Thoughts of the Day: August 28, 2026

(Photo by Chris Spears)

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

When asked prior to the 2010-11 basketball season about expectations for the Gators, who returned all five starters, Billy Donovan asked rhetorically, “Does another year older make you another year better?” In this particular case, the Gators were better, making it all the way to the Elite Eight game where they lost by three points in overtime to Butler.

A year ago, expectations for Florida football were through the roof after four straight wins that ended the 2024 season.  Led by quarterback DJ Lagway, who some outlets projected as an early Heisman Trophy candidate, the Gators seemed to have a roster built for the rigors of the SEC. The Gators had experience and studs like All-America center Jake Slaughter and defensive tackle Caleb Banks anchoring what looked to be dominant units on the line of scrimmage. Some of the nation’s experts were saying 10-2 wasn’t out of the question.

The Gators were indeed a year older. What they weren’t was a year better. They reverted back to the losing ways of 2022-23, a 4-8 record that earned a pink slip for HBC Billy Napier.

So here we are on the verge of a brand new football season led for the fifth time since 2011 by a brand new coach. Expectations aren’t anywhere close to those of last year, but Jon Sumrall’s past history and upbeat demeanor have folks wondering if the 6-6 and 7-5 preseason projections are underselling the team that takes the field eight days from now against Florida Atlantic.

A 7-5 record seems entirely do-able and quite frankly, a three-game improvement against a schedule that includes five teams ranked in the preseason top 25 would be a solid accomplishment. To go 8-4 against that schedule, the Gators would need to knock off one of those preseason ranked teams. Both No. 9 Ole Miss and No. 10 Oklahoma have to play the Gators in Gainesville and while No. 25 Missouri is on the road, that game is the first week of October. In five of the last six seasons, Mizzou has looked great against September cupcakes only to lose its first game in October. Mizzou should have little trouble going 4-0 in September before facing Florida. Does history repeat itself?

The Gators are another year older than last year and no question about it they should be better. Most diehards believe 8-4 is realistic and while stars and planets might have to align for 9-3, for some reason that doesn’t seem an imaginary bridge too far.

Are the returning players a year better? Are the transfers and freshmen capable of filling in gaps to elevate possibilities? This team looks the part, but we’ve all heard that expression “body by Tarzan, game like Jane.” On paper the Gators look good enough to win eight games, but are they four games better than last year’s 4-8?

It is easy to say yes right now when no games have been played and we’re surviving on fumes until the oxygen of a football season begins to flow on September 5. Ask me again on October 4, the day after facing Missouri in CoMo.

ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC

No. 13 Alabama: Redshirt sophomore defensive lineman Jeremiah Beaman suffered a season-ending ACL tear in practice. Beaman played in three games as a true freshman in 2024, then missed all but game one of last season with an ACL tear.

Arkansas: In limbo is three-time All-Ivy League defensive back transfer Sean Williams. A 10^th District US Court of Appeals ruling has made him ineligible but like others seeking a fifth season he awaits a higher court to rule him eligible. Williams had 11 interceptions in four seasons at Dartmouth.

Auburn: HBC Alex Golesh says the Tigers are “light years ahead” of where Tennessee and South Florida were upon his arrival, mostly due to having a quarterback fully immersed in the offense. Byrum Brown transferred to Auburn from South Florida, where he threw for 28 touchdowns and ran for 14 in his second year running Golesh’s offense.

No. 3 Georgia: HBC Kirby Smart has ruled out adding any players who have been on NFL rosters, calling it unfair to players in the program. “You have to decide, each and every person, if that’s valuable enough to warrant replacing your players that have worked with your team with others that might be better,” Smart said. “So, our job is to upgrade and try to get better as much as we can and win games. So, some people feel that gives them an opportunity to be better and doesn’t change their culture and more power to them.”

Kentucky: Linebacker Alex Afari has rejoined the team and is practicing while waiting an appeal of the US District Court of Appeals ruling that overturned a Colorado judge nationwide decree granting a fifth season of eligibility for all athletes who first enrolled in 2022. Afari had 61 tackles, 7.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks for the Wildcats in 2025. Also EDGE Antonio Berry, a transfer from D1AA Gardner-Webb, is ineligible. O’Berry played three seasons in Division II and two more at Gardner-Webb.

No. 11 LSU: Defensive end Jack Pyburn, currently on the Tampa Bay Bucs preseason roster, says if he is not on an NFL roster by September 1 he will return to LSU.

