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Dan Mullen’s Monday press conference after his Florida Gators fought Alabama to the end in a 31-29 loss over the weekend was about as happy as any one he’s had after a defeat.
No, he wasn’t chomping a cigar and telling assembled media members about how he had to fend off mighty Tennessee-Chattanooga to secure the labor of Nick Fitzgerald, but Mullen came to the podium in a decent mood — “I’m muted? Good, I can say anything I want,” he quips at the top of the video — and spent his 40 minutes in a Zoom call with Florida’s beat reporters in relatively good spirits.
Among the contents of the chat:
- Florida’s players deserving praise for their efforts against Alabama, tempered against the idea that there are — contra, uh, logic — no moral victories and that there’s still much work to be done.
- Praise for the energy in The Swamp on Saturday, and pleas to have fans bring that sort of intensity every week, which amusingly includes Mullen promising a literal song-and-dance routine in front of the fans if it’ll help.
- Injury updates on Anthony Richardson, whose hamstring sounds as if it might be healed enough for him to be full-go against Tennessee, and Kaiir Elam, who appeared somewhat banged up while playing an excellent game against Alabama. (Spoiler alert: Elam spoke to media later on Monday, and was not in a full-body cast or anything.)
- A defense of offensive line coach John Hevesy’s somewhat abrasive style, which he compared to aging wine.
I’m going to try to get these up weekly, and also add Florida’s (off-YouTube) videos of its players talking to the media, but: Would you want to see these both here and have a post with them all embedded or linked such that you can go back and view previous ones?