell
3:46
Speaker 1: you these are the things he wants, but when you
3:48
Speaker 1: look at this team and you look at this locker room,
3:50
Speaker 1: do you feel like they are tougher? Do you feel
3:52
Speaker 1: like they're more accountable to their, each other and this
3:55
Speaker 1: coaching staff?
3:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I'll have a better opinion on that,
3:58
Speaker 2: I mean, in two weeks, right?
4:00
Speaker 3: Because toughness in the middle, toughness in the workout, in
4:03
Speaker 3: the offseason, spring, two-a-days, that's one thing.
4:06
Speaker 2: And you do want to see, obviously, progression there.
4:09
Speaker 3: I think if you said, you know, hey, Tate, how
4:11
Speaker 3: do you feel that looks from January to now? I
4:15
Speaker 3: think we're in a pretty good spot, at least trending
4:17
Speaker 3: in the right direction. I really want to see it.
4:19
Speaker 3: I mean, to me, I want to see it in
4:22
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter, on the road, right, week three. Because
4:26
Speaker 3: you're going to get cinched pretty good. You know, the
4:29
Speaker 3: belt's going to tighten. You're going to get a lot
4:30
Speaker 3: of pressure in a road game. This team has not
4:33
Speaker 3: been good on the road. And if I'm just calling
4:36
Speaker 3: a spade a spade, that is, in the last three years,
4:39
Speaker 3: we've been atrocious. And there's only one way that you
4:42
Speaker 3: can get to Atlanta. You have to play good on
4:44
Speaker 3: the road in hostile environments. And so there's two ways
4:48
Speaker 3: I look at that. There have been games that we
4:52
Speaker 3: were in because we played, you know, good enough to
4:55
Speaker 3: stay in the game on the road against some good
4:58
Speaker 3: and bad teams.
5:00
Speaker 2: And, you know, we couldn't close it out.
5:03
Speaker 3: There's games that we had no business being in, you know,
5:06
Speaker 3: a la LSU a couple years ago on the road
5:09
Speaker 3: and five interceptions. And, you know, you just let somebody
5:13
Speaker 3: stay in the game when you had a chance to
5:15
Speaker 3: win it if you could just limit the mistakes. And
5:17
Speaker 3: so for me, it's the mental toughness that I want
5:20
Speaker 3: to see more than anything.
5:22
Speaker 2: I want to see some nastiness too.
5:23
Speaker 3: I mean, when you talk defense in this league, you
5:25
Speaker 3: cannot win a championship without a very gritty defense.
5:28
Speaker 2: And you can look back historically at Florida defenses.
5:32
Speaker 3: From 1990 to 2000, let's call it 14.
5:37
Speaker 2: They were still gritty top 10 defenses. You haven't really
5:41
Speaker 2: felt that in Gainesville in a while.
5:42
Speaker 3: And so I think towards the end of the year,
5:44
Speaker 3: you've played good defense.
5:46
Speaker 2: Offense just could not carry you to where they needed to.
5:49
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about that offense.
5:52
Speaker 1: If this offense is going to be better than people expect,
5:55
Speaker 1: what is the identity you think Buster Faulkner wants it
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Speaker 1: to have?
6:01
Speaker 2: There's two thoughts there.
6:04
Speaker 3: I'm sure this is going to be a fun, fun
6:07
Speaker 3: experience for him, transitioning from ACC to SEC. I'm sure
6:11
Speaker 3: he knows what this league is about. But part of me, A,
6:15
Speaker 3: wants it to be really gritty up front. I mean,
6:18
Speaker 3: offensive linemen that are tossing bodies around, moving the line
6:21
Speaker 3: of scrimmage, get some run game going because you've got
6:25
Speaker 3: a couple horses in the stable in.
6:26
Speaker 2: The running back's room that are really, really good.
6:29
Speaker 3: And then your eyes have to light up when you
6:31
Speaker 3: look out wide and see what you've got at your
6:34
Speaker 3: disposal at receiver. And the biggest thing for me is
6:37
Speaker 3: bring that energy to the swamp on offense again. Throw
6:41
Speaker 3: the ball around the yard.
6:43
Speaker 2: Run the ball tough.
