Everything Billy Gonzales said on the SEC teleconference for Ole Miss week

Each week the SEC holds a teleconference for all 16 head coaches in the league. UF interim Billy Gonzales took his turn Wednesday to discuss Florida quarterback DJ Lagway, the Ole Miss game, Rebels coach Lane Kiffin and more.

Here’s everything Gonzales said on the SEC Teleconference.

Billy Gonzales Q&A

Opening statement: 

BILLY GONZALES: “First and foremost, we’ve been hard at work, obviously trying to correct things we need to fix and get started on a tough Ole Miss. They’re extremely talented on both sides, offensively and defensively. Explosive on the offensive side, they’ve got a great quarterback. Defensively, they’re big up front and they run extremely well. So, gonna be a big challenge. But our guys, like I said, we’ve had a good couple days, we’re going to continue to get on the field here in a couple hours and get ready to go.”

On Lane Kiffin’s offense:

BILLY GONZALES: “Well, like you just said, they’re explosive. They’ve done a great job of spreading the ball. They’ve got three receivers that are pretty close in stats as far as getting the ball distributed to them and a tight end that’s right around the same number. They’ve got a running back that’s a 1,000-yard rusher. And like I said, they’re extremely balanced offensively and defensively. But talking about the offensive side, they’re extremely balanced in the run game and the pass game. So, he does a really good job of scheming, and again like I said, he’s got a talented group of players. His quarterbacks over the last couple years have always been really fantastic, and it doesn’t change this year. They’ve got a really great one this year who is extremely dangerous in the open field when he runs, as well.”

On UF’s response to its loss to Kentucky:

BILLY GONZALES: “I think part of it is taking ownership and accepting, and you know, when you don’t play as well as you should, you’ve got to be able to take constructive criticism, you’ve got to be able to take coaching, you’ve got to be able to understand that the coaching staff is here to provide you with everything that we can possibly give you. But they’ve responded in a really good way. Yesterday we came out, first period against each other, they came out smoking. Defense did a heckuva job, offense finished up with a nice touchdown, and then we finished up to the end of practice yesterday working against each other as well. A lot of emotion, attitude was good, and it’s good to see them pushing. I think the biggest thing is push each other to get better.”

On the uncharacteristic performance by Florida’s defense:

BILLY GONZALES: “Well, I think when you get behind — I said this the other day — when you get behind, you start looking. You start looking. If you’re a great player, you always want to be able to make a play, and you start pressing a little bit. Sometimes you think it’s going to be me that’s gonna make the play. Instead of doing exactly what I’m supposed to do, I might move over an inch, I might not hold the gao that I’m supposed to. All out of good intention, all out of goodwill, but you just gotta be able to trust your teammates to do your job. Because what happens is if you don’t do your job, if you move a gap or if you try to overcompensate, then all of a sudden you’ve got a little bit bigger issue on our hands. I think that’s the biggest thing. The players understand, we all gotta trust each other, we gotta do our job if we’re in the right situation. And then, again, we’ve got to continue as a  coaching staff defensively, as well, and offensively, to continue to do what our players do good, and be able to put them in this position. So again, we’ve corrected them, we’re going to correct them, coach them hard, and our players have responded really well this week.”

On if Aidan Warner or Harrison Bailey could get more snaps with Tramell Jones Jr.’s redshirt status:

BILLY GONZALES: “I think you always take … knowing that in the back of your pocket, we’ll cross that road when we get to (it). We’ve got three games left. I know Tramell’s got two games to play. But we’ll cross that road when we get to it. If we cross that road when we get to it, coming into that last game of the year, if we need to. Right now, everything’s as is. We’ve got to continue to get better, continue to compete, competition’s always there. And again, everything we do is for a learning process and the teaching process to make sure our players can learn from the mistakes, have a short memory, go back on the football field and get ready to play.”

On how DJ Lagway has responded this week:

BILLY GONZALES: “He’s been fantastic. He was awesome. He’s done a great job. We went out there yesterday. The first two days, really, really good. Went out there, had a great (day). I’ll talk about yesterday’s practice, but he had a really good practice. You know, he understands. I’ve had a chance to talk to him a couple times and we just talked about what does he like and some of the things that we can do to help him. And again, you know, it’s a learning process. I talked to him and for me, it was all about refocus. Just refocus. I used the baseball analogy the other day in the press conference, and I really believe that as well, too. But any great player has to have short-term memory. To be a great football player, it’s no different. If you’ve got the ball in your hands on every play — and again, I’ll go back to the pitching aspect — if you’ve got the ball in your hands on every play, you’ve gotta have short-term memory. There’s going to be some plays that you make that are outstanding. There’s going to be some plays that don’t necessarily go your way. You gotta have a short-term memory and forget the last one. It’s all about the next one. No matter what, even if it’s good, if it’s a great play, if it’s a bad play. You’ve gotta have a short term memory. Forget about the last one. Move on to the next play, because the next play is going to help you and your team be successful.”

On previous QBs he’s been around who have struggled:

BILLY GONZALES: “Absolutely. Every single one of them, when you look at their career, they’ve all had that stage when they were in college, probably in the NFL as well, too. But every great athlete I’ve ever been around wants to compete at a high level, and they want to make the play. 
So, you know, DJ’s the same way. He wants to make the play, and the kind of what we talked about the other day is just make sure, ‘Listen, the weight of the world’s off you, man, I want you to relax. I want you to just go play. I know you want to. I know you want to make the play and you just got to home in, make great decisions.’ And he’s a great decision — he’s made great decisions before. But when you, again, when you start to try to press and try to do everything and put it all on you, that’s when the mistakes come. That’s one that errors will come. 
So just trust the confidence in your players, put them in a position to be successful as well, too. But I love the competitive spirit that he has, that he wants to make the play. But again, we just got to refocus, hone in, do what we do, forget the last play and continue to move forward, like I said.”

On the conversation with DJ after benching him:

BILLY GONZALES: “He understood that it was a performance-driven game, and again, that, you know, it all starts with him. And that’s where I said the other day, I said, ‘Listen, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, it does not. And it does not all begin with you, and I want you to take the pressure off you. 
I don’t want that at all. I want you to be able to relax and go play. Be a great player. 
You do what you do, and you’re a great player because you do make great plays and you can extend plays. I want you to continue that, but the pressure is on the coaching staff.’ And it’s I want him to always remember that. 
That’s how it should always be. Should never be on the player. ‘We’re going to put you in the position to go make those plays. And you know what? 
We’ve time tested, you’ve got those reps over and over and practiced. Your skin’s leathered because you’ve had the confidence of going through that in practice to overcome any issues.’ And again, it’s all about learning. It’s all about refocusing and he understood. 
And again, we’ve moved on. We’re getting ready to go, refocusing and get ready for this Ole Miss team that we’re preparing for and playing this weekend.”