Dec. 29, 2001

Gary Blackney on Florida:

"Florida has had an outstanding year and they are very well coached. The thing that impresses me is the great continuity of their staff. They don't have a lot of turnover, that equates to a lot of continuity in their offense. They have excellent players that execute the offense and whether or not it is in the red zone, we just have to do our best to slow them down."

Gary Blackney on E.J. Henderson:

" I would like to think that a lot of E.J.'s success is based on his god-given ability and his talent, but that our system had something to do with it also. He broke the all-time tackles for a loss record at our school that Randy White previously held. We are asking him to get on the other side of the line of scrimmage making tackles for a loss. That is the type of attack we have tried to devise."

Gary Blackney on Florida's offense:

"I don't think that Florida is going to trick us in terms of our knowledge of their system. I think what they have done is execute as well as any offense that I have seen this year. I think it is their execution against our execution."

E.J. Henderson on putting pressure on Rex Grossman...

"I definitely think it will be the determining factor on how much we slow down their passing game. We'll get after him and disrupt their offense. I am confident that our team will get it done."

Randall Jones and Rod Littles on sticking with the Florida receivers...

"As far as the secondary, we are all confident we can do that. We had pretty much one let down this year and came back strong from that."

E.J. Henderson

"None of us saw our team 10-1 at the start of the season. After the Georgia Tech game we had to re-evaluate our goals in the middle of the season."

"We need to shut their running game down and make them a one dimensional team."

"I play like a linebacker is supposed to play the game. I like to hit and get to the ball."

"We got something to prove because no thinks we can win so they have the pressure."

" I hope they respect us. It is all going to come out whether they respect us or not."

Tony Jackson

"Florida has lots of talented receivers like Gaffney, we have to pressure Grossman. We live by the blitz and die by the blitz."

"There is no way in hell I won't play. If my ankle prevents me from playing on defense coach can throw me on special teams to run down the field."

Randall Jones

"If we win, we will really make a statement. Florida is a powerhouse and has been for years. We are for real and we are a good team. Respect has been our motivation all year."

"We don't want to disappoint the people who came to see us. We are here to handle business."

Charles Hill

"Since the beginning of the season not many of the people respected the team and we are still getting a lot of that here."

"We still have stuff to prove. People out there don't respect us. We are here to win the game."

Rex Grossman on relationship with Jabar Gaffney...

"We just work well together. He (Gaffney) gets open and it just makes it easier for me. We just click together well and that comes from practicing hard and throwing a lot of routes."

Jabar Gaffney on matchup with Maryland defense...

"They're a pretty good group of guys, they don't play too much man to man defense. It's going to be more of us against their whole defense instead of us against their cornerbacks. But if they walk up and challenge us man to man then we'll glad step up to that challenge."

Robert Gillespie on this bowl compared to 1999 Citrus Bowl...

"At first we were kind of disappointed because we didn't achieve the goals we had set at the beginning of the season. We realized that this is another game, that's important and a lot of people remember what you do at the end of the season. It's definitely important to go out there and win this game against Maryland. That's what we are getting ready to do."

Mike Pearson on this bowl compared to 1999 Citrus Bowl...

"That team was a different makeup, they had a lot of different leaders. I think our leaders this year are a lot better than the ones we had that year. We lost to FSU and then lost to Alabama again, we just hit that spiral going down. I just think it was a combination of things. I think our leadership this year is a lot better than in '99."

Rex Grossman on Maryland/Florida State game...

"We just have confidence that we can play well. It doesn't matter what they do, what they throw at us. If Florida State played well against them, so, and we beat Florida State, so that doesn't really mean anything. The biggest reason why we have confidence is that we know were a good team. We didn't finish out the way we wanted to, but we know we are one of the top teams in the country, so we are going to go out there and prove it."

Rex Grossman on offense style...

"We've worked a lot on the inside the 30 and inside the 20 stuff. A lot of credit goes to Coach Spurrier and the system. We realized that its time to score and time to put up some points when were in there. We didn't do that as well as we should have against Tennessee. A lot of that is credited to Jeff Chandler (placekicker)."

Jeff Chandler on offense style...

"A lot of it has to do with our offense getting the ball down the field, putting us into a good position to score. I don't know how many teams have been inside the 20 59 times. I'm already to go in there and kick, whether be an extra point or whatever. I just take every opportunity I can get. It's just been fun playing with this offense and putting up a lot of points."

Buddy Teevens, Florida assistant offensive coordinator:

"I think the balance of having two different running backs in the ballgames has been very, very effective. Two different types, one - bruising, driving, tremendous second effort, tackle breaker, straight arm giver, he is very, very productive. The second is more of slasher in Robert (Gillespie), I think the compliment is its difficult to defend. If one is out either Robert's out or Earnest (Graham) is out, it's a different dimension and I think having both is very important for us."

"Maryland is obviously a 10 and 1 football team. Very, very talented on both sides of the ball, they play extremely well together as a team, specifically looking at their defense. They'll pressure the passer, they swarm to the football, they cover people, they run to the ball well and play with an awful lot of emotion. It's the team that comes to play on game day and that's really the critical challenge for us coming in to make sure we take care of our business. Realizing that we are playing a very good football team."

"They're not geared to giving up the big play, they wanna make you work for it. Just the essence of a zone blitz team is to send pressure without giving up big play opportunities."

"They'll mix things up, they do a nice job with their defensive package and they'll send a lot of different people from a lot of different angles. Probably as extensive a defensive group that we've seen probably this season."

Robert Gillespie:

"I've had a great time being here. I've been to a bowl game every year I've been at Florida. A lot of guys can't say that."

"We are just as hungry as the next guy and we are going to go out there and play hard. Maryland is a very good team."

"The confidence level that Coach (Spurrier) has is astounding. He's a winner and he's going to do anything he can do to win."

Jeff Chandler:

"I don't think we need motivation. Our senior class has done a good job motivating the team. We lost our last home game, which was a very sour note at the end of the season. But we can still go out there and salvage the season and finish in the top five in the country."

Rex Grossman:

"This is not an average bowl game, this is a chance to go out and compete against one of the best teams in the country."

"We always have a good game plan, great players, we put a lot of points on the board playing vertical football."

"There is nothing riding on this game at all, except pride and a ten win season is really all that we're playing for."

Jabar Gaffney:

"It was real tough, I still feel it myself being down here, and I was like what am I doing down here (at the Orange Bowl). I had plans on going out to California and playing for the National Championship. It still hurts, but it's getting out of our system."

"So we want to be ready for them. We're not going to let nobody come down to the state of Florida, our hometown, and just walk over us."

Reche Caldwell:

"I don't think this was a disappointing season at all. We lost two games that we played our best in."

"I'll make my decision (going pro) after the bowl game. I'm just trying to finish out this game. Whatever happens happens."

"We may not be in the National Championship, but we're still the best team in college football."

Mike Pearson:

"We want the end the year off right. The way we played against Tennessee definitely wasn't the way we wanted to end our season. So, if we can get a victory and end the season on a positive note helps in recruiting and helps in the off season workout."