6:44
Speaker 3: Put yourself in really good positions on early downs to
6:47
Speaker 3: go out and put points on the board. And if
6:49
Speaker 3: you can find the quarterback position that we need to
6:53
Speaker 3: to really, really manage the game well and keep us
6:56
Speaker 3: from making mistakes, I think you've got a chance to do.
6:58
Speaker 2: Something really special.
7:00
Speaker 1: You know, on Monday, they announced that Aaron Filo would
7:02
Speaker 1: be the starter. It was kind of... it was the
7:05
Speaker 1: most lackluster starter being named that I think I've ever seen.
7:09
Speaker 1: It certainly wasn't like, Hey, he's our starter for the year.
7:11
Speaker 1: It was literally, we're preparing for Aaron Philo to go
7:15
Speaker 1: week one. Like it was definitely kind of noncommittal. Um,
7:19
Speaker 1: but yeah, I think everything Summerall has said is essentially
7:22
Speaker 1: like he gives us some more options with the playbook.
7:25
Speaker 1: And so I think they trust him a little bit more.
7:27
Speaker 1: I think a good way of looking at it is
7:28
Speaker 1: the floor may be a little bit higher with him.
7:32
Speaker 1: What have you seen from Aaron Filo that makes you
7:34
Speaker 1: believe he can be the guy at Florida?
7:37
Speaker 3: Well, I think when you look at just his background
7:39
Speaker 3: and coming from the recruiting process with Georgia Tech, you know,
7:43
Speaker 3: understanding what Buster Faulkner's expectations are on the offensive side
7:46
Speaker 3: of the football and The playbook is probably going to
7:49
Speaker 3: resonate a little bit easier with somebody like him than
7:52
Speaker 3: having to learn it all over. But I can tell
7:54
Speaker 3: you this, Tramell Jones, a hell of an athlete, and
7:57
Speaker 3: he's and he's somebody that wants to play at the
7:59
Speaker 3: University of Florida. And if I had any advice for
8:02
Speaker 3: somebody in his position, it is soak it up.
8:05
Speaker 2: You know how it goes. You're one play away.
8:07
Speaker 3: And it also doesn't mean that the position is locked down. Right.
8:12
Speaker 3: If I'm Tramiel Jones, I'm kind of licking my chops
8:14
Speaker 3: to go back to the practices and make an impact
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Speaker 3: week after week and day after day, not knowing what's
8:19
Speaker 3: going to happen week three on the road in Auburn.
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Speaker 3: And that's the one thing that I appreciate about Coach Summerall.
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Speaker 2: He's made it known that this is not calling it
8:29
Speaker 2: for the year. Right now, this is it.
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Speaker 3: And We don't know what that looks like in two weeks,
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Speaker 3: but if I'm Aaron Filo, I'm also taking that and
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Speaker 3: running with it and leading the team out on the
8:39
Speaker 3: field and proving why I should be the starter.
8:41
Speaker 2: For the rest of the year.
8:42
Speaker 1: Okay, guys. Game week is here. We get to pick
8:46
Speaker 1: real football and actually see the results by the end
8:49
Speaker 1: of the weekend. This is really exciting news. I'm going
8:52
Speaker 1: to go ahead and take the more on Ashton Daniels'
8:55
Speaker 1: rushing yards. I'm going to say he has more than 38.5.
8:59
Speaker 1: And then Jaden Maiava's passing yards is set to 0.5.
9:03
Speaker 1: That's basically a free play. So we're going to add
9:05
Speaker 1: that as well. Add a couple things like this and
9:08
Speaker 1: you have got yourself in the game. Make sure you've
9:12
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Speaker 1: a $ 5 lineup. And if you win, you get $ 150
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Speaker 1: in lineups instantly. We appreciate prize picks for all their support. Yeah,
9:24
Speaker 1: Summerall told us he told Trammell this is not final
9:26
Speaker 1: and this is not fatal, which makes me think there's
9:29
Speaker 1: a great chance we see both in the first couple
9:32
Speaker 1: of games. So is there something that Philo can do,
9:36
Speaker 1: you think, in those first couple of games that just
9:38
Speaker 1: absolutely solidifies it? Or is this a situation where you
9:42
Speaker 1: think we probably will see both on and off throughout
9:44
Speaker 1: the year?
