Tavion Thomas: Utah is playing Florida to 'beat the best'

Beginning the season against the Florida Gators, Tavion Thomas and the Utes are exactly where they want to be as they strive to be the best.

Generally speaking, it's not often that a Power Five program opens a new season against an opposing Power Five team. Usually, those squads prefer to begin their new campaign against an FCS school or lower-tier program in order to guarantee a victory and allow themselves an opportunity to work on chemistry and fix any mistakes without consequence. However, this season the University of Utah has elected to head right into the belly of the Gator...err...beast but Tavion Thomas says this is right where they want to be.

Tavion Thomas on playing Florida first: "That's what we want. That's what we are here for. We want to play against the best. We want it all. To be the best you've got to beat the best. So we're ready." #GoUtes

— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) August 30, 2022

This game has been a long time coming for Thomas and the Utes. Ever since the 2021 season came to an end in Pasadena back in January, this is what Utah has been preparing for. Now just days away, Thomas is excited and ready to face the Gators in a rowdy environment in the Swamp.

"It feels really good," Thomas said. "It's finally here. We finally can go out, see my boys hit something, hit somebody else other than your teammate so I'm really excited to see how we come out and how we're going to perform."

"I've played in a few loud games, I feel like that's probably going to play a factor with me and the teammates. I feel like we've just got to come in focused, stay on task and know our assignments. The crowd shouldn't play a role in our dominance," Thomas added.

Tavion Thomas, Utah Utes Fall Camp / Courtesy of Utah Athletics

Even though Thomas isn't necessarily worried about the crowd, the Gator defense is sure to cause some issues. As mentioned by head coach Kyle Whittingham in his week one press conference, Florida's defensive line is a talented unit that could make things difficult for the Utes offensively.

"Tough to say, I don't know if there's any real glaring weakness," Whittingham said. "D-line, they've got some really good D-line but I don't know if you can say which is the most talented group because they're all very talented."

As for Thomas, he recognizes the task ahead and knows exactly what the running backs need to do in order overcome Florida's D-line. Given their versatility and the amount of talent in the room, Thomas says they simply need to wear them out and keep them moving.

"We've got to wear those boys out," Thomas explained. "Like I said, they're going to come out hard and stuff like that. We've just got to wear them out, keep them moving, keep them big boys moving up front...they're athletic too up front but we're gonna come, we're ready."

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