Mississippi State: EDGE rusher Malick Sylla and safety Jahron Manning are currently ineligible while waiting for an overturn of the 10^th District US Court of Appeals ruling that negates a Colorado court blanket eligibility for all athletes from the high school class of 2022 who are seeking a fifth year of eligibility.

No. 25 Missouri: Running back Ahmad Hardy will miss Mizzou’s season opener with Arkansas-Pine Bluff while still recuperating from a gunshot wound suffered during a concert in May. HBC Eli Drinkwitz anticipates Hardy will be ready to play again mid-September, preferably in time for the SEC opener with Mississippi State. Hardy ran for 1,649 yards and 16 touchdowns last year.

No. 10 Oklahoma: Reserve linemen Caleb Nitta, Ryan Fode and Noah Best have been taking the reps at center in the absence of center Jake Maikkula, who is recovering from an injury. HBC Brent Venables says Maikkula is expected to return “sooner rather than later.”

No. 9 Ole Miss: Former Ole Miss tight end Dae’Quan Wright, who was given the green light to return to college football by a Texas judge Thursday, says before he agreed to sign with LSU after being waived by the NFL Clevland Browns, he was approached by both South Carolina and Virginia Tech.

South Carolina: Offensive tackle Jacarrius Peaks and defensive end Dylan Stewart are both doubtful for the season opener against Kent State on September 6. Tight end Brady Hunt’s status has been moved up to questionable for the season opener.

No. 20 Tennessee: Arion Carter’s NCAA-mandated 3-game suspension has been reduced again, this time to simply missing the season opener with D1AA Furman. The 3-game suspension was reduced to two games back in July. Carter was suspended for taking an “impermissible benefit” which turned out to be a $427 flight to an NFL pre-draft activity.

No. 5 Texas: Former Georgia All-American David Pollock, speaking on the “See Ball Get Ball” podcast, says there are “no excuses” for Texas this year. “If you’re asking me to find many rosters outside of Texas football [that are better] there ain’t many I can think of … one, maybe two but that’s how good this roster is. They’re not missing anything.

No. 8 Texas A&M: Defensive lineman Chace Sims and running back Tiger Riden have suffered season-ending injuries. Offensive lineman Nelson McGuire and wide receiver Jerome Myles have left the team for personal reasons. Myles is a former 5-star recruit who missed all of last season with an injury. Sims, Riden and McGuire are all redshirt freshmen and former 4-star recruits … Basketball player Rylan Griffen is enrolled in classes while awaiting a September 11 hearing in which he hopes to get a preliminary injunction that will allow him to play for the Aggis this season.

Vanderbilt: HBC Clark Lea has named New Mexico State transfer Blaze Berlowitz as the starting quarterback for game one against D1AA Austin Peay. In choosing Berlowitz over 5-star freshman Jared Curtis, Lea said the decision is “best for our offense.” Berlowitz has played in only seven games in his collegiate career, completing 19-36 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns while running for 117 and one TD. Lea said that Curtis will play in the game.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT:  Have you ever sat through one of those seemingly endless clay court encounters at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris when two French Open baseliners are content to spend an eternity punching a tennis ball back and forth? If you have then you have keen insight into what is going on with college sports these days where a growing number of plaintiffs are suing the NCAA for injunctive relief that will grant them a fifth year of athletic eligibility.

The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, fights back in every courtroom no matter how big or how small. Most of the time, the NCAA loses. Yesterday, for instance, a Texas judge ruling on behalf of 41 athletes ruled the NCAA and SEC have no right to stop athletes who were on NFL or NBA rosters from returning to play another year of college football or basketball. This is a case the NCAA could actually win since there is precedent in which higher level courts have ruled  pros like Alabama’s Charles Bediako cannot play collegiately once leaving campus to play professionally.

Even if the NCAA wins there will be more lawsuits unless someone with common sense and reasonable ideas intervenes. If the NCAA wants the support of 95 percent or better of its member institutions, then it should offer a compromise: Grandfather in all 2022 athletes who were fourth-year seniors in exchange for agreement to disallow athletes who left the campus for the pros to return for a fifth year. That would end nearly all the lawsuits while presenting such a show of force to the courts that it might make judges use the Bediako case as their precedent to say no.

It is a reasonably good idea. The only problem is it reeks of good sense and it has been decades since the NCAA was accused of good sense.