9:45
Speaker 3: You know, Tramiel's such an athlete, I'd be surprised if
9:47
Speaker 3: you didn't see something or some involvement. I'm not going
9:51
Speaker 3: to go out on a limb and say that's not
9:54
Speaker 3: going to happen or is. I've got full faith that
9:56
Speaker 3: our coaching staff does a really, really thorough job of evaluating.
10:00
Speaker 2: During the week. There's just so much that goes into this, too.
10:03
Speaker 3: I think to the normal fan, they say, oh, it's
10:05
Speaker 3: about football and practices all the time. You understand, you're
10:10
Speaker 3: trying to put trust in somebody. And that was one
10:13
Speaker 3: thing that Urban Meyer did a really good job with us.
10:16
Speaker 3: Are you going to class? Are you doing all the
10:17
Speaker 3: right things? Are you really that guy in the locker room?
10:20
Speaker 3: Are you a reliable teammate? Are you a leader on
10:23
Speaker 3: this team in the weight room and all those things
10:25
Speaker 3: that matter? We're trying to win championships. And if it
10:28
Speaker 3: comes down to it, I need to trust somebody with
10:31
Speaker 3: the game on the line. Are you somebody I know
10:33
Speaker 3: I can trust because I've seen it from January to September.
10:37
Speaker 3: And so for me as a former player, it's probably
10:39
Speaker 3: a little bit different, right?
10:41
Speaker 2: I'm getting a little bit deeper there, but that to
10:44
Speaker 2: me matters more.
10:45
Speaker 3: If I'm a, Offensive tackle fighting for position, not only
10:49
Speaker 3: does my coach need to know that he can trust
10:51
Speaker 3: me blocking a backside block on a starting quarterback, he
10:54
Speaker 3: also needs to know that my quarterback can't hesitate or
11:00
Speaker 3: think that he's a liability back there. I don't know
11:02
Speaker 3: what's coming behind me. To me, that's ingrained. And so
11:06
Speaker 3: I think right now, you got Aaron Filo. I think
11:09
Speaker 3: he could, if he shows up these first two weeks.
11:12
Speaker 2: and.
11:12
Speaker 3: Gives Coach Summerall or Buster Faulkner no reason to really
11:17
Speaker 3: change anything, then let's go to town. I mean, let's
11:20
Speaker 3: let it play out. You've got a chance to go
11:22
Speaker 3: win one on the road in Auburn. And then you
11:24
Speaker 3: just take it week to week.
11:26
Speaker 1: Do you think that Aaron Filo needs to be great
11:29
Speaker 1: this year? Or do you think that with this roster,
11:32
Speaker 1: he just needs to be efficient and get the ball
11:34
Speaker 1: to the right people and just not make mistakes?
11:38
Speaker 3: I think that the best thing a quarterback with athletes
11:41
Speaker 3: around him can do is play loose and play his game.
11:44
Speaker 3: And when you look at Aaron Filo, I mean, he
11:46
Speaker 3: is a state record holder in the state of Georgia
11:49
Speaker 3: for high school football. It's not like we pick somebody
11:52
Speaker 3: up off the street because we just had to fill
11:54
Speaker 3: a spot or a scholarship, right?
11:57
Speaker 2: He's capable. He's athletic. He can throw the ball. I
12:00
Speaker 2: think for me, he's.
12:01
Speaker 3: Got to show up and play loose because you've got
12:04
Speaker 3: athletes around you.
12:05
Speaker 2: So for me, just.
12:07
Speaker 3: Limit the mistakes, manage the game in a way that
12:11
Speaker 3: you know is efficient, and let your boys go to work.
12:15
Speaker 2: I mean, think about this.
12:16
Speaker 3: A Chris Leak and a Tim Tebow, great athletes, really
12:21
Speaker 3: good minds in their own respect. And when you look
12:23
Speaker 3: at the bodies they had around them, you had a
12:26
Speaker 3: lot of guys.
12:27
Speaker 2: That were really, really good and really, really talented.
12:30
Speaker 3: If you could get the ball to them and put
12:32
Speaker 3: them in open space without making mistakes, your chances of
12:36
Speaker 3: going and winning a game were increased substantially versus, you know,
12:41
Speaker 3: snap interactions, fumbles on handoffs, throwing interceptions, it already helps
12:45
Speaker 3: your cause.
