Florida 22, Charlotte 7
Q. Obviously the catch, just talk about it.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, man. To be honest, in practice with Coach G, we practice that actually. We practice a bunch of scenarios of catches, and we actually ended up practicing that one. I wanted to shout him out and also shout the equipment staff out for the gloves.
Q. When Shemar was here a few minutes ago, I think he said you've done that a lot in practice. Can you confirm or deny that?
RICKY PEARSALL: I'd like to say that happens a lot in practice, but that was a pretty good catch, though. When the opportunity comes, I've got to come down with it in any way possible.
Q. Not only that, you took the hit. Pretty good hit, wasn't it?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I think that just comes with being a receiver, to be honest. Sometimes you're going to be put in a situation where you've got to take a hit, but you've got to sacrifice your body. That's what happened.
Q. Overall six catches for over 104 yards. Did you guys notice a mismatch or something you could attack in terms of your ability to get open early in the game? I think you had five right off the bat.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I think -- man, I'm not going to lie, I think I'm a mismatch for any DB to be honest, but that's just the mentality that I've got to have as a receiver. I'm going to say that.
Q. I think Graham's efficiency remains pretty ridiculous. What's he been doing? He came here with the reputation of being a little erratic. We haven't seen much of that.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, that guy loves football. That's a simple answer right there. He loves football. He's always in the building. He's always studying. He's always asking questions. He's just one of those guys that really wants it that bad, and you can tell, and hard work pays off obviously what he's been doing on the field.
Q. Just the kind of ball he throws...
RICKY PEARSALL: Oh, yeah, it's a very catchable ball. He's got arm talent as well. So that's going for him, as well.
Q. Pretty tough guy. All quarterbacks tend to be, but what are you seeing there? He got killed on that one play. The other guy was hurt more than he was, that hit him?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, he's a selfless guy. He's got that dog mentality. He's going to get up after every hit. I see him take a shot, I have faith that he's going to get up and play. That's just kind of the guy that Graham is, to be honest.
Q. Some of the red zone issues, you start out, you have a great first drive and second drive you have to settle for a field goal. Was that a little frustrating or deflating given the start you got off to?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, it was frustrating, but that's football, man. At the end of the day, we've got to go out there and execute our plays, no matter what's being called, and that's our job. We've got to go out there and handle that. We're going to group together and look at all the things that we did bad and all the things that we did good, and moving forward obviously fix those mistakes.
Q. Some of the younger guys were able to get a little bit more snaps tonight, Arlis with that receiving touchdown, Andy with the deep catch and then the run on the trick play. How do you feel like they performed today?
RICKY PEARSALL: I'm proud of all the young guys, just to be able to go in there in that stadium and step up like that. We had a lot of guys down this week, so being able to have that next-man-up mentality is super important, and those guys embrace it through practice. They work their tails off, so I'm just really proud of them.
Q. Question about that catch; it just looked so reactionary at that point. Was the ball a little too high and that's how you had to react to that?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I mean, I feel like I probably could have jumped up and grabbed it with two, but I don't know what happens, but I just felt like doing it. I don't know how to describe it. In the moment I just felt like doing it, so I just did. Good thing I came down with it.
Q. Secondly, what was it that Charlotte was doing that -- everybody could say we shot ourselves in the foot, all the times we got down in the red zone, but were they doing something differently than Tennessee did last week or even the week before against McNeese? What were they doing that was disrupting things for you?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, first and foremost, I just want to say they're a really well-coached team over there. They've got some talented guys over there, as well.
I think it comes down to just executing on our own side of the ball and eliminating mistakes. I think it's just all on us at the end of the day.
Q. Not to ask you another question about your catch, but obviously you got a little bit of a break when they were reviewing for targeting, but is it hard because you still had a drive to finish there. Is it hard to continue the drive and not think about what the bleep did I just do?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, no, I just wanted to score, to be honest. I just wanted to score. Man, I just wanted him to throw it up again and do it again. But we were just trying to get in the paint.
Q. Despite getting the win, I know so much of the conversation was about things the team could have done better. Is there a little bit of a motivation here from maybe some of the plays you left out on the field, some of the things you still have to get cleaned up?
RICKY PEARSALL: For sure, for sure. I think we emphasized that throughout the week was like, okay, we beat a team like Tennessee who's really good. We're going to have a lot of excitement. I think we've just got to be able to handle that better throughout practice and always have that chip on our shoulder no matter what. We've got to be 1-0 each week, so I think we've got to do a better job of that.
Q. Would you say that this was a bad or below-average practice week?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, I think it was at times, but I still think we did a lot of good things throughout practice, but football is a game of execution. We've got to execute better.
Q. The SEC road, what challenges does that pose? You guys have seven straight SEC games now in eight weeks.
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, man. The SEC is probably the best conference in the country. It's going to be a challenge regardless.
But we've got to take it day by day, make sure we're doing our jobs on a daily basis, game plan for a team like Kentucky who's really well-coached, as well. They've got a lot of talented players over there, too, so just take it day by day.
Q. What do you remember from them last year?
RICKY PEARSALL: That they're a tough team, and obviously we didn't come out with a win, so that stuck with me the most. Going into next week we've got to have a lot of motivation to go out there and get a W this time.
Q. Physical team; what is their signature do you think?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, they're a physical team. I think last year looking back at the tape, I think we go back to shooting ourselves in the foot, I think that's really what it came down to. We've just got to make sure that we don't do that and execute.
Q. Billy mentioned that this was kind of an opportunity for you to prove yourself and just your worth as a pro receiver and just kind of in general. How much do you feel like you've been able to capitalize on the opportunity to come back to school and show what you're capable of?
RICKY PEARSALL: Yeah, man, that's a good question. There's a lot of games left, so I've just got to keep doing it, got to keep having that chip on my shoulder, and going into practice and grinding every single day and getting better at something each and every day.
I think that's my main focus right now, not necessarily what I'm doing or what's going on in the future. Just at the present moment, what can I do now that's going to benefit me moving forward.
Q. Do you reflect on the first four games, okay, this is validating the decision to go back to school at least?
RICKY PEARSALL: No, I reflect on those games in more of like a learning standpoint. I'm like okay, I could have done this and that better.
Sometimes numbers and things like that may look better than they are, but I'm my biggest critic. So when I look at the tape, I'm like, I could have done this better or maybe I could have made a move right here and this could have been a touchdown. So just keep doing that, and I feel like that works for me in improving.
Q. Is that the best catch of your career?
RICKY PEARSALL: Oh, yeah, for sure. In game at least.
Q. (No microphone.)
RICKY PEARSALL: I actually haven't checked my phone yet, but some of my teammates were good catch, good catch. I was just glad we got the win.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports