Opening statement:

“Obviously, it wasn’t anywhere close to what we wanted. Not acceptable in any terms to take a loss the way we did, so we’ve got to get back and take a look at the film and evaluate where we’re at. Kind of go from there.”

On what went into the decision to put in QB Tramell Jones Jr:

"Well, that was my decision. I think we had a rough first half and I thought it might be good for him to just have a chance to gather and take a look at it from a coaches’ point and a coaches’ view from the sideline. But yeah, we need to play better all the way around, not just him. Everybody needs to play a little bit better. I’ll take the blame for everything. I think if you take a look at what we do and where we need to be, it’s unacceptable and I’m going to put me up in front and say, ‘that’s on me.’

I’ll take the blame for this loss, 100%. So, we got to be better, and I’ve got to be better to make sure these players can continue forward.”

On who the starting quarterback is next week at Ole Miss:

"We’ll take a look at the film and obviously, we think he’s a very talented young man. But we’ll take a look at everything and kind of move forward once we get back home.”

On how it unraveled and the impact of the turnovers:

"You have four turnovers in the first half, you’re not going to win the game. Especially when you’re playing a team that takes up so much time of possession early on. We started off, offensively, I thought we did a decent job coming out. We came back, started off moving the ball, then we had an interception. Obviously, fourth drive, we had a fumble, Came back, sixth drive, another interception. The seventh drive, another interception. If you don’t take care of the ball, you’re not going to win the game. So, we did a poor job taking care of the ball. They did a really good job rushing the ball. And obviously, we didn’t get off the field on third downs. They didn’t punt at all. Like I said, I’ll take the blame for everything.”

On his evaluation of QB Trammel Jones:

"I think he came in and he did what he was supposed to do. Had a chance to try to move the ball and we had penalties. You start moving the ball and you get a penalty, and you get behind, and you get in third-and-long again, you’re not going to be successful that way. Again, we’ve got to be better. And I keep saying it over and over, I want these players to continue to play hard. We’ve got to put them in better situations, but I’ll take the blame on this one. It’s not acceptable by any means and that’ll come straight on me.”

On the defensive performance:

"We knew we had to tackle; we knew we had to wrap up. Take nothing away, I give a ton of credit to Kentucky. But, when you get put into a situation early on, when you’ve got the turnovers, and I’m just trying to look at some of the drives right now I’ve written down, they were put in a bad situation early on in the game. Going into halftime didn’t help, we’re what, 24-7? And then they came back out and did a good job of moving the ball, came down and scored. Yeah, we need to get better.

We need to get off the field on third downs. But again, like I said, we’ve got to put them in better situations where they’re not in those situations. Again, that’s on me.”

On if WR Tank Hawkins is done playing this season:

"Tank, very professional, came up and asked if he could preserve his redshirt, and absolutely. I said, ‘I100% honor it.’ So, at this point, yes.”

On how the team will regroup heading into the Ole Miss game:

"We just talked to them really quick, in the locker room just now. I just told them, we got to get ready. Don’t splinter. We’ve talked about persistence without exception. I think we’ve talked to the team about that and I just mentioned it again. When times get tough, people quit. Why do they quit? It’s because they start second-guessing themselves that, is this really what I want to do? Is this the right thing to do? Is this where we need to be? And so, they veer of course. We’ve talked about the ‘without exception’ part. The without exception part means, listen, I’ve got to focus. If I’m a competitor, and I’m fighting to be better and I know at the end of the day, what I’m doing can help me out later on down the road, continue to fight for my teammates, continue to fight for the school, the without exception part comes into play. So, just talked to them. We’re not going to splinter; they can’t splinter. But anything from that standpoint, like I said, as far as motivating and leadership, leadership comes from me. I’ve got to do a better job in that part.”

 On the struggles in the early stages of the game:

“I think that, I'll start with my position group, I feel like myself personally and guys in my position, we didn't handle the defensive front movement. We didn't handle the backer plug as well as we needed to early on, and then ultimately, we didn't take care of the football. That's a holistic problem. That's protection. That's chasing the ball. That's everything. So, it's not one part of the, that’s everybody. Everybody's involved in ball security, so something we need to improve on.”

On the difference in energy from playing Georgia to playing Kentucky:

“I don’t think anyone feels good about that. I really don't. There's no moral victories. There's no morals to rest on when you lose a game. It’s a conference game, you're supposed to win conference games. Nobody feels good about that. But I need to watch the tape. I don't know what the effort was.”

On helping QB DJ Lagway rally back moving forward:

“Yeah, I don't think anybody ever plans or wants that to happen, but I think he's a mature young man, and I think that he's gonna do what he can to help the team, whatever it looks like. I was super happy coming over and he was loving on Tramell, he was the leader that we all know him to be, so I expect nothing different going forward, whatever his role is.”

On what practice will look like in the upcoming week preparing for Ole Miss:

“You got to go back and to work. I mean, there's no time to rest, you got to go back to work. You got  to get ready to go play a good Ole Miss team at Ole Miss.”

On if he’s confident that the team can finish the remainder of the season strongly:

“No doubt. When we play our best ball, we'll go toe-to-toe with anybody.”

On what made it tough to establish the run:

“I think early, like I said, we struggled with some of the movements up front, some of the backer plugs and little pressures they had brought. So, I think it's hard when you don't start fast to have faith. We went out there at 12 and we didn't execute enough, and that's ultimately what it came down to. The execution wasn't good enough.”

 On the defense struggling against Kentucky…

“It’s really shocking, honestly. It’s really embarrassing, and I did not know we were going to come out and play like that. I’m blindsided just like everybody else is. So, we got to look in the mirror, and we got to do better. That’s completely unacceptable and that’s not the Gator standard. We really have to shave back and just do better all around.”

On being unable to impact Kentucky QB Cutter Boley:

“Definitely not enough pressure. You can be accurate when there’s no pressure on you and just mental busts on defense, guys not being where they need to be, and we just didn’t do our job. We just didn’t do our job enough, and it’s not even on the offense. They gave us long fields too and we didn’t capitalize when we needed to. We didn’t get off the field on third down and that’s completely on us.”

On the emotional impact of not being able to get off the field on third and fourth downs:

“We’re definitely not going to split it. We’re not going to point the finger at each other. We’re not going to deflate. We’re still going to come out and try to play our ball, but that wasn’t acceptable. That wasn’t up to our standard.”

On the feeling off losing the close game to Georgia and then falling to Kentucky:

“We just didn’t prepare the right way throughout the whole week. We didn’t prepare the right way, and we got hit in the mouth. So, that’s what happens in the SEC. And nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We got to look ourselves in the mirror. We got to do better. We just got hit in the mouth and that’s football.”

On if he sensed something about the preparation for the game:

“It definitely wasn’t our best way to practice. I feel that we came out with energy, just messed up the part of the game that we messed up, and that’s probably the most important part of it. So, it’s just truly unacceptable.”

On the mindset in the upcoming week as they try to bounce back against Ole Miss:

“Just keep our head down and grind. We can’t change what’s in the past. So, we just have to look forward and try to come up with the win next week.”