Reasons for optimism: Why Jon Sumrall has a team that may exceed expectations

Better days future meets with better days past

“Better days, better ways

Everybody's lookin' for better days

Somewhere beneath the shinin' star, better days

Take me, won't you take me to better days

Sure could use a few better days

Floridays” – From “Floridays” by Jimmy Buffett

We are Gators, therefore there is this mysterious gene in our DNA that we inherited from our parents and grandparents before them. For those of us who grew up prior to 1990 when Ben Hill Griffin told Bill Arnsparger, “Steve Spurrier is going to be the football coach at the University of Florida next year. You do not have to be the athletic director,” it is called the “Wait ‘til next year” gene. This should be chiseled into the headstones of both my grandfather and father, who went to their graves longing to see the day when next year finally delivered a Southeastern Conference championship.

The “Wait ‘til Next Year” gene went dormant from 1990-2010 when Spurrier (122-27-1 record, six SEC championships, 1996 national championship) and Urban Meyer (65-15, two SEC and two national championships) awoke what Bear Bryant labeled “the sleeping giant” back in the 1960s. In the years since Urban retired the “Wait ‘til Next Year” gene has come out of hibernation to the point that even diehards are believing that if something doesn’t change very soon, Florida will be doomed to joyous anticipation of a bid to play St. Somewhere Else in the Weedwacker Bowl in Shreveport even with the understanding that if you lose you are required to stay another week.

So here we are, just days away from a brand new season. Four losing seasons in the last five and six in the last 15 have turned us into “Wait ‘til Next Year” Gators who wonder out loud if this cycle can be broken. Charged with changing minds and perceptions is Jon Sumrall, Florida’s fifth coach since 2011. He’s different. Close observation reveals some characteristics every Gator loved about Spurrier. He’s happy, loves the game, the interaction with the fans and he has this wicked sense of humor. There is also a tad of that Urban Meyer ruthlessness as well. Whereas Spurrier made us giggle out loud after a six touchdown win, Meyer made us wish he had tacked on a couple more touchdowns rather than take a knee to run out the clock.

There is a bit of Spurrier and Meyer in Jon Sumrall that you don’t have to dig deep to find. Sumrall wears it on his sleeve and when he speaks, the whole world knows. Because of that, there is this growing sense of anticipation for the kickoff that will officially begin the Jon Sumrall Era at the University of Florida. Sumrall is 44 years old. Spurrier was 45 when he coached his first game at Florida. Meyer was 41. Sumrall goes into Saturday’s game with Florida Atlantic 44-12 with three conference championships and four conference championship games on his resume. Spurrier was 20-13-1 at Duke with an Atlantic Coast Conference title. Meyer was 39-8 with two Mountain West Conference titles.

Similarities breed optimism since history does have a way of repeating itself. And, since optimism is today’s key word to hide in your heart of hearts, then here are seven reasons for optimism for the 2026 Florida football season.

REASON 1: JON SUMRALL

With all due respect to Curt Cignetti who first coined the phrase, he (Sumrall) wins. Google it.

Unlike the four coaches who preceded him, Sumrall doesn’t have this fatal flaw that stands out like a giant wart on the end of his nose. Will Muschamp had never been a head coach before and he already had a foot out the door when he hired a competent offensive coordinator. Jim McElwain was a bad fit from day one, and unlike Sumrall, couldn’t give a straight answer if life depended on it. Dan Mullen never figured out that to sustain success at Florida you can’t have a staff of assistants who think you can win at UF with the same kind of players who made the Gator Bowl an ideal season-ending destination at Mississippi State. Billy Napier never understood that while you must have a number of Boy Scouts on your roster, the rest of the roster must be filled by borderline psychopaths who understand that if they take out their aggressions on the football field they most likely will avoid prison.

Sumrall didn’t hire his buddies, isn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe on the recruiting trail with Georgia, Alabama, Miami and LSU, gives thoughtful, straight answers to even tough questions and has brought in a former Green Beret to bring out the inner beast particularly in his trench warriors. His coordinators – Buster Faulkner on offense; Brad White on defense – are highly regarded for gaining maximum use out of their personnel. He hired former Gator Phil Trautwein to coach the offensive line. He retained defensive line coach Gerald Chatman. Both have proven to be lights out recruiters.

Sumrall says the right things, does the right things and has lifted the demeanor of the entire Gator Nation with his positive energy. After four years of the Napier monotones of saying lots of words that don’t say anything he is a breath of fresh air.

