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Florida players, coaches embrace Swamp’s influence against Alabama

Ever since Florida’s playoff dreams crumbled against Alabama in last year’s SEC Championship game, the Gators locker room has pinned this Saturday’s matchup against the Crimson Tide as an opportunity to exact revenge over their decade-long tormentors.

Both rosters have undergone serious retooling since meeting in Atlanta, as Florida and Alabama both lost their starting quarterback and leading receiver to the NFL Draft. But in the eyes of UF’s players and coaches, the raucous crowd at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium will be a bigger variable than the recent departures and additions to these teams.

“I think home-field advantage is a huge deal, especially now with fans back in the stadiums, Mullen said. “I think it's going to be a great atmosphere on Saturday here in the Swamp. Probably the best environment in college football this Saturday."

Copeland praised the Swamp crowd for Florida’s season-opener against FAU and expects the atmosphere to take a step up this weekend against the Crimson Tide.

“It’s going to be a live environment, for sure for that,” Copeland said, “It was a live environment for the first game, and we’re playing Bama now. Nick’s (Saban) gonna be here, so we got to do what we do.”

Due in large part to last season’s COVID-19 pandemic, the Swamp hasn’t enjoyed a full crowd since October of 2019, when Florida took down eighth-ranked Auburn. The cacophony of full-voiced Gator fans created a hostile atmosphere that coach Gus Malzahn blamed for “at least four or five” false starts in that game.

DaQuan Newkirk, a former Auburn linebacker who transferred to Florida this offseason, recalls the intimidating impact of the Swamp as an opposing player.

“Even though I was on defense, it’s like once they got the momentum going, it was crazy,” Newkirk said. “The crowd got into the game. It was like a huge momentum boost. The energy from the crowd, you feed off it, so it’s huge.”

Newkirk and the rest of the Florida defense face the unenviable task of containing Bryce Young, a projected top-five selection in the 2023 NFL Draft who’s been nearly perfect through two games this year. Young has tossed for nearly 600 yards against Miami and Mercer while throwing seven touchdowns to zero interceptions.

However, while Young has faced a number of talented defenses at the high school and collegiate levels, the sophomore gunslinger’s first time in a full-capacity, hostile stadium will be this Saturday in the Swamp.

Florida defensive tackle Zachary Carter hopes to continue his impressive early-season sack streak, and he believes that the energy from the stadium will provide the defense with incredible energy and potentially rattle the young Alabama quarterback.

"Well, whenever any team is coming into The Swamp, especially as big of a game as this is, — I know it's a sell-out crowd, 90,000 — that could probably rattle anybody, veteran or young player,” Carter said. “So, I'm expecting the crowd to really energize the defense this weekend, and we definitely feed off the crowd and The Swamp."

Along with nearly 90,000 Gator fans, the university will welcome a number of high-profile guests into the Swamp as well. Bradley Beal, a first-team All-SEC selection while at Florida and a three-time NBA All-Star, will assume the honorary “Mr. Two Bits” role for UF’s SEC opener, and a number of heralded UF recruits, including five-stars Evan Stewart, Jaheim Singletary, and Walter Nolen, are expected to attend as well.

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