This Is… The Swamp | Family First

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In this episode, The Gators hit the practice field as spring practice is upon us. Quarterback Graham Mertz goes on ESPN Radio to talk with Steve Russell about the chemistry he sees with the 2024 team.

Next, we hop on a plane and head to Los Angeles, as the GatorMade staff takes players on their annual Business Break. The players get an opportunity to visit Showroom LA, NFL Network, Google, Activision, the Los Angeles Lakers & Paramount studios over the course of a week where they gain invaluable knowledge and make connections that will benefit them long after they hang up the pads.

As new Defensive Line Coach Gerald Chatman says, “what happens in the living room stays in the living room.” Defensive Lineman Kelby Collins and Coach Chatman give us a glimpse at what goes into daily prep for the Gators defensive front, and how they have formed a bond with their new leader.

They don’t call it DBU for nothing. New Defensive Backs Coach Will Harris brings an infectious energy and holds his players to a high standard every day they step on the practice field. Hear from Defensive Back’s Bryce Thornton & Sharif Denson on how their group works to make each other better every day.

As spring practice comes to a close and the next phase of the offseason approaches, Coach Billy Napier shares a message with the team as they prepare to take the next step towards preparing for the 2024 Season.

0:00 Team Chemistry
2:37 GatorMade in Los Angeles
9:48 Defensive Line Coach Gerald Chatman
15:09 Defensive Backs Coach Will Harris
19:17 Coach Billy Napier Team Message

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Music Licensed By: APM Music https://www.apmmusic.com/