REASON NO. 2: FAULKNER WILL CALL THE PLAYS

What a concept. Napier insisted nobody knew the offense like he did, therefore he was the only one qualified to call the plays. Well, someone other than Napier knew the offense because nearly every defensive coordinator the Gators faced had a pretty keen idea what the next call was going to be. Faulkner showed while coaching Stetson Bennett IV when he was the QB coach at Georgia and then as the offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech, that he knows the best offense is one that can grind out the yards while at the same time offering a dangerous downfield element in the passing game. The secret is keeping predictability to a minimum. This year he has Jadan Baugh to scheme around in the running game and a wide receiver corps headed by the three-headed monster of Eric Singleton Jr., Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson to keep opposing defensive coordinators up at night.

REASON NO. 3: THE RUSTY WHITT FACTOR

When he took the job as Troy’s head coach, firing Whitt was his strength and conditioning guy was on the agenda. Then they spent time together, Sumrall became convinced that Whitt indeed knows what he’s doing and a meeting of the minds was met and continues to this day. The S/C guy has more contact with players than any other coach including the head honcho. He has to be part task master, part Dr. Phil and part cheerleader all mixed into one. How important is an S/C guy who can do that? Just ask Urban Meyer how valuable it was to have Mickey Marotti with him all six years and Florida and then his entire tenure at Ohio State. Under Whitt’s tutelage, fat has been replaced by lean muscle and a seek and destroy attitude.

REASON NO. 4: BRAD WHITE FOR THE DEFENSE

At Kentucky, his defenses were known for making the most out of talent overlooked by the big guys on the recruiting trail. That 2022 whipping of the Gators at BHG comes to mind. The Wildcats held Florida to four third down conversions in 16 attempts and Anthony Richardson to 14-35 passing for 143 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. From a personnel standpoint, Florida had it all over Kentucky. From a toughness aspect, UK destroyed Florida. At UK, White never had access to the kind of athletes he has at Florida. He preaches toughness, assignment responsibility and avoiding giving up the big play.  The 2022 and 2024 defenses were best in the SEC in big play avoidance. His 2024 team was third nationally. Brad White has better players to coach such as Myles Graham and Jayden Woods than he ever had at Kentucky. Florida should be quite improved.

REASON NO. 5: PHIL TRAUTWEIN

The return of the native. He started at left tackle for the 2006 and 2008 national championship teams at Florida. He spent the last five years recruiting big time linemen and coaching them up at Penn State. He is from the Steve Addazio school of O-line coaching which is to say play hard, play smart, be consistent and make the guy across from you wish the game would end soon. He spent August tinkering with his O-line and found five guys who fit together in LT Bryce Lovett, LG Knijeah Harris, C Harrison Moore, RG TJ Shanahan and RT Emeka Ugorgi. The three guys in the middle are going to be one of the top center-guard groups in the SEC. Moore (from Georgia Tech) might wind up as one of the top five transfers in the SEC. He’s that good. The tackles are a work in progress but they’re athletic and if nothing more, adequate. Faulkner can scheme around tackles. You can’t scheme around the three in the middle and they will be the bedrock of the O-line. Also, every bit as important, Trautwein is the best O-line recruiter the Gators have had since Addazio.

REASON NO. 6: THE SCHEDULE AND THE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

It is tough, no doubt about it. The Gators play four teams (Texas, Georgia, Ole Miss and Oklahoma) ranked in the top 10 in the nation preseason. They play Texas on the road and Georgia in Atlanta, but Ole Miss and Oklahoma have to come to The Swamp. Count on a Florida crowd to be at its hostile best for Ole Miss. That certainly was the case two years ago when the fourth quarter arrived and the crowd raised decibels to levels unheard of in years. The Gators play six home games. If they can go 5-1 at home then steal two roadies (at Auburn, at Missouri, at Kentucky, at Florida State) a 7-5 record is possible. A perfect record at home and two for four on the road and it’s 8-4. For that, Sumrall should be in contention for SEC Coach of the Year. For anything more than that stars and planets may have to align but stranger things have happened.

REASON NO. 7: ATTITUDE

We got a glimpse of a winning attitude earlier in the week when Sumrall named Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo as his starting quarterback. A day later, both Philo and Jones met the media. The second team QB who just lost out on. The No. 1 QB job meeting the media? Yep, and they both support and care for each other. There is no animosity between them. They’re both talented enough and both mature enough to understand that competition not only makes them better but lifts the entire team. When there are healthy rivalries for starting jobs being cultivated it only helps the entire team get better. We hear a lot of tales about unified teams but how many coaches would dare put his starter and backup QB out there to speak to the media? We’ve seen how QB controversies can divide teams, particularly those of us old enough to remember the 1968 Gators who went from championship contenders to a team that had to rally late for a winning season all because the team was split down the middle. Sumrall has a team with a team first attitude and that will go a long way toward a winning season.