IN REAL TIME: Live from Florida Gators media day

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA — The second Florida Gators football media day of the Billy Napier era is Sunday — and Gators Online has you covered.

Beginning at approximately 8:45 a.m. ET, a select group of Florida players will be available for interviews with media. Afterward, we’ll talk with Dir. of Football Strength and Conditioning Mark Hocke, offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Rob Sale, defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and finally Napier.

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GatorsOnline subscribers can get all the news and notes from the event IN REAL TIME by following the links below …

*Media Day thread: What the players said

*Media Day thread: What the coaches said

Here are some notable quotes from media day …

-9 a.m.: DB Jaydon Hill: “This summer was great. I feel we made great progress as a team. Me individually, I accomplished a lot of goals.”

-9:07 a.m.: DB Jaydon Hill: “I really feel like we’re going to shock a lot of people.”

-9:11 a.m. DB Jaydon Hill on things Billy Napier does to instill his culture: “For instance, something that we do that’s big with Coach Napier, we do “know your teammates” and you randomly get questions and you’ve got to know what’s his name and what’s his hometown and he puts a lot of emphasis on that. Really we’ve took it upon ourselves to get to know each one another. I feel like it just makes the team closer and you play better just because like the person beside you, you really know him, and in the heat of the moment what he’s about, basically.”

-9:12 a.m.: Director of Football Strength and Conditioning Mark Hocke on the team’s leaders: “Fortunately, we have guys like Jason Marshall, Ricky Pearsall, Montrell Johnson, Trevor Etienne, Shemar James, Devin Moore, Austin Barber, Jaydon Hill. I’m leaving out a ton of names here, but when you have that many great examples on not just how to catch a football or how to run for a touchdown but how to keep your locker room clean, how to be punctual, how to wear the right uniform, how to be more bought into the team than you’re bought into yourself, it just cleans up a lot of things, and it makes a more cohesive unit and helps you play team football and winning football.”

-9:15 a.m.: Director of Football Strength and Conditioning Mark Hocke: “I think the culture (at Florida) is trending.”

-9:30 a.m.: Offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Rob Sale: Starting offensive tackle Austin Barber is “getting nothing but better and better.”

-9:55 a.m.: Defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong: “We want to be a tough, physical, relentless” defense that plays with joy. “We want to be the aggressor. We want to hunt.”

-9:58 a.m.: Defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong: “We believe we have some guys to affect the quarterback.”

-10:13 a.m.: Gators coach Billy Napier: “This is a critical time of the year. You’ve got to really work hard but you’ve got to work smart.”

-10:14 a.m.: Gators coach Billy Napier: “Some really interesting numbers here. For you guys, I think you’ll get a kick out of some of this. We had 53 players that set records for max velocity this summer, which I think was really positive. T.J. Searcy gained 12 pounds of muscle since January; Jalen Kimber has gained eight pounds since April of muscle; Jack Pyburn, 10 pounds of muscle mass since January. His body fat percentage went down 6 percent. Really Jack did a terrific job.”

-10:15 a.m.: Gators coach Billy Napier:  “I think we’re in a little bit better place. I do think there’s parts of our team where we’re going to have young players playing. But I think they’re talented. I think there’s areas of our team where injuries are important. But I also think we’ve added some experience. I think we’ve added some awareness, some maturity. We’ve added some veteran players I think that make our team better.”

-10:17 a.m.: Gators coach Billy Napier: “We’ve added some veteran players that are going to make our team better.”

-10:20 a.m.: Gators coach Billy Napier: “I think I’m much more aware of the arena (after one season at Florida).”

-10:24 a.m.: “This is a special place because of the support and the following we have.” That’s one reasons they wanted to have an open practice.

Following the event, we’ll provide you with wall-to-wall coverage so be on the lookout for multiple articles once things wrap up with interviews.

Media day comes just one day after the Gators hosted their Grill in the Ville recruiting event, where commits and top targets came to Gainesville for a laid-back day with the Florida staff.

Five star Gators quarterback commit DJ Lagway was among the players on campus Saturday. In fact, he’s saying through Monday so he can watch the first day of practice.

“It went amazing, just really getting to meet some of the commits — it’s my first time actually meeting some of them,” Lagway told Gators Online on Saturday. “And it’s a great energy, great connection with everybody. I’m just excited to continue to build this class.”

You can read our full update on Lagway, the jewel of the Gators’ recruiting class, HERE:

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