welcome to sports scene with Steve Russell let’s talk some sports have some lunch on ESPN 981 FM and 8:50 a.m. wuf hello and welcome into a Tuesday edition of sports scene ESPN 981 FM 850 a.m. woff find Steve Russell time to eat some lunch and talk some sports got a good lineup of guests today we’re going to bring in live with us now gator quarterback Graham merch to join us here on Sports scene Graham welcome to the show thanks for doing this hey how you doing yeah thanks for having me on looking forward to it doing great um let me ask this first of all much is made about team chemistry Graham and you know some some groups have it some groups don’t thus far with this group what do you see in terms of Team chemistry I see great team chemistry I think I think we got the right guys in this locker room I mean they care about they care about this team they care about each other when you think about team chemistry and I mean I’ve been on a lot of a lot of good teams with great team chemistry but it’s where you really see it is either in your hardest workout or a really hot practice and you see the guys that can sustain that that energy the entire time the reason they do that is because they’re not doing it for themselves they’re doing it for each other because they know that there’s there’s a bigger purpose and and I can speak on just this offseason I’ve seen that and that’s fired me up we got we got work to do we got work to do win your match up win your match up and just the whole level of accountability where yeah guys are leading themselves but they’re also they’re reaching out and they’re leading other people I I think that is that is where you find that that team cter [Music] [Music] I know what we need to do from a players end here to get where we want to go and and I know that we left a lot on the table uh for us we just want to finish the job [Music] this isn’t an opportunity that comes without its cost like this is something where they’ve given up their spring break to specifically invest in themselves and to know that we’ve had multip multiple guys want to choose to do that because of the program that we’ve created is really fulfilling for us as a team not only do they have to apply and be selected to come on these trips they have to dedicate beforehand investing in themselves and honing some of those skills before we go out and intermingle with a lot of these corporate entities so part of that is perfecting elevator pitches making sure your LinkedIn profile is up toate and right um making sure you understand the difference between networking and connecting and how to be a good Mentor and mentee understanding those relationships how to work a room how to navigate [Music] conversation so to kick off our La business trip we were lucky enough to go to the LA showroom a very exclusive clothing store yeah so these are both the Travis Scots this one’s the cooler one my favorite on this track M was able to basically show us how he started his business starting from the ground up showing the players and our athletes how to create a business how to start from nothing and end up with something when we were strategically picking Partnerships one thing that we were able to do is capitalize on the interest and excitement around the fashion industry that our guys have if you’ve ever seen a gator walk you know exactly what I’m talking about um our guys are dripped out and I think for them to have the experience of how does that happen from a supply chain sense how does that happen from keeping up with industry Trends and moderations I learned a lot he said that when you started out you had to be patient and I think that’s a problem that a lot of us deal with today is impatience because I deal with that too best lesson I learned was you going to take some ALS you just got to bounce back we just got out of the NFL Network facility we got to have a tour of the whole place get to see some of the studios and even got to be on air for a couple of seconds while they were doing free agency frzy my favorite part they gave us the opportunity to sit down and actually be mock news anchors and do a little bit with the teleprompter and it was really fun getting to sit down with a couple of the teammates good afternoon University of Florida and Welcome to our inaugural show and ins starts of it’s hard to see this so we also got to listen to a panel of people who work for NFL Network it was really cool hearing for them especially when they get to work across the whole company and how those different parts of the company interact and work together [Music] at NFL Studios they were able to connect with who is it that creates Their audience of the future people that will want to watch them play on Sundays and how does that happen um through a lot of different Departments of the [Music] organization the next stop was the Lakers we just got back from there that was also an insane experience we got to go to to the cour all the way to the locker I mean I saw the bronze Locker never thought I would ever see that so for us to learn from marketing from Community engagement from um in-game engagement from the president’s office from operations kind of a bit of everyone uh at the Lakers for them to be able to put themselves and say my skill set is valued here and this is why as an athletic organization one of the most recognized in the entire world they’re just as competitive as the competitors on the field and so to see them kind of function in those spaces and transfer those skills over as important for us day three centered around Tech in the tech industry so starting off at Google something that all of our guys use um but very few of us understand to its full complexity part of that was looking through different corporate Partnerships namely those in sports and entertainment we’re fortunate enough to hear actually from former athletes as well and how their experiences have helped craft their experience now in Tech as a profession it’s uh it’s incredible I mean after spending time as an athlete myself um having the opportunity to take a step back and kind of share your learnings that you’ve gone through throughout the course of your career and to give that back to other athletes that have had similar scenarios is incredible just seeing how everything operated behind the scenes uh the media side of everything this story really connected with me just cuz I see myself in him you know a similar background and probably want to get to where he’s at I think a lot of it starts with your your core and your hard work and your work ethic um you everyone knows as an athlete the amount of time and commitment you have to put into your craft uh you have to take that same approach and professionally and business and just being a sponge to kind of learn and absorb whether it’s from your teammates that you’re playing with or also now now business Professionals in the professional sense I felt like there’s a lot to learn uh this is the place that I wanted to