Georgia to Florida transfer Brenton Cox was ‘at a loss for words’ after Gators’ win in Cocktail Party
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Part of what makes college football rivalries so special is the way everyone on both sides takes the games personally. For Brenton Cox, Saturday’s Florida-Georgia was especially personal.
The 5-star prospect out of Stockbridge, Georgia signed with UGA as part of the 2018 recruiting class and then transferred to Florida before the start of the 2019 season. After having to sit out a year, Cox was eager to suit up in the 2020 Cocktail Party. Predictably, Saturday’s 44-28 UF win was emotional for Cox.
“It means a lot, just to overcome a team that I left, and just to win a game I already knew I was going to win,” Cox told reporters after the game. “It’s a mental thing for me. I’m really at a loss for words, I’m just too excited.”
As a defender, Cox was asked about the rough start for the Gators. Georgia opened with a 75-yard touchdown run by Zamir White.
“That first play was definitely a test of adversity,” Cox said. “We just knew they would start fast and hit us with a run, and we knew we had to come back to the sideline and get it fixed. That’s pretty much it. The rest of the game we had to make adjustments, that was it, do whatever we had to do to get the win.”
Cox continued on the rough start and defensive adjustments.
“It was just in between the ears, like you said. We needed to start fast, and we didn’t. And a lot of games, we have issues with that. Unfortunately, in this game, it happened on the very first play. We just had to go back to the sideline, get it corrected and then come back out dominate.”
Todd Grantham’s unit tightened up after the disastrous start to the first quarter. Georgia’s only other first-half score came on a pick-6 thrown by Kyle Trask. In the second half, UGA managed to add one more touchdown, which wasn’t nearly enough thanks to a record-setting day by the Gator offense.
Cox was happy to be on the winning side of the rivalry clash again.
“The celebration was overdue. We obviously really wanted this win. And on us being in control, we take it one game at a time. So, I mean, this game was important, but we still have more to go and more to do. Bigger accomplishments.”
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