12:47
Speaker 2: Yeah.
12:48
Speaker 1: We, you mentioned Phil Troutwine. We've talked a lot about
12:50
Speaker 1: him on this show as well, but you know, you
12:53
Speaker 1: have known him. Honestly, when I think back to Phil
12:55
Speaker 1: in college, I always think about the two of you
12:57
Speaker 1: guys being together. What about Phil do you think, and
13:01
Speaker 1: Phil as a player, makes you confident in the kind
13:06
Speaker 1: of coach that he is now?
13:08
Speaker 3: I think one, the coolest thing to me when I
13:11
Speaker 3: think of Phil Trotline is he wanted to be a Gator.
13:15
Speaker 3: And I've got a healthy respect there because he was
13:18
Speaker 3: an out-of-state guy.
13:19
Speaker 2: He came from Jersey.
13:21
Speaker 3: I came from Texas. We were both out-of-state guys. And
13:24
Speaker 3: we chose the University of Florida.
13:26
Speaker 2: Much similar. You hear Summer, I'll talk all the time
13:28
Speaker 2: about he chose you.
13:30
Speaker 1: And Irvin used to say that too.
13:32
Speaker 3: Right, and that was a decision for us too, right?
13:34
Speaker 3: It was something we felt, something we saw, and the
13:38
Speaker 3: love that we felt while we were there that was like,
13:40
Speaker 3: you know what, this is where I want to be
13:41
Speaker 3: for the next four or five years of my career.
13:45
Speaker 2: So that's one thing that I love about Phil. I
13:47
Speaker 2: think the second is.
13:49
Speaker 3: You will not, in my opinion, find somebody who cared
13:53
Speaker 3: more about getting better each day.
13:56
Speaker 2: And Phil was... One of those guys that he was
14:00
Speaker 2: a clean eater. He was a big guy.
14:03
Speaker 3: I thought he was a defensive end when he was
14:04
Speaker 3: first on campus because he was like 6'7, 265 and shredded.
14:09
Speaker 3: And I was like, geez, who's this white D in?
14:11
Speaker 3: I'm going to be blocking that in fall. And it
14:15
Speaker 3: turns out he was just a really underweight offensive lineman.
14:18
Speaker 3: And so when I got to know Phil a little bit,
14:21
Speaker 3: when you look at the last three years of his
14:23
Speaker 3: career at Florida, that guy did every single thing possible
14:28
Speaker 3: to become.
14:28
Speaker 2: Better each day. And those last two years, you saw it.
14:32
Speaker 2: He was a master of his craft.
14:34
Speaker 3: He was a student of the game. So he understands
14:36
Speaker 3: at a very high level what it takes to really.
14:39
Speaker 2: Be the best at what you do.
14:41
Speaker 3: And that really, to me, is like, I couldn't feel
14:44
Speaker 3: better about the offensive line room. And especially once we
14:48
Speaker 3: get some guys who really understand the mentality.
14:50
Speaker 1: And I do think that that's got to really resonate
14:54
Speaker 1: with players when you're recruiting them. Like, hey, I've been
14:56
Speaker 1: in your shoes. He told me when he was on
14:58
Speaker 1: my show one time that he thought if the portal existed,
15:00
Speaker 1: Urban would have told him to get in it when
15:01
Speaker 1: he got to Gainesville.
15:03
Speaker 3: Well, you know, that would have been a huge, if so,
15:06
Speaker 3: that would have been a really big mistake on Urban's part.
15:09
Speaker 1: Oh, the butterfly effect of that. But I mean, but
15:12
Speaker 1: I think to his point is that like, he knows
15:14
Speaker 1: what it's like to be, you know, maybe discounted or,
15:19
Speaker 1: you know, been told, hey, you have to do this
15:20
Speaker 1: entire list of things to get better. And when he
15:23
Speaker 1: tells that to guys, he understands what kind of pressure
15:26
Speaker 1: that puts on them and how to respond to expectations.