go for this trip after talking with the panel I say the one thing I took away is to always reach out and look for connections connections were a main reason why a lot of the people got to the position they were in today Activision Blizzard was a cool experience for everyone um these are games that we engage in and play comp itively against each other all the time but then to see what all goes into it so the fact that they have this internal kind of advice or just insight on what parts of gaming are available to them uh is kind of amazing it was important for us to also hear from their different hiring capacities so what is it that they look for in someone who wants to get into the world of gaming we heard from many different people from our marketing leads and our PR leads um I spoke from a de Andi perspective and as a former student athlete about the importance of how you can focus in on your talents and skill sets and really practice now and becoming what you want to as a professional so we’re at Paramount Studios today we just got done they were giving us a tour around all the cool areas that they shoot and the different areas that they make the movies and TV shows that we love to watch it was great Ari was a real cool dude from the second he sat down shook my hand introduced himself just a cool to hear from someone else who came from the same place that we did that I’m I’m going to right now so it was cool to ask him a few questions and learn to help me figure out kind of what I want to do and what it would look like to pursue a future in a place like Paramount Picture Studio oh I mean the G program man it it’s one of a kind I mean the older I get the more I see it this is my second Gatorade trip I went to New York last year for spring break and I keep I keep all the notes all the internship so it’s going to help me take leaps into the professional World whenever my football career is over so for our staff to have any hand and that development and that growth is incredibly special and something we consider the ultimate privilege to get to do is to shape the lives of young people we want to work hands and feet man hands and feet working at the same time hands and feet working at the same time and when we swipe for one we want to keep our hands up we want to keep our hands up and we want to have some upper body violence when we do this get those keep those hands up keep those hands up keep them open all right we even got this this little view right here I’mma coach you to to I’mma coach everything cleats how you tape all that you know coming in during this time time it’s really a matter of getting organized um identifying issues and in ter you know in terms of the players is just you know really identifying what they need I think that’s what I’ve done oh oh see how you dropping your hands every time yes sir camera don’t lie look we even see the bird flying by it’s details man high right there huh now this ain’t for y YouTube this a for your Instagram and all that this this this is real man we I want you to I want I want to tell I want to be so detailed that we come and we watch this in high definition right here that what we doing right there y ain’t never seen nothing like that before huh uh coming into the job is is identifying okay what do we need what do we need to to get better um you know is there a new standard within the room that um that we need to set um and kind of hit the reset button and then it’s just start to build start to go you know and that’s showing up on tape now you got to play with a good base P should be shorter with the part right inside stagger okay I I can sit here and say tow to heill right some guys going to be a little bit more tow to heill okay but you know he he coaches us hard he Demands a lot out of us but at the end of the day I think in Spring it showed that the work that he’s put in and work that we put in is is working so I think um the things that he’s doing and how he coaches us just how he you know takes control in the meetings and stuff like that it shows I I don’t I got to stop these pants I ain’t no none none of y’all told me that my pants were like that he he makes a game enjoyable or he makes watching film enjoyable being in the me rooms all day enjoyable just by doing little things like that but I just didn’t know that I was on a highrise like that none of y’all told me either so just so how much y’all care about me good well stays in the living room stays in the living room even though we got cameras in here right now this the living room you see the lamp make sure they get our lamp on the on on your make sure they got Mar brought that in here we going to get us refriger we got a candle over there ain’t lit right now but we got this really the living room here yeah we we uh we call it the living room um that’s exactly what it is uh the meeting room is the living room so whatever we say living room stay in the living room you come from practice and you know you you got did bad on one play or you messed up we going to let you know that you messed up but at the same time we going to push you to do better and I think having that safe space has allowed us to uh grow as a unit okay this is starting to show up like in one-on-one pass rush versus the quick set okay it’s starting to show up we just got to be better on our transition we got to be better on our counters you know you put something uh that’s that’s not meet an expectation on tape somebody’s going to say something and it’s not just me as a coach here at Florida like I mean it’s when we hit the grab we have to practice that way if we want to be intense if we want to be violent we want to play fast we want to play nasty like we need to practice that way it’s not just going to happen I don’t I don’t like to give speeches uh once we hit the practice field it’s time to work and and that’s what we’re doing we’re working uhhuh called D line you make the choice everybody’s got a choice good run your feet run your feet run your feet I like that I like that I like that I like that good transition transition yeah yeah quick quick quick quick quick quick quick and he Demands a lot from you he’s going to coach the way that he can get the best out of you now let’s go s Ury man already ready we ready man get lined up come out of your hips let’s go I wanted to form a united front um and I think that that did improve and I think that it’s still improving and I needed to start to see a sense of family amongst the group you know through throughout the spring I think guys started to take ownership and it has to continue through throughout the summer ultimately um those are going to be the things that help us win keep work keep working good good go man good work defensive staff you talk about how the personalities have have have meshed together and the chemistry that’s there and getting everybody on the same page yeah I think two really first of all uh the you know will with the defensive backs and Gerald with the front I