Gator Fans:

This morning I stressed to the media in our weekly meeting how important it will be for our fans to support us all they can this Saturday against Arkansas. Here is a portion of what I said along with quotes from several of our players:

Opening Statement:

"The day off helped us. We brought the guys in during the morning and they got their lift in and watched the tape. They came back in the afternoon and were able to get a start on Arkansas. I'm very excited about the way we prepared last night. This is going to be a big game and we need all our fans on their feet hollering and making noise. Arkansas's fans are loud, last year was the first time I've been out there and that was a heck of a place to play. We'll need our fans hollering the same way because it will be an exciting game."

On Arkansas quarterback, Matt Jones:

"If he's not the best player in the SEC, he's one of the best. He's hard to defend because he is strong and fast. He makes plays and can run the football. You can tell their football team looks at him and rallies around him."

On my relationship with Ciatrick Fason:

"I love all these guys. Sometimes they don't think I do, but sometimes my daughters don't think I do either. He is a special guy, football is important to him and he works his heart out. The number of times he ran it last week shows he is getting stronger and working hard in the weight room. One of the most important things about Ciatrick is that he is a team guy. Sure he wants to be successful, but he knows that unless this team plays well he is not going to get to do the things he wants to do."

Mike Degory

Center

On being effective on third downs:

"Third downs are really important not just for the offensive aspects, but to keep the defense off the field too. We focused on having long drives on the off season and hopefully it will continue to pay off throughout the season as well."

"We did a lot of situational stuff with scrimmages during the off season. I know we concentrated a lot on third and one, third and two, third and short distances. Having Chris [Leak] back there after another year in the system, he knows what the pass is going to be for third and one. We've definitely put a lot of focus on third downs."

On playing in the red zone:

"We felt that we left a lot of points off the board with Kentucky. It's something we've already gone over with the goal line and stuff like that and hopefully it won't be an issue this week."

Travis Harris

Linebacker

On playing against Matt Jones:

"He's probably the most talented, athletic quarterback that we will face this year. You have to be aware of his abilities. It's rare to come across a quarterback like that. He's a tall guy, and he's fast too. He doesn't look on fast on film as he does in person because he's got those long legs and long strides. He's someone that we're going to have to stop."

Channing Crowder

Linebacker

On Matt Jones:

"He's a great quarterback. We're planning for him just like last week. Last week, we were saying (Shane) Boyd was an amazing quarterback that can run and pass. Jones is a blazer, he can really run. You just have to keep him contained in the pocket. There are a lot of fast guys out there that if you keep them contained in the pocket, they can't get going."

"It just adds another dimension to the game. If you can just cover everyone like the receivers, you have a better chance of spying Jones when he's rolling out. He'll take off running at the drop of a dime. It adds another dimension to the defense when you have to cover a guy who's going to run every time."

On progressing as a team:

"It's about correcting what we've done wrong. We see the potential. Getting better is about correcting what you do wrong. We tried to correct everything from the Tennessee game to the Kentucky game and we did a pretty good job. Coach (Charlie) Strong, (Bill) Miller, and Red (Anderson) really got us going and they'll have us ready."

Ron Zook

Head Football Coach

University of Florida