15:29
Speaker 1: And I do think this offensive line has been one
15:31
Speaker 1: of the biggest question marks all offseason. But after scrimmage two,
15:35
Speaker 1: Summerall told us that, you know, he's comfortable kind of
15:38
Speaker 1: with where this line is at the moment. And they
15:41
Speaker 1: have tentatively named their best five. Do you think that,
15:46
Speaker 1: that's something they're going to still figure out these first
15:49
Speaker 1: two games. And if it is, is that okay? Because
15:51
Speaker 1: clearly you want it solved before you go into SEC play,
15:54
Speaker 1: if you can.
15:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, and when you look at the schedule, right,
15:57
Speaker 3: the last two years, we've had a unbelievably tough schedule.
16:00
Speaker 2: It's been challenging in every way.
16:03
Speaker 3: The guys on this roster right now, with exception of
16:07
Speaker 3: some portal guys and some high school guys, they've been
16:09
Speaker 3: battle tested pretty good. And again, it's not that a
16:13
Speaker 3: talent level was not there.
16:16
Speaker 2: Right.
16:16
Speaker 3: When I think back to Ole Miss on the road
16:17
Speaker 3: last year, you're in that game. You probably should win
16:20
Speaker 3: that game. If a couple of calls go your way
16:22
Speaker 3: or you don't turn the football over, you probably do
16:25
Speaker 3: win that game against a team that was a national
16:28
Speaker 3: champion contender.
16:29
Speaker 1: Contender, yeah.
16:30
Speaker 3: And I look at that as like, okay, 2004, Florida
16:34
Speaker 3: goes on the road and they beat LSU in Baton
16:37
Speaker 3: Rouge and LSU goes on to win a national championship.
16:41
Speaker 3: There's The team in 05 was very similar to the
16:44
Speaker 3: team in 04. It wasn't much difference, right? The team
16:47
Speaker 3: in 03 and 04, same thing. It wasn't much difference,
16:51
Speaker 3: but you beat a national championship team on the road.
16:54
Speaker 3: And so it really boils down to what are you
16:56
Speaker 3: doing during the week? And any given Saturday, something can
17:00
Speaker 3: happen that really flicks a switch.
17:02
Speaker 2: And I think to me, week three.
17:04
Speaker 3: On the road in Auburn is going to be a very, very,
17:07
Speaker 3: not only telltale sign, but it's going to be a very,
17:09
Speaker 3: very good tipping point of where this season could go
17:13
Speaker 3: And then what we've seen in the past.
17:15
Speaker 2: You know, we're going to have to figure some stuff out.
17:17
Speaker 2: The good news for us is there's not a whole
17:19
Speaker 2: lot of expectation.
17:20
Speaker 3: If you told most Florida fans right now, Florida's going
17:23
Speaker 3: to end up six and six and possibly make a
17:26
Speaker 3: bowl game. I think a lot of Gator fans would
17:28
Speaker 3: at least stomach that knowing that we're trending back in
17:31
Speaker 3: the right direction. If you ask me, we need to
17:35
Speaker 3: win eight games. I think there are eight winnable games
17:39
Speaker 3: on the schedule. I mean, At a minimum, mind you.
17:41
Speaker 3: I'm not talking about I'm comfortable with eight and four
17:44
Speaker 3: because that would, you know, you know me well enough.
17:48
Speaker 2: I think we're capable of nine and three, ten and two.
17:51
Speaker 3: But if you can go out and find Auburn on
17:54
Speaker 3: the road, Texas on the road, one of those two,
17:57
Speaker 3: Georgia game right now, when you look at five in
18:00
Speaker 3: a row and you've been so close the last few.
18:02
Speaker 2: Years, you've got to find one or two of those games.
18:06
Speaker 3: That nobody expects you to win and you're in the hunt.
18:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. You talked about Auburn as, I've been referring to
18:15
Speaker 1: it as a bellwether game. I think that it is,
18:18
Speaker 1: it shows you which way your season is going to trend.
18:20
Speaker 1: And I kind of think that however that Auburn game
18:23
Speaker 1: goes is how that Ole Miss game goes. I tie
18:25
Speaker 1: them together in my head. I think Ole Miss will
18:28
Speaker 1: have just played LSU, and whether they win or lose,
18:30
Speaker 1: it will have been an incredibly emotional game for them.
18:32
Speaker 1: They'll come into the swamp after that. What kind of
18:36
Speaker 1: statement can Coach Summerall make, though, if win or lose
18:39
Speaker 1: at Auburn, they come home and they open SEC play
18:43
Speaker 1: in the swamp with a victory over Ole Miss?
18:47
Speaker 2: I think that's a huge statement.
18:49
Speaker 3: And honestly, I expect most people think that that's going
18:53
Speaker 3: to be the case. Being two and one at home
18:57
Speaker 3: when you come face Ole Miss is not a bad deal,
18:59
Speaker 3: by the way. I don't think that that's something you,
19:03
Speaker 3: it's tough on the road in the SEC. And in
19:05
Speaker 3: order to win it, you've got to be really sharp
19:07
Speaker 3: these first two games. And I mean the approach, the efficiency,
19:11
Speaker 3: the way you manage the game and the way you
19:13
Speaker 3: play defense. And so, I'm anxious to see what these
19:16
Speaker 3: first two games look like. If your defense can get
19:19
Speaker 3: going these first two games, I think it's watch out
19:21
Speaker 3: mode for Florida because I think there's going to be
19:23
Speaker 3: a lot of people surprised at where we sit around game.
19:26
Speaker 2: Five or six.
19:29
Speaker 1: I want to talk a little bit about your, when
19:31
Speaker 1: you're on the sidelines and things that you've seen, and
19:34
Speaker 1: you don't have to tell me specifics, but over the
19:35
Speaker 1: last few years and what you're going to be looking
19:38
Speaker 1: for this year, I mean, was there, when a team,
19:41
Speaker 1: when we start to struggle in a game, what are
19:45
Speaker 1: you looking for on the sidelines that tells you whether
19:49
Speaker 1: they're going to respond or whether things are starting to unravel?
19:53
Speaker 1: And have there been times where you've known which way
19:56
Speaker 1: this was going to go before the game ended by
19:58
Speaker 1: that body language?
19:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's times.
20:01
Speaker 3: And, you know, I joke with Spikes on the– because
20:05
Speaker 3: me and Spikes– It's different with Spikes because when he's
20:09
Speaker 3: trying to get guys going, I think there towards the
20:12
Speaker 3: end of Napier's career, I would at least– I'm into games, right?
20:16
Speaker 3: Even when I'm on the sideline, I mean, there's times
20:18
Speaker 3: where I'm standing– five yards away from the head coach
20:21
Speaker 3: and I'm down with hands on the knees looking like,
20:23
Speaker 3: let's go, I'm in mode.
20:25
Speaker 2: And I kind of shut the broadcast off in my head.
20:27
Speaker 1: I have watched this from the stand.
20:31
Speaker 2: And I get reactions, right?
20:32
Speaker 3: I've had, you know, buddies of mine at Coach College
20:34
Speaker 3: Football send me, you know, film room clips of me
20:37
Speaker 3: in the end zone reacting to something.
20:39
Speaker 2: It's just the.
20:40
Speaker 3: Nature of what I am and, you know, how I
20:42
Speaker 3: show up. But I think that the last few years
20:48
Speaker 3: defensively last year was better than the year prior. Offensively,
20:52
Speaker 3: I think you've got to find some guys where you
20:56
Speaker 3: never feel you're out of the game. And when I
20:58
Speaker 3: go back to that conversation about mentality, the difference I
21:02
Speaker 3: had in 04 to 05 when Urban came in, in 05,
21:07
Speaker 3: everything you went through from January to September and the
21:11
Speaker 3: summer passing schedule seven on sevens and all the stuff.
21:15
Speaker 2: You did voluntary workouts.
21:16
Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
21:17
Speaker 2: It all comes together, and that's when I feel like
21:20
Speaker 2: you can look.
21:21
Speaker 3: At the guy next to you and go, all right,
21:22
Speaker 3: I know who's around me and how hard we've worked. Like,
21:25
Speaker 3: let's go get– we're not out of this. It's never
21:28
Speaker 3: even a thought in your mind versus, golly, man, I
21:31
Speaker 3: don't know if we're going to make it back. Like,
21:33
Speaker 3: there's that self-doubt that starts creeping in. And I think
21:36
Speaker 3: for me, seeing the human element creep in sometimes, especially
21:40
Speaker 3: on the road the last few years, you could tell
21:43
Speaker 3: that it's almost the thought of, like, I don't.
21:45
Speaker 2: Know if we've got a chance in this game. And
21:47
Speaker 2: there's also.
