Gator Freshmen making huge Impact on Team

During his weekly press conference on Monday, Florida coach Urban Meyer was stopped in his tracks when told that 41 percent of the Gators who traveled to Tennessee were either true or redshirt freshmen. “That’s a lot of good young players there,’’ Meyer said. Later, Meyer pointed out the play Riggs made on a punt by Chas Henry after the Gators’ first drive of the game stalled. Henry booted an ideal kick, and Riggs, a cornerback who also plays on special teams, raced down the field, positioned himself in front of the goal line, and made the play on Henry’s kick. The sequence didn’t lead directly to any points for the Gators, but Meyer said a message was sent. “Our field position in that game was why we won the game,’’ Meyer said. “That whole thing about 41 percent of our team being freshmen, most of them don’t really understand that. “It takes a while to beat that into them. ‘So you really want to go find a way to win at Neyland Stadium?’ Here is what you have to do. That started them down in there. When you keep them pinned down in there, it’s demoralizing and it gives you great field position. We’ve seen a lot of guys step up right now.’’