The tweet made Gator fans sick to their stomach. Jacob Copeland sitting next to Nick Saban in Alabama's coach's Mercedes, both all smiles. Florida and Alabama were in a heated competition for Copeland's signature on National Signing Day and this didn't look good. Three years later, Copeland was honest about just how bad it was for Florida that weekend.
“I was close. I ain’t going to lie. I was fixin’ to go to Bama. Hey, it was headfirst, I was going to Bama. There was no ands, ifs, or buts about it," Copeland said of his mindset back in 2017. "Because it was like, first, the new staff had came in and I didn’t who all like was coming upon with Mullen. Like, I just can’t go – even though Florida was like a dream school for me – I just can’t go up and go there because I could. I felt like, ‘hey, I had to make the right choices and do what I gotta do.'"
Copeland made the decision, an emotional one, on National Signing Day and doesn't regret it at all. The redshirt junior is coming off of a career day. He tied a career-high with five receptions and set a new career high with 175-yards and two touchdowns. Copeland is the first Florida wide receiver with multiple 40+ yard touchdown receptions in the same game since Debose in 2011. So, riding high off of that performance, you'll understand why he isn't scared to play anybody this Saturday, even Alabama.
"We can have all odds against us. We can be the underdogs all day. At the end of the day, they’ve got to play just like we’ve got to come to play, and, at the end of the day, I feel like we’re going to come execute well. And me, personally, I fear no one. So, it is what it is.”
Daquan Newkirk is very familiar with Alabama. The Gators faced the Tide just last December but Newkirk, a former Auburn Tiger, has a built-in hate for the other school in Alabama. Newkirk is 1-2 in his career against Alabama and very familiar with the team that will walk into the Swamp on Saturday.
"I know a few things, kind of a few things up my sleeve. I mean, definitely from playing them each and every year. I mean, I talk to the guys a lot," he said. "Definitely from facing them last year, they’re pretty similar. They lost a few guys up front, but they’re pretty similar as the guys from last year, so that’s a big plus I guess for us.”
At the end of the day, it's just football. Sure, Alabama has won 28-consecutive games against SEC East opponents and is a team many believe is the best in the country but, as Copeland said, they have to come to Gainesville and play; they have to put their pads on and execute the same way Florida does.
Florida will be a more than two-touchdown underdog at home for the first time since 2013, something that made Copeland chuckle when it was brought up Monday afternoon.
"At the end of the day, we fear no one," Copeland said. "So, we’ve just got to come out there and play just like how they’ve got to come out and play. And they’ve got to come to play just like we’re going to come to play. So, that’s just going to be on that.”
