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Gators get off to fast start at South Carolina with opening drive TD

On3 imageby: Zach Abolverdi10/14/23ZachAbolverdi

COLUMBIA, S.C. — After losing their first two road games of the season, the Gators wanted to get off to a fast start against South Carolina. Multiple players mentioned it this week as a key to victory.

“Go in there, create your own juice,” UF redshirt sophomore center Jake Slaughter said. “Start fast, finish faster. Establish the run early.”

Graham Mertz and the offense delivered on the game’s opening possession Saturday. The redshirt junior quarterback led Florida on a nine-play, 66-yard touchdown drive to take an early 7-0 lead.

It marked the seventh opening drive TD under Napier, including the fourth this season and the third in the last four games. Napier is 5-1 when the Gators reach the end zone on their first series.

“We’ve got to continue to build that momentum within the start of the game and come out playing fast,” senior receiver Ricky Pearsall said this week. “I think that’s always encouraging for the guys when we go out there and we’re in a game environment and we’re just clicking on all cylinders. And I think it just gives each guy confidence throughout the game.”

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Saturday’s drive started with an 11-yard run by junior tailback Montrell Johnson Jr. and a 24-yard pass from Mertz to redshirt freshman tight end Arlis Boardingham on the next play.

Mertz completed two more passes to Johnson (9 yards) and redshirt freshman tight end Hayden Hansen (11 yards) before sophomore running back Trevor Etienne scored on a 3-yard run.

“We’ve had two road losses. I think back to those games, and the big thing was we didn’t start fast, and we didn’t execute,” Mertz said this week. “Going into this game, the point of emphasis was okay, we’re going to start fast and we’re going to finish faster. … The big thing is realizing, look, regardless of where we are, we need to start fast. I think that’s one thing Coach has been hitting on us, especially this week.

“That’s one thing we’ve definitely got to build on going into next week. It’s the ability to start fast and maintain that throughout the game regardless of the circumstances, and especially on the road you’ve got to — everybody always said you’ve got to bring your own juice. That’s one thing, we’ve got to build that during the week and then bring that to South Carolina.”

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