Q. How was it going back and just rewatching the game and kind of seeing it from that standpoint?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: It's always different. Sometimes you think it's terrible. It's not up to your standards, but it's not as bad as you may think it is.
Just simple things I messed up. Different things, people missing. So it's definitely kind of good just watching it and just getting a feel for it and trying to improve on those small details.
Q. What are some of the things that you feel like you did well on film that you want to try and build on some more going forward, some of the passes to Whittemore and Shorter?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Coach Napier talked about me using my legs on third down, so I feel like I set that up a little bit coming off of week 2. I made some big throws to Shorter. I definitely want to improve on that a little bit.
But just talking to Coach Napier, watching the film, and seeing that definitely makes you feel a little good because you're doing something right at least.
Q. Billy Napier just said the quarterback situation with Jack being out still dictates a little bit of the running opportunities for you. Are you cognizant of that? Are you chomping at the bit a little bit to get out and run a little bit more? How is that process going?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: I definitely consider it because they tell me every week I've got to be careful, can't take big hits. I can't be Superman out there. I try not to be too physical. I try to get down. I started sliding this year.
So I definitely think about it. I don't think it takes me out of my game, just helps me stay a little safer.
Q. But you are Superman or can be. Are you curtailing it? I guess what's changed since the Utah game? You were so effective that night running and passing? What's different for you the last game or two?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: I don't know. Honestly that's a great question. I don't even know. I guess I started holding myself back from running, and that's a part of the offense that helps us move the ball. So I guess I've just got to pick that up and bring that back.
Q. Have you noticed the defense adjust to that at all? Are they playing closer to you and spies and so forth?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Definitely. Especially on our play action fakes, they're not even going for the run anymore. They're just waiting for me to roll out and use my legs. So that's opened up other things for our running backs, and they can hit different holes and zones.
So the team is definitely playing like that, but we've just got to play football and find a way to get around that.
Q. You had a slide the other night. Was that the first time you ever slid in a ballgame? I saw you in high school. I don't ever remember you sliding before.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: I actually slid in the Utah game. But my first time sliding was in practice at Eastside one time. They were like, bro, what are you doing? I was like, I don't know. Just trying to do something different.
But the Utah game was my first time actually doing it.
Q. You got hit Saturday after sliding.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: A little bit. It wasn't crazy hit or anything. Dude stuck on my ankle, so that was hurting a little bit. But I think it's better for me to slide instead of getting flipped in the air.
Q. How tough is it for a quarterback to not have a passing touchdown through three games? Like does that get in your head? How do you not let that affect you?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: At first it was definitely getting to me because you're like, bro, you're a quarterback. How come you don't have any passing touchdowns? You have four interceptions. I mean, I'm throwing the ball but just not getting in the end zone.
So it was affecting me a little bit, but now I'm just like, okay, it's football. It's going to come. I've got to let it come to me. I can't try to force it. I've got to let the game be the game.
Q. Who's really good at helping you flush that stuff? Who's really good at helping you not let that get in your head and become an issue?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Just talking to different people. I have a mentor I talk to. He helps me out with that. My mom, she actually got onto me last night because I was talking about the four interceptions, and she started bringing up all these great quarterbacks and how many interceptions they've thrown and stuff. So she kind of got on me about that.
Just talking to my family and my mentor, they help me keep my head straight.
Q. What do you attribute the zero passing touchdowns to? Was it defense? Something you guys are not doing right offensively?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Like I said, it's a little bit of both. Sometimes the defense has good schemes to our plays, and sometimes I'm missing throws or the routes aren't as perfect as we want them to be. It's a little bit of everything. Just got to tighten up the things we can work on and we can fix.
Q. What do you anticipate with this crowd? It's going to be almost 110,000 people, the biggest you ever played in front of.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Whoa, that's a lot of people. I'm ready for it. I played in The Swamp. The Swamp gets pretty crazy, it gets wild. I know Tennessee fans are pretty wild themselves. I'm just looking forward to another football game.
Q. Your high school coach told me once that you're the biggest perfectionist he ever met. Does that affect you in the passing game? Are you maybe -- do you think maybe you're trying to be too perfect with your throws instead of just loosening up and letting it fly?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Yeah, definitely. Sometimes that's my biggest downfall because in practice, if I miss a throw by six inches, I'm like, bro, that's a bad throw, but it's completed. So sometimes that is my downfall. Just trying to be too perfect sometimes definitely can mess me up, but I feel like it helps me grow as a quarterback.
Q. How about the communication process with the receivers? We talked about that in the off-season. How is that ongoing? Coach Napier talked about that even yesterday, more precision in the passing game. What are you doing in terms of that?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Talking to the receivers, they're wondering like what they can do to help me get them the ball, get them some touchdowns. So just communicating with those guys and trying to understand what they're seeing and trying to let them know what I see is going to help us.
