Q. What is this team's confidence compared with a couple weeks ago?
JORDAN CASTELL: I say really the bye week, that's when it started. I know for the defense, like, we came out that next game, UCF, playing with so much more confidence. Just having that juice, energy, playing fast, flying to the ball, playing together for real. That's a big one, just playing together, trusting each other.
Yeah, that's the main thing.
Q. The Texas game, there were a lot of factors, that was a gut punch.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. Then you have rebounded to beat two ranked teams. You're the first Gator team to beat ranked teams consecutive weeks since the national championship.
JORDAN CASTELL: The Texas game, I'd say they got the best of us. As soon as they came out there, we got the stop on defense, it just went left after that.
Q. The point I'm making is you had to be a little down after that.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. Now where are you now mentally?
JORDAN CASTELL: Now? Much more confidence, playing much faster, stuff like that.
I'd say we believe in each other. Guys just doing their jobs. That's all we really need, just trusting that guy beside you.
Q. How has the secondary managed to hold up with all the injuries?
JORDAN CASTELL: I say it's just opportunity. Guys know they have to step up. That's something I had to do last year. My spot was open. I had to step up, take that part.
Doing that last year and just having young guys that look up to me, I just did that last year, making it easier for them, breaking it down. It just makes it so much easier.
Q. What about the communication back there, surprised how quickly it's adjusted?
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah, I was a little bit surprised. Me and Bryce Thornton, we came in at the same time. We been having that communication, like everything has been fast.
Just having him beside me makes everything so much easier.
Q. It's not just you and Bryce, it's Dijon, Aaron, Sharif, even Cormani was part of your class.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. You were all the same year.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. What is the chemistry like between those guys because of that?
JORDAN CASTELL: The chemistry is really good. I have said to Bryce Thornton, safeties, we got to talk every play. Talking to my side, just knowing he has his side, right? Just having that trust.
Like you have Dijon, Cormani, AG, Sharif, guys who stepped up. We're all still young, so... We playing.
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN CASTELL: I say at first he ain't really like -- didn't want to play safety. Coach Harris kind of put it on him, it's tape. Now you have tape at corner, have you tape at safety. That's a guy who really stepped up and played a big role this year.
Q. Do they set you up to take reps on corner?
JORDAN CASTELL: If they need me, I'll do it.
Q. Like riding a bike?
JORDAN CASTELL: Like riding a bike (smiling).
Q. How hard is it to make the safety from to corner? Trikweze, how he does that?
JORDAN CASTELL: Trikweze is a guy who works really hard in practice. Just seeing how he was taking practice after moving, changing positions that fast, in the middle of the season, it wasn't going to be easy. He took that challenge. He been doing a really good job.
Q. How gratifying is it watch a guy in the final year of college football like him, make some money for himself?
JORDAN CASTELL: Really old guy. I like to joke with him (smiling). But Trikweze really put some good tape this year on film. Not just better the team, but he better himself for the next level.
Q. What about the other side of Dijon, a younger guy there, what has stood out about what he's done?
JORDAN CASTELL: I say me, Dijon, he's in my grade. Like, we came in around the same time. I came in through spring. He didn't enroll early. It was kind of like more of a challenge to pick up the playbook that fast.
Just seeing, like, how much better he got, just taking on new plays and things like that. He just catches on so much quicker now.
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN CASTELL: I say I was just trying to get us going. I got scared. I thought I was going to get kicked out the game (smiling). It was like the second play. I'm like, Yeah, I need to slow down.
Q. What did you see on that play?
JORDAN CASTELL: At first I was just banging the buzz, trying to get him out the seam. As I was hinging looking at the quarterback, reading the quarterback, as soon as he seen him throw it, I wanted him.
Q. The fourth down stop, you were in on that first one.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. What did you see on that play?
JORDAN CASTELL: I say I believe it was Myles Graham and Sharif that kind of slowed it down. I had to do my job, help them boys. That was a big boy (smiling). That was a big boy, so... That whole game, like, we knew they like to do that short down. It was really just getting them down, though.