21:47
Speaker 3: Been games where you're like, oh, no, we're about to
21:50
Speaker 3: win this because I can, you know, offense got their adjustments.
21:52
Speaker 2: Now they're watching the defense on the field.
21:55
Speaker 3: And, man, I can't wait to see that happen more
21:58
Speaker 3: because as an offensive player, I looked forward to getting
22:02
Speaker 3: adjustments on the sideline and going and watching the 2006
22:07
Speaker 3: Florida Gators defense go to work on the field. Like
22:10
Speaker 3: it was something that was so much fun to actually
22:12
Speaker 3: be involved in watching and Uh, and there was a
22:15
Speaker 3: lot of offensive guys like that. Like we wanted to
22:17
Speaker 3: be up there waiting for them to get that, but
22:19
Speaker 3: it's almost like you're willing them to do something big,
22:22
Speaker 3: give us a chance to go back out and go.
22:24
Speaker 2: Win the game.
22:25
Speaker 1: You know, I, I think that a lot of times
22:28
Speaker 1: the team takes on the persona of their head coach and,
22:32
Speaker 1: you know, Billy Napier was always, it appeared to be
22:35
Speaker 1: cool as a cucumber, didn't ever get flustered, but also
22:38
Speaker 1: never seemed to like get angry or excited, regardless of
22:42
Speaker 1: what the outcome was. And, you know, sometimes that's a
22:45
Speaker 1: good thing for your team to be incredibly steady, but
22:47
Speaker 1: sometimes it's not. And I think Coach Summerall, personality-wise, seems
22:51
Speaker 1: like he could not be more different. Do you think
22:55
Speaker 1: that that's going to be a shot in the arm
22:56
Speaker 1: to this team? And honestly, I kind of cannot wait
22:59
Speaker 1: until the first penalty happens because I want to see
23:01
Speaker 1: him lose his mind on the sidelines. I feel like
23:03
Speaker 1: that is something we've been missing for a little bit.
23:05
Speaker 1: But do you feel like his personality– fits in what
23:10
Speaker 1: usually works at Florida.
23:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, I 100% would think that it's a good fit.
23:15
Speaker 3: When you look from a distance and even up, I mean,
23:19
Speaker 3: you resonate with that as a player.
23:22
Speaker 2: At least I did. There's some guys that don't like it.
23:24
Speaker 3: To be honest with you, a lot of those guys
23:26
Speaker 3: didn't make it four years at Florida, especially when Urban
23:28
Speaker 3: got there. If you didn't come from that environment and
23:32
Speaker 3: how you were approached in a football manner, I came
23:35
Speaker 3: from Texas high school football, so it was very very
23:38
Speaker 3: good in that regard.
23:39
Speaker 2: You got taught very early.
23:41
Speaker 3: And I mean like Pop Warner, junior high, you learn
23:44
Speaker 3: real quick how the game was played and how you
23:48
Speaker 3: should approach each day. I think our players are going
23:52
Speaker 3: to do better in two years time, just on the
23:54
Speaker 3: mentality that they're getting from their head coach. I do
23:58
Speaker 3: think you're going to start seeing Florida really take on
24:00
Speaker 3: that image. And we need to, if I'm being quite
24:03
Speaker 3: honest with you, I don't think you can win championships
24:06
Speaker 3: without that mental edge, that just approach.
24:10
Speaker 2: And so I love it.
24:12
Speaker 3: Summerall's one of those guys that we're about, he's probably
24:15
Speaker 3: a little older than me, but he played about the
24:17
Speaker 3: time Eric and I played.
24:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's, I think, a year older than we are.
24:22
Speaker 3: Talking to him and then listening to him talk at
24:26
Speaker 3: the former alumni scrimmage last week, I could see the
24:30
Speaker 3: intensity that he brings when he's just talking to, you know,
24:33
Speaker 3: former players. I'm always that guy that is honed in
24:37
Speaker 3: a lot. Like, I mean, if a coach is talking,
24:39
Speaker 3: if a, an adult is talking to me, right. Somebody
24:43
Speaker 3: that's given me wisdom, I'm into it. And, and, you know,
24:47
Speaker 3: I know the other night, if you probably asked him,
24:49
Speaker 3: he'd probably tell you, like, I could tell if, if
24:52
Speaker 3: anybody was ready to go play it, Tate probably was
24:55
Speaker 3: ready to throw a helmet on. Cause like I was
24:57
Speaker 3: into what he was getting. I mean, I'm like, man,
24:59
Speaker 3: Just give it to us. Tell me, like, give me,
25:01
Speaker 3: give me fired up right now. Like make me feel
25:03
Speaker 3: like I'm going to.
