Through the quarterback's eyes: Tramell Jones Jr.

Tramell Jones Jr. cuts loose with a pass in practice (Photo by Chris Spears)

New head coach. New offensive coordinator bringing his protégé of the last two years with him. Stacked deck is what it looked like. Transfer? That would have been the easy way out and an ample number of suitors would have been happy as clams to woo Tramell Jones Jr., the strong-armed redshirt freshman quarterback at Florida.

Instead of packing up and heading to a new locale, Jones elected to give Jon Sumrall a chance to right a Florida ship that has been listing for the last five years. After a season in Billy Napier’s erratic, predictable offense, a Buster Faulkner offense was a revelation even if it meant a head-to-head battle with Aaron Philo, who wasn’t coming to Gainesville to be a backup.

A funny thing happened on the way to an uphill climb for the starting quarterback job. Tramell Jones Jr. showed off some serious skills at the Orange and Blue game back in April, enough to prove there isn’t a canyonesque gap between him and Philo. In the ensuing months, rather than divisive, the competition seems to be bringing out the best in both of them, so much so that Sumrall believes the Gators can win with either one of them taking the snaps.

“I think both of us want to win fair and square with everyone being 100 percent ready to go,” Jones said Friday morning. “But with Coach Sumrall saying that he feels like he can win with both of us, it's very reassuring. And he has confidence in both of us, so we're just competing and pushing each other.”

There is a side effect of bonding as friends. At the football facility, teammates see them competing on the field, in the quarterback room where they spend hours studying film and absorbing every concept Faulkner teaches, and in the weight room. Philo has lost fat, gained lean muscle and is in the best shape of his life. Jones was never slow but according to strength and conditioning coordinator Rusty Whitt, he reaches a top speed of 22 miles per hour on the treadmill. That’s flying.

Off the field, teammates see Philo, who’s been playing golf since he was a young kid, taking Jones to the course where he offers pointers to a novice. They see the two of them taking the entire offensive line out for steaks and lobster.

“The other guys see it, and they drive around us, and they love to see how we compete, and we still have a healthy relationship,” Jones said. “I think the whole team sees it, and then that's what we want to take on with everyone because everyone's competing. Everyone's competing for a starting spot, and nothing's given. It's where our coaching staff has put emphasis on, so when they see things like that, they take it with their position group or whoever they're competing with, and they're doing it.”

Competing on a day-to-day basis has given Jones a healthy respect for everything Philo brings to the table. He arrived at Florida with a reputation as a playmaker with real arm skills, instinctive running habits and the ability to make quick, accurate decisions.

Jones sees all those attributes and more.

“He knows where everyone is,” Jones said. “He knows the process. He's a quick processor. He's smart. Those are things that stand out because he knows where to go with the football. Quick delivery, can make any throw, has a great arm, and he's very decisive.”

Here are some other Tramell Jones observations as the Gators move past the short and shells portion of fall practice into full pads, full contact.

On the growing friendship with Philo: “You get to know him on a personal level, everything that he's been through in his life. You know when he gets on that field, you know how hard he's pushing to get to the next level. And so when you see him out on the field, you see how hard he's pushing, you kind of look deeper than that because you know how he is off the field and what he's going to bring to the table for us.”

On his well publicized arm talent: “Just because you can make every throw on the field doesn't mean that, I mean, we have a lot of guys out there in the country that can make every throw on the field, but it's about process, knowing the protection, knowing defenses, and then making plays. Like, I can make any throw, but am I making it on time? Am I doing those things correctly?”

On understanding the offense and knowing where to go with the ball: “Process, knowing where to go with the football, going quickly through my reads, knowing where everyone's at, motions. Just process with the offense, getting everybody down fast, knowing where everyone's at. I mean, that's great, especially when you have athletes. You can get those guys the ball fast and let them do what they need to do and touchdown.”   

On what has changed since the spring: “Process of the offense, for sure, because, I mean, just learning that in the spring, sometimes I'm a hitch late or I'm a step late. Now with those summer reps and those fall camps, reps starting now, it's like I've been completely way better. And then being more vocal as a leader, I feel like being a leader. We have a, whole new team. Half the team is brand new in the spring you're kind of like just setting yourself up because they want to see what you can do because they got to get respect for you because they can know what you can do on the field.”

On one of Sumrall’s summer demands: “He wanted to see me become a vocal leader, hold guys more accountable, so in the summer I pretty much did that.”

On the quarterback’s job in the Faulkner offense: “Just take what the defense gives you. Spread the ball to your athletes. That's pretty much been the word. Give the ball to your athletes and I think that's what being a point guard is not trying to do too much … there's a time to be a game manager and then the game changer. So I learned that. And then, I mean, just doing the extra things outside of facility and inside the facility to learn the offense, because I knew, I mean, I want to play quarterback here. So this is something serious. I got to be able to take all my time into this and, learning a new playbook, learning all the motions. I knew I had to be somewhat ready for spring and then taking extra time in the summer and setting those goals for myself, it's really helped me.”

More about the Faulkner offense: “It has answers to everything. I mean, if you have blitzes, you have hot reads, you can change the protection, you can change the whole play. Once you get to learn, once it is second nature, once you get to learn most of the offense, Coach Faulkner is going to be able to give you the keys, be able to switch and audible things. So it's very quarterback-friendly, especially once you know it.”

On center Harrison Moore, who transferred to UF from Georgia Tech: “It gives me Jake Slaughter vibes a little bit just because of the way he carries himself, his leadership. I mean, you see him. We work out in the morning during the summer, and you see him up here at 3 o'clock getting perfect snaps, making sure he's perfect. And that's something, like, everyone sees, and that's something that we want to follow. And then just him up front, how physical he is, how smart he is, that's the one. That's Jake Slaughter vibes.”

The difference between being good and being great: “Being able to sustain a lot of information at one time and not playing robotic because they're not about playing robotic. You want to be an athlete. You want to be able to put the ball in situations where athletes can do great things in space. And that's what they're really all about. Really taking notes. I like to write a lot of things down and look back over them at night and in the morning. I like to walk through mentally at home and then just keep going over and over again. Once I do that, I do it into my brain.”