Florida sophomore receiver Freddie Swain will surely remember his first catch of the season for what it achieved, but the former Ocala North Marion High standout Swain said his only thought was, “Make a play for my team. Come up, make a play.”
Swain caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Luke Del Rio with 43 seconds remaining to cap Florida’s rally from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Kentucky 28-27 on Saturday night.
The situation wasn’t too big for Swain.
“No, because we practice, we just — Coach Mac does a good job with having a game-type atmosphere, so making a play in practice is no different than making a play in the game,” Swain said. “It’s just more fans, but we have crowd noise in practice. It’s the same thing.”
Downfield blocking is another way Swain has contributed this season.
“I really thought Freddie Swain did some stuff that didn’t show up in the box score that, guys, I’ll be surprised that he’s not our player of the game,” UF coach Jim McElwain said.
Having to rally to win the past two games is something the Gators take pride in, Swain said.
“We never looked down on ourselves,” Swain said. “Coach Mac always pushing the team, telling us we’ll be all right. Just keep your head in the game and focus.”
Swain is not concerned with the Gators’ use of multiple quarterbacks Saturday.
“They both played great,” he said. “You’re going to make mistakes. They both did a good job and we’re just happy that we won.”