think you’ve got two personalities um that rub off on the group there’s some urgency there I do think they’re both phenomenal teachers um and I think they’ve got high expectations for their players good there you go Jo there you go J I want you guys to keep practicing when they look we do what we look everybody good on that part here we go let’s work work on three work on me one two three work what was it like Planet USC in the tradition Ronnie lot yeah it’s not like lot more it’s not like here you don’t think I think we got a lot of guys Den ain’t like here yes sir play it play it play it good job play it play it good job Bryce hey 18 that’s a hell of a rep boy yes sir this preparation hairs them building us and watching film and make sure if you don’t do it right he going to point you out and it goes for anybody just make sure everybody on on point no matter if you’re young or old he going to make sure you on point and make sure that you always got the right right technique good hey Teddy still hopping right make sure your feet is calm okay I saw he pulled I saw good good now he’s very energetic and I feel like with still kids in college I feel like you need that especially like he he can relate to us he’s going to be in the drills like he he can do it so it really I feel like everybody can just buy in even more just saying oh if my Coach can do it I I got to do it too so he he had a pick so he good look he good he Saied he satisfied he all freshman all I mean like I said our group is pretty solid now and these guys buy in and when we do going to be some special stuff that’s happening but like I said at the end of the day it’s really of All of Us coming together you know we can sit here and talk individually about each and every player but once all those guys come together in that room that’s when the special stuff happen as a DB unit you say the explosives you say like the turnovers that’s a that’s a whole unit together and so just understanding that part of it it’s not just one of them it’s all of them I don’t care if you’re a freshman to see if you like see something wrong or somebody not doing right we all can talk to each other and we have that type of [Music] bond just breaks everything down to the te like he’s going to go all the way down to the small details so like there’s nothing left for interpretation like well was it supposed to be this or supposed to be that like no he’s going to tell you like a clear guideline a clear standard of like what everything everything that you do in the room like how it’s supposed to operate off and inside stay Square fly fly fly come y Run f f f yes sir get to the ball get to the ball it’s either ours or nobody’s I’m sure some of the guys already said that like that ball is either ours or nobody’s and so that’s the mindset we got have we I feel like we played more like a unit like we’re playing all together a lot of confidence flying to the ball trying to make plays that’s kind of what we kind of wanted to focus on this spring know playing like I it like I feel like we done did a great job people buying in we just if you want to go to where we want like everybody just lock in even more I think you just got to push them I mean at the end of the day we always say it’s a standard in our room Point Blank period And so that goes for anybody that goes for myself as well let’s be real this is the University of Florida I grew up watching this place I watched them win championships and we’re going to get back to that and we got to keep that [Applause] standard 2 3 4 I’m going to tell you what we’ve got a hungry group you know we got a group that’s got something to prove um when you really take a good look at things this is the most experienced group that we’ve had you know I think as a coach as an organization want to try to build a veteran team um and I would say that we have that numers hide your numbers hide your numbers give them room hide your numbers you’re in the hole I think the leadership on this team is the best it’s been overall what I would say is I’m impressed uh with the leadership and accountability US during this offseason during this win the offseason we had a whole lot of things change and we had to we had to go through that together and I think by us going through that together us working hard putting in that working together every day that camaraderie like it just led to us wanting to do more for each other and understanding that you actually had to work hard for that plate and we and we appreciate that you put all your hard work and effort into that plate I think it’s been a great response I think there’s been a culture shift it’s been different this year starting in January guys were just locked in and locked in together not just individually and I think that’s really important for a team to grow into the spring practice it was something that we’re stressing each and every day for guys to keep working and keep uh keep keeping on if you’re uh having a bad day forget about it next play mentality is something that I try to strive for myself and uh lead into others I think everybody’s got closer everybody has that one goal in mind now everybody wants to push each other to the to our limits good job good job sack right here we got to understand that we got to take this Brotherhood and bring it out on the field and we got to fight for each other each play because everything is not going to be pretty and every play is not going to be perfect I wouldn’t trade my brothers for nothing in the world and I wouldn’t go through anything I wouldn’t choose to go through anything with anybody else but them so here they come here they come ball out you catch it touch yes sir all right here we go that’s it huh yeah conditioning here we [Music] go all right listen to me okay no matter what sports you play Man a developmental Sport and hard work pays off intentional work pays off well planned out right with detail with discipline have a plan work your [Music] plan out the gate out the gate out the gate you can’t earn anything you haven’t worked for you got to be able to go in day in and day out and put this work can consistently and do it the right way now look attitudes of choice okay things happen to you maybe maybe it doesn’t quite go your way right you say why me right why me then maybe you get put in situations where you got opportunity maybe there’s a little bit of doubt and you say why not me and now that’s just a simple shift in Attitude it’s a choice that you make I care about these guys in this locker room so much and I care about the University of Florida and the success of this program every time we step on that field you got to give your all just because of the people that came before are are we going to be intentional with every day that we have the rest of the way that’s what we got to ask yourself look I’m at the University of Florida I’ve got opportunity the Works in front of me why not me let’s go [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]