Post-game comments from Georgia Tech players Jahmyr Gibbs, Juanyeh Thomas and David Curry following the Yellow Jackets' 49-21 loss to Central Florida Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Running back Jahmyr Gibbs
On his first college game:
“It was fun. It was fun getting to go back out there on the field playing against a team with a different-colored jersey.”
On his two touchdowns:
“I just ran a little option route on the first touchdown. There was nobody in the zone. Or if it is was man, I was going to go right in there. Since it was zone, I just looked for an open space to get in and (Jeff Sims) threw it me. Luckily, I caught it and scored. The run touchdown, I had some great blocks. Shout out to (tight end Jack) Coco. I did the rest from there. Great blocks downfield from the receivers, too.”
Safety Juanyeh Thomas
On his interception:
“I was just doing my job in coverage. Props to our d-lineman who got the hands on the ball to make it go up and then I had the back and I just came through and scooped it up.”
On responding to the loss:
"We’re just going to get back to work tomorrow. Honestly, we haven’t been here before, so we’re just going to get back to work. This loss will not faze us. I promise you it won’t.
On UCF receiver Marlon Williams:
“That dude, I just want to give him props, he’s a real good player. He made some great catches and, honestly, we were there, we’ve just got to fight through the ball and make a play. But I give all the props to No. 6.”
On the speed of the UCF offense:
“Something new. But the thing about it is, we practiced that all last week. We’ve been going fast at practice and it was new for me. Honestly, that’s probably the fastest offense I’ve played in college. But we practiced it and just didn’t come up on top.”
On difference in play between the second and third quarters:
“Honestly, it’s execution. I kind of messed up on some of the things. I’ve got to get better at that. But, all in all, it’s the execution piece of it. We were there, we were at the ball, and that’s just it.”
Linebacker David Curry
On UCF:
“They are the fastest offense in the nation. So all respect to them, but everything’s self-inflicted. You can’t give up the deep ball like we did. Also, we’ve got to cause turnovers on defense and we can’t cough the ball up on offense. So all respect to them, but we could have very easily won that game despite what the score says. We’re going to bounce back.”
“Throughout the game, I think we responded extremely well to a lot of adverse situations, but, like coach (Collins) said, we let go of the rope at the end, and that’s just not what we want to do.”
On the response to the loss:
“You know as leaders and as a good teammate, you don’t let guys sulk on it. We have a 24-hour window that, we go home, we’ll come up in the morning, we’ll watch the film and then it’s over with. We move on to the next opponent. On the wins and on the losses, as good leaders and good teammates, you don’t think about them a lot. You move on and you make sure that tomorrow will be our best Sunday practice of the year.”
On the impact of the unavailable players:
“We have a next-man-up mentality. And I think everybody that played tonight, gave it 100% and I’m proud of everybody. We had some freshmen on defense step up and play big-time roles throughout the game. And I’m proud of them. That’s how football is in general, but especially with this year with everything going on. It’s got to be next-man-up mentality.”
On UCF’s deep game:
“They’ll lull you to sleep on the short easy passes and then they’re going to hit you deep. We can’t give up any deep balls. I thought we played really, really well in certain situations and then we give up a deep ball. As a defense we just can’t let that happen.”