We're going to start doing something new this week, watching film together and just trying to understand what can help us in different coverages and stuff like that. So we're going to try a new philosophy this week and see how it goes.
Q. A couple plays before your first interception, you came up hobbling after the first down run, and then you got like gang tackled I think like the play before you threw the pick. How much is you taking shots during the game affecting you throwing the ball in the pocket at all?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: It's not really affecting me unless it's like something terrible. Like Kentucky game, I threw the first pass to Shorter, and the dude hit me in the knee, the same knee I had surgery on. So it affected me for like a few plays, but getting hit, it doesn't really affect me too much until after the game or the next morning.
I was definitely sore the next morning, but during the game, I'm not really worried about it.
Q. Does that affect you more mentally or physically when that dude made the Kentucky hit?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: I would say a little bit of both. It was like, dang, he just hit me in the knee. I didn't even have the ball. Just thinking about that.
But it was sore a little bit for the next few plays, but after a while, it just went away.
Q. I know you guys work on throwing, different arm angles and that drill where guys are running between you. How happy are you with your mechanics? Sometimes the throw requires you to be moving. Are you happy with your footwork? Is it something that needs a lot of attention now? How do you grade yourself on that?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: That's another great question. I'm satisfied with my mechanics, my technique and stuff, but sometimes in the game I get too happy with my feet. I'm hopping around and moving too quick or moving too slow, and that might affect power or accuracy and stuff.
Sometimes I'm not satisfied with it, but overall mechanics and technique, I'm pretty good with it.
Q. How explosive can this offense be and will it need to be this week? Tennessee seems to be able to score a ton of points.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Our offense, we can definitely be explosive. Just watching the film, you can just see it. We're one person away from having a good play, whether that's me or a missed block or a crisp route. I feel like, if we have all 11 executing, we can be very explosive.
Q. If it's a track meet, do you feel like this offense can hang?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Definitely. We're going to try to keep the offense off the field because they like to move fast, and we're going to try to give our defense some rest.
Q. Going back to watching film with the receivers, the new twist here, are you watching the last game, or you're going to watch Tennessee tape together?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Just a little bit of everything. Just looking at things we need to correct for the last game and looking at things to implement into this game and this game plan.
Q. So you've already done it a little bit?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Yes.
Q. How did it go?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Pretty good. I feel like we have a good understanding. Talking to Ricky and Xzavier and Shorter, feel like we have a good understanding. We'll see how it goes.
Q. Did you have any chance to spend time around Hendon Hooker when you were at the passing academy in July?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Definitely. When he first got there, we sat down and talked about football, talked about each other, just getting to know each other. He's a great guy.
Q. What makes him so effective, in your opinion, in Tennessee's offense?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: He's a playmaker. He can make plays. He trusts his receivers, and they play fast. It's kind of hard to stop an offense that plays pretty fast because you can't really adjust to it. That's just him. He's a playmaker. He's a great ballplayer.
Q. Who do you talk to outside the building when things are -- when you just want another voice, when you're struggling a little or under pressure, internal pressure?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: I definitely talk to Coach Ced a lot, my high school coach. He just tells me I've got to be myself and stop worrying about too much.
I talked to him the other day, and before I could even tell him anything, he said he already knew what was wrong with me last game and he hit it right on the head. I thought, wow, that's crazy how he can see it like that. So just having somebody who knows me and understands me, it definitely helps a lot.
Q. Was that your mentor, when you mentioned your mentor earlier? Is that your mentor?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: No.
Q. Who's your mentor?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Coach Venell (phonetic).
Q. What did your high school coach pinpoint?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: He thought I was thinking about too much. He felt I wasn't being myself, I wasn't being Anthony, and he said he could see that when I walked out there for warmups. I didn't feel like that until halftime, second quarter, and he already seen it before I did. I thought, dang, that's pretty crazy.
Q. Is the focus now just getting back to football, focusing on football and blocking out all the outside stuff?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Definitely. That's how I was playing football in Miami that's how I was playing Little League here in Gainesville. High school, middle school, it's always been football. It's always been about football. I didn't worry about any other stuff growing up, so why do it now and make things go downhill? Just get back to myself and play ball.
Q. Talking about your background, did you know Dabien White at all? He was a freshman, who just passed away, Eastside kid.
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Yeah, I did. It's crazy because one of my close friends told me about it, and I'm like that can't be true. Growing up, when I was in middle school, we used to actually hang out in one neighborhood and play football and play on the playground and stuff.
So hearing about that definitely makes you feel overwhelmed because you never know when it's your last day.
Q. Did you reach out to his family at all or anything?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: I didn't. That's one thing I didn't do. It's kind of hard because I didn't really talk to that family as much. I don't want to just, after he passes, to hop on in and make it seem like showing fake love or anything.
Q. Did they start playing Rocky Top at practice yet?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Not yet. We're going to see what they do tomorrow.
Q. Do you think you'll be tired of it by the time you get up there?
ANTHONY RICHARDSON: Probably.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports