About how they practiced at 8:30am, Mack pointed to the sleepy reporters and said:
“I thought my players would have a hard time getting up, but look at you guys.” (HA)
After their 2-hour practice, Mack said:
“It was a good practice.” (HA)
HA Note: “Although the announcement of a No. 1 quarterback remains, according to McMackin, a “game-time decision,” Greg Alexander is expected to start. Alexander was the quarterback for 59 of 81 snaps during 7-on-7 and team drills yesterday. In the past two practices, he has received 104 of the 138 snaps. He worked mostly with the first-team offense.”
About how LWJ is their starting RB, Mack said:
“He had a great camp.” (HA)
About how Libre will backup LWJ and get playing time, Mack said:
“They’re both good backs. They both have their style.” (HA)
About how their OL cannot forget their struggles in the Sugar Bowl, Keoni Steinhoff said:
“We have to remember what happened in the Sugar Bowl.” (HA)
Asked if he was hurt to be demoted to the scout team 2 weeks before the Sugar Bowl, LWJ said:
“Not at all. If they needed me on scouts, I was going to give them my best look.” (HA)
About how RBs cannot slack off with Coach Gerke watching them, LWJ said:
“When Gerke is your coach, and he’s on you, you get in shape real fast. I can’t explain him. You have to observe him. He’s unique. But he gets us in shape, so you can’t complain.” (HA)
About how his snap-to-punt time is now consistently under 2 seconds, Tim Grasso said:
“It’s because of Jake (Ingram). He’s one of the best long-snappers in the country.” (HA)
Praising Tebow, Rich Miano said:
“He’s the best player in the country.” (HA)
“They run sweeps with him, they run power with him. He can do it all.” (HA)
Praising Florida’s kick and punt returner Brandon James, Ikaika Malloe said:
“Brandon James is what I would call a difference maker. If he gets the ball, he can change the tempo. He’s short, but he’s fast. It’s hard not only to see him, but it’s hard to catch him. What he does best is use his blocks to his advantage. He knows how to set up blocks.” (HA)
About the full police escort they got for their 45-minute ride from the airport to their Ocala hotel, UH SID Derek Inouchi said:
“It wasn’t an escort, it was a motorcade. Six motorcycles, cars. I mean, they stopped cars like three lights ahead of us.” (HA)
Downplaying how the heat might affect the Warriors, Urban Meyer said:
“It is football, they’re used to that. They have heat. It is just a matter of execution.” (HA)
“You get a team from the North, you get a team from the Midwest, they’re not used to the heat. I saw (Hawai’i's) travel plans. I don’t think there’s (much) impact there than the fact I think the crowd will be really into it. Probably not as much as if it were a night game, so I think it will just be the execution of two teams on the field is all it is gonna be.” (HA)
UF fan Joe Colorio said:
“you have to feel it to believe it. There are no (ocean) breezes. The heat is bad, really bad. With a 12:30 p.m. game it is almost dangerous for the fans sitting there and the sun. I saw people fall out last year.” (HA)
About playing at Florida for his first game as head coach at UH, Mack said:
“When you play the best you find out where you are. But this will be a big challenge.” (HSB)
Not reflecting much on his head coaching debut at UH, Mack said:
“I’ve been thinking of the team and the things we need to get done, just trying to set the last-minute details. I haven’t even thought about that.” (HSB)
About playing in front of the huge crowd tomorrow, Alexander said:
“There’s not much else you can do (to prepare for the atmosphere). I’ve never played in front of a crowd that big, but I don’t know if it’s really going to change things that much. The game is still played between the lines and it’s still football.” (HSB)
Looking forward to wearing their new Under Armour uniforms in a game, Adam said:
“I’m excited to don that uniform and, like Coach said, he put ‘Hawaii’ on the front for a reason. We’re playing not only for our families and ourselves but the people of Hawaii.” (HSB)
Playing down talk about how the Florida game could be redemption for the Georgia game, Mack said:
“That’s last year, that’s a whole different team. Every team has its own personality, so this is a whole different team than the team that played in the Sugar Bowl. A lot of the defensive guys are the same, but a lot of the offensive guys weren’t even there.” (HSB)
About Florida’s speed, Alexander said:
“Their speed is probably the biggest thing. Everything’s going to have to happen that much faster as far as reads and getting the ball out.” (HSB)
About how he thought about their Sugar Bowl struggles all offseason, Estes said:
“I thought about it every (day), at least one time a day. For the last five, six, seven years, the O-line has been the strongest point of those teams and we just have to bring that back this year. We were good last year and the Sugar Bowl we didn’t play well at all. We have to bring that swagger back to the O-line.” (HSB)
