Florida Football: 3 Things Jon Sumrall Needs To Do This Spring and Beyond

The most important period in Florida history may rest on the success of Sumrall to get this spring off to a roaring start.

By Loren P. Meadows, Football Analyst, GatorBaitMedia.com, Host of the Lowdown with Loren Meadows

Out the gate strong-Coach Jon Sumrall (Chris Spears photo)

For the past three seasons beginning with Napier’s first week, we set out to grab 6-7 reasons the Florida Gators would win the corresponding number of games the following season. Unfortunately, from offensive coordinator, to the transfer portal to the head coach were those reasons which all seemed viable at the time.

So the last four seasons can be easily deemed a failure in the eyes of most Gators.

While Sumrall smiles and continues to glad-hand around Gainesville there is work to be done, more goodwill to accrue and if he and the staff are not careful, more mistakes could be made. 

Sumrall has accumulated a solid group of talented coaches and personnel that has fans excited about the coming spring and the fall to follow. Quarterback battles, roster spots devoid of promises, totally open competition, and a bravado that many say has them ready to run through a brick wall. With respect, all that is fine and dandy and the two month sample size has been solid. Here lies the problem, you assemble in the winter to prepare in the spring to show and prove in the fall. It is the fall that has been an issue for a school that Bear Bryant once called a “sleeping giant.”

So I am going to withhold my judgment and give my opinion based on where this program has been and where I think it is headed, simply because we can all get excited in talking season, however it is those 12 Saturdays in the fall that have to be the focus. No matter how much you see Jon Sumrall and his family about town if it doesn’t go well, Second Rate Sumrall has the same ring as Sun Belt Billy.

However, for the theme of this article I am going to vow to remain positive while in wait- and-see mode — offering three simple suggestions to the head coach. For right now, the key is winning the public relations side in the offseason, and is poising to bring that same energy to a program desperate for consistency. IIt’s simple: Stay sociable, make it look like football and remember none of it matters if you can’t win eight consistently.

Here’s how you can accomplish all three.

1.     Positive public relations off the field-

: When Sumrall made his second appearance to the media after his official announcement he went to every single media member and introduced himself. WIN. He has been spotted at several basketball games, gymnastics meets and even was seen at KSP Friday night for softball, WIN. While at these events he shook hands, posed for pictures, sitting among the fans like a regular, even going back for seconds to make a hot dog. WIN. But there’s an extra step. Bring that same energy to your football team, a couple open practices so folks can see the fire. Allow the media more than 15 minutes of stretching and routes on air. Most that watch may or may not know what they are truly looking at and in the spring . Who cares? Miami has allowed the media to see entire practices and last I checked they were a blocked punt and a great fourth down call away from the natty. There really is no downside to it.

2.     Eliminate the fluff: Everyone loves great athletes that are good people, and 99.9 percent of them are. We don’t need to be reminded that a young man comes from a great family after five picks. We need to know why he threw the picks and what will be done to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Deflecting to off-the-field areas to explain on-field problems will not and shouldn’t be tolerated. I have long thought that coaches get way too much credit when kids are well behaved and too much blame when they don’t. They have mothers and fathers that help with that. A lack of arrests or a 3.7 team GPA is not an elixir for a 5-7 season in the era of NIL in the most fertile recruiting ground in the country.

3.   Clean up the football and clean it up now: You play with 11, not 10, and certainly not 12. High school teams have fewer talented players that know when and where to be when it is there time to be on the field. Sumrall and company need to take the time this spring to clean up the on-field operation. Make special teams special again, bring the savagery back to the defense, maximize the efficiency of reps, and allow both Buster Faulkner and Brad White to develop units that consistently produce on a weekly basis. The last staff had a Monday-Friday problem, a lack of tolerance early will be just what the doctor ordered for a roster that has underachieved in the past.

So there it is — nothing major, just a subtle nudge to a coach who upon our first meeting was quite impressive and whom I am cautiously optimistic about. Will these three things bring sure success? Who knows? What we do know is they will be a welcome change from the previous set up and they have proven to work for others. The good news is spring ball is 10 days away. The Sumrall Era has begun.