Q. What was it like trying to go against a 395-pound tackle?
JORDAN CASTELL: You going to feel it. You going to feel it (smiling).
Q. How did you feel when you made that stop?
JORDAN CASTELL: I had so much juice. I feel it after the game. I feel it now. During the game, I wasn't feeling nothing.
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah, yeah, no, no.
Q. Growing up in Orlando, what did that rivalry mean to you?
JORDAN CASTELL: That game means a lot. I had family that's Florida State fans. My grandma, she graduated from Florida State. They beat us last year. The whole year I had to hear about it.
Q. How is that tone going to be in practice this week? You're favored. How can that carry you?
JORDAN CASTELL: I say, like, it's a rivalry game, of course. You can't look at that record. Put all that stuff aside.
We just taking it like a regular game. We got to go out there, take this week serious, just come out here, practice, take it serious, fly around to the ball.
Q. Grandma was giving you a hard time?
JORDAN CASTELL: Grandma was giving me a hard time.
Q. What is her name?
JORDAN CASTELL: Dessie Castell.
Q. How do you spell it?
JORDAN CASTELL: D-e-s-s-i-e.
Q. What does she say?
JORDAN CASTELL: You can't beat us, all that. I'm ready to talk of after this game (smiling).
Q. Pretty harsh?
JORDAN CASTELL: She likes to flip it. The first half she said she's going to wear her Florida jersey, my jersey. She said the last half she going to take it off, a Florida State girl.
I told her, Once you take it off, just leave it off.
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN CASTELL: Me and her, we going to make a bet. We going to make a bet. Burn all that stuff after the season, leave it, throw it away.
Q. Florida State was one of the first teams to offer you.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah. I got that offer my freshman year. I try to keep up with them a little bit 'cause they gave me my first offer. Like, later on, I knew I wanted to be here, so... I kind of realized I had to let them go.
Q. Was your family a little bit bummed about that at the time?
JORDAN CASTELL: A little bit. I wasn't worried about that. I knew I was coming here, so yeah.
Q. You had a lot of responsibility thrown on you quickly last year. DJ, even more really on quarterback.
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. What have you seen from him and his ability to just kind of handle everything?
JORDAN CASTELL: DJ is here, like, all the time. You come here at 6:00, DJ in there. You see him. That's somebody you see he grows and he gets better every day. All the attention and stuff like that, he just doesn't let it get to him.
Even like said, Good game, did you your thing. Nah, I didn't do nothing, all that. C'mon, let's finish out the season now.
He's somebody has his foot on the gas, so...
Q. (No microphone.)
JORDAN CASTELL: Asa, still his hamstring. He still in all the meetings, coaching up. We have a lot of young guys playing. Just going up to him on the sideline, asking him questions, What you see? He kind of makes my job much more easier.
Q. What do you think is next for him?
JORDAN CASTELL: I don't even know. I can't even tell you.
Q. DJ was saying when they chanted his name, you were hearing that?
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah.
Q. He just doesn't even...
JORDAN CASTELL: Doesn't faze him.
Q. He doesn't care about that.
JORDAN CASTELL: Huh-uh.
Q. It's real?
JORDAN CASTELL: It's real. That's a guy who, like, has real tunnel vision. He's on a mission. I have to lot of respect for him.
Q. Does he want you to not chant that?
JORDAN CASTELL: No, I don't think he has a problem with it. Like, DJ be so locked in, I don't think he even be hearing all that. DJ is somebody who has, like, tunnel vision. We say it every day, We on a mission, we trying to get somewhere. That's really the main thing.
Q. Where are you trying to get?
JORDAN CASTELL: We trying to get to the next level. The league, of course. That's really the main thing. Hey, even like them days where it's bumpy, you don't want to be out here. Hey now, c'mon, you slacking. We on a mission. That's just something we tell each other a lot.
Q. As a recruit, how much did you guys watch this game?
JORDAN CASTELL: Yeah, where I'm from, I'm from Orlando, Florida. This game, you hearing about this game everywhere. It's on all the channels and all that.
Like just growing up watching this game, now I'm playing in it, it's going to be my first time playing out there in Tallahassee, I'm very excited.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports