After not making players available prior to or following the South Carolina game two senior leaders spoke with the media after practice. Defensive lineman Zach Carter and running back Dameon Pierce met with the media to discuss what has transpired over the weekend and where the program is headed.
Pierce and Carter had both previously spoken about their desire to "leave Florida better than they found it," which sitting at 4-5, coming off a blowout loss to South Carolina, and still needed two wins in the next three games to obtain bowl eligibility the two spoke about what can be done and what needs to be done the rest of the way.
"We know the goal we wanted to win a national championship this year; we wanted to get to the SEC championship this year. It’s not attainable anymore and we’re all aware of that, but there’s still a lot to play for. We’re playing for guys that came before us and played in the same uniform, we still have a lot to represent - and there’s a lot of people that are still watching us," Carter said. "Even if you don’t play for that, we have families at home, you’re playing for the last name on your jersey. Guys are trying to feed their family. There’s a lot of whatever motivation, guys have a lot of different motivation. Whatever it is we have to find that to keep playing.”
Carter has been through trying times like this before. He was a freshman in 2017 — redshirting — and watched from the locker room as a head coach self-imploded, sabotaging a season before leaving. He's been through this type of adversity before, while Dameon Pierce watched that 2017 from the outside, as the coaching staff he committed to left the University of Florida while he remained steadfast in his commitment. He's been here through good times as Dan Mullen was able to get the Gators to three-consecutive New Year's Six Bowl games and he has a singular message for the younger players that may be thinking, "what in the world did I sign up for?"
“It’s not easy. It’s not easy to tell someone it’s gonna be a brighter day when it’s raining, but you just gotta have faith that the sun’s going to come back out," Pierce said. "You go through cloudy days. Eventually, it’s going to blow over. Our storm is going to pass and we’re going to get back to our standard soon.”
As two of the senior leaders on the team, Pierce and Carter helped lead a spirited, "chippy" practice on Monday. The goals the team set for themselves in the preseason are gone but both insist that the will to play for each other and for the coaches still in the building has not left.
"I know one thing we do need, though. We just need everybody on the same page. We need a lot of guys to have the right attitude going forward. Even though we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel right now -- we’re still trying to figure things out on our end -- the best thing we can do is just put our head down, work hard and focus on us and try to get close as a team, honestly," he said. "During times like this, when you got three games left in the season and it’s not going the way you want it to go, obviously there’s some disappointment there amongst everybody. But we just gotta find a way to try to keep all the outside noise outside, exactly where it’s at, and focus on everybody internally.”