25:04
Speaker 2: Go play the game. Yeah.
25:05
Speaker 1: And he does that. He, um, he has a good
25:08
Speaker 1: way of engaging everybody. I, it's interesting to watch, to
25:12
Speaker 1: listen to him talk because I do think he has
25:14
Speaker 1: such an understanding of what the standard is. is at
25:17
Speaker 1: Florida and he, you know, the fact that he's embraced
25:20
Speaker 1: urban in the way that he has. And I, you know,
25:22
Speaker 1: I know urban feels like they have a very similar personality,
25:25
Speaker 1: which for us, we, that is exciting because we know
25:28
Speaker 1: that that's what works at Florida. Um, if you were
25:32
Speaker 1: talking on the trajectory two to three years, you know, what,
25:36
Speaker 1: where do you see this program going?
25:40
Speaker 3: Again, I, I don't put a lot on the coaches, um,
25:44
Speaker 3: And you can. To me, it's an easy button. I
25:47
Speaker 3: think as a former player, I put a lot more
25:49
Speaker 3: on the players because you've got a coach right now
25:53
Speaker 3: that has the intensity level that you need to go
25:55
Speaker 3: out and win games, can recruit the way you need
25:58
Speaker 3: to get talent on campus to go win games. You've
26:01
Speaker 3: got the facilities necessary to make yourself better each day.
26:06
Speaker 3: Couldn't really say that all the time about Florida, but
26:08
Speaker 3: lately it's been really good.
26:11
Speaker 2: And you've also got a $ 1.
26:12
Speaker 3: 4 billion stadium renovation, which is going to attract talent. So,
26:16
Speaker 3: you know, it's hard to try and predict the future. Again,
26:21
Speaker 3: I was one of the biggest Billy fans because I
26:23
Speaker 3: thought that, you know, from the week of preparation and everything,
26:27
Speaker 3: and we just couldn't get over the hump. So I
26:29
Speaker 3: don't think I'm going to predict the future here. if
26:33
Speaker 3: I was a betting man, I would be buying stock
26:35
Speaker 3: of Florida football right now.
26:37
Speaker 2: All right.
26:37
Speaker 1: You heard it here first. I think that's what everybody
26:39
Speaker 1: likes to hear. They, you know, it feels we're in
26:43
Speaker 1: the selling hope phase. I say that all the time.
26:45
Speaker 1: You can sell hope or you can sell wins in
26:46
Speaker 1: the first couple of years, you can sell that hope.
26:48
Speaker 1: And then you have to have a body of work
26:50
Speaker 1: to stand on. But I do think, you know, the
26:53
Speaker 1: early success recruiting that came before there was a body
26:55
Speaker 1: of work to stand on, which is incredibly impressive. And
26:58
Speaker 1: it seems like he's saying and doing all of the
27:00
Speaker 1: right things and, and, you know, now it's just the
27:03
Speaker 1: product on the field. Well, Tate, I appreciate you joining us.
27:07
Speaker 1: This was really fun. We're going to have to do
27:08
Speaker 1: it throughout the season. Tell everybody where they can follow
27:11
Speaker 1: you on social media and, you know, throughout the season.
27:13
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, you're going to handle me that I need
27:16
Speaker 3: to put a, I need to put a list of
27:17
Speaker 3: stuff on the wall, like my handles so I can
27:20
Speaker 3: remember them. Uh, and more than likely you can just
27:23
Speaker 3: follow take Casey 84, I think on X. Um, really
27:27
Speaker 3: on 84 brand or any of the take, you could
27:30
Speaker 3: pretty much type in take Casey and find me somehow. Um,
27:33
Speaker 3: but it's always a pleasure. I appreciate your time and
27:36
Speaker 3: let me know if there's anything else I could do.
27:38
Speaker 2: All right.
27:39
Speaker 1: Sounds good.