(Photo by Chris Spears) On the first drive of Saturday’s scrimmage, the first unit offense was stuffed on fourth-and-one. Good news for the defense but a serious point of contention for Florida head coach Jon Sumrall, who considers most fourth-and-short situations a money down. “If it's third-and-one and fourth-and-one, we should never get stopped,” Sumrall said at his Monday morning press conference, the irritation obvious in his entire demeanor. “We've got to get better there. That first drive, I was... absolutely freaking pissed. Like, just to be honest. I'm like, if it's fourth-and-one, that should be 100 percent conversion for us.” Spoken like a gambler but the analytics tend to side with Sumrall on this one. There is a national trend of not only going for it but making it on fourth-and-short situations. Florida Atlantic, the Gators opening day opponent in three weeks, led the country by converting 41 of 62 fourth downs. ACC champion Duke converted an astounding 32-42, a national best 76.19 percent. As the head coach at Tulane last year, Sumrall went for it 23 times, converting 12 (52.17 percent). The ultra-conservative Gators were 8-19, dead last in the Southeastern Conference and 119th nationally. “Fourth-and-one, the analytics would tell you to go for it from every part of the field, doesn't matter where you are,” Sumrall said. “Now, we don't do that, but if we're outside our 35, a lot of times if it's more than one, like, let's go and so we got to convert that one.” Converting keeps the chains moving and while keeping the defense on the field, creates more opportunities for big plays, something that has been missing from the Florida offense. A year ago in the conservative watching the paint peel offense designed by Billy Napier, the Gators were not only dead last in the SEC on fourth down conversions but next-to-last (52-152) on third down. The Gators managed only 148 plays that covered 10 or more yards – 100 pass plays, 48 on the ground. Contrast that to Tulane, which had 220 explosive plays – 153 passing, 67 rushing – and Faulkner’s Georgia Tech offense that had 195 (128 passing, 67 rushing). Two things have to happen for the Gators to emerge from this era of offensive predictability to one in which they are as capable of scoring from any point on the field as they are converting third and fourth downs: (1) Improved quarterback play; and (2) consistency from the offensive line. It is a two-man battle between Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo and redshirt freshman Tramell Jones Jr. for the starting quarterback job. While Jones seemed to have the upper hand at Saturday’s scrimmage, Sumrall isn’t offering any hints which one in his mind provides the best combination of playmaking and on-the-field leadership. “I like what both have done,” Sumrall said. “Neither one is just light years ahead of the other. They're both doing really good things. The one thing they both have to continue to work on is who's going to operate the best in line of scrimmage play? We cannot forget motions and shifts and then protect the football and then just leave, but they're both doing a great job. They're both supporting each other. They're both competing with each other. “Do both of them want to start? Yes. But they're doing it the right way in the competition with each other, and they have each other's back, and I like where we're at there. I'm not announcing anything today there in case you want to know.” Philo arrived at Florida having spent two years working with Faulkner at Georgia Tech. He played in eight games, started one, and threw for 928 yards and a couple of touchdowns, averaging 9.09 yards per attempt. Jones played in four games as DJ Lagway’s backup at Florida last year, so the Faulkner offense is a radical change that he had to adjust to during the spring and summer. “In the spring I think Philo was way ahead because of understanding the offense and Tramell was significantly behind,” Sumrall said. “I think they've both taken some steps up and Tramell’s probably had more upward mobility to room to grow because he's learning the offense. So I think they're both playing really good football. I'm not going to sit here and say like one guy's way ahead because I think they're both doing good work. And I do feel like we're in a position where nobody's going to take the snap game one, snap one, because the other guy's done a poor job. It's going to be because he's probably just executed a little bit higher level, whoever it is … But we're at a place now where both guys are playing good football.” Whoever starts at quarterback will have the best collection of skill people to work with since the 2019 and 2020 seasons when the Gators lit up scoreboards. The elements for an explosive offense are in place, but Sumrall has to find five guys up front who can work as a cohesive unit whether it’s run-blocking or pass protection. The middle of the offensive line should be its strength. Left guard and returning starter Knijeah Harris, Georgia Tech transfer Harrison Moore at center, and Penn State transfer TJ Shanahan at right guard figure to be one of the best interior groups in the SEC. Moore, in particular, might prove to be one of the ten best transfers in the SEC. Already he’s drawing favorable comparisons to Jake Slaughter, the two-time All-American who was a second round draft pick of the Los Angeles Chargers. “In the interior line, I feel pretty comfortable with who we are and where we are,” Sumrall said. He couldn’t say the same thing about the guys on the outside, however. Their play left much to be desired. “Tackles is the problem,” Sumrall said. Heading into Saturday’s scrimmage, the starting tackles seemed to be Stanford transfer Emeka Ugorji and Caden Jones, last year’s right tackle at UF the last half of the season. Backups seemed to be Penn State transfer Eagan Boyer, oft-injured Fletcher Westphal and Bryce Lovett, sort of a jack-of-all trades lineman who is a plug and play type all along the line. Lovett may be forcing some re-shuffling of the line based on the way he has practiced so far and the way he played Saturday. At 6-5 and 305 pounds, he’s a leaner, stronger version of the player who struggled at times last season when he weighed in at 348. “Uber talented athletically” is how Sumrall described Lovett. “[He] has changed his body. Has an ideal tackle body, is good enough to go in and play guard. One of our best short-range goal line plays last week in our live period was him at right guard and moving the line of scrimmage. He can be as good as he wants to be, man. Bryce has the ability to be as good as he decides to be. It's up to him. “He's changed his body, cut out all the fast food and the junk he was eating and he looks like a different athlete. I just want to see him play to his capacity. If he maximizes his potential, the sky's the limit. He can be as good as he wants to be.” INJURY REPORT WR Vernell Brown III: Held out of Saturday’s scrimmage as a precaution. Bone bruise in his foot. “Could have, if we were playing a game, probably would have pushed it and played, but didn't want to take him out of a boot to go play on a scrimmage day,” Sumrall said. “Then it felt like we didn't need to do something stupid there. So he was back full go today.” EDGE Kam James: Still not at full go but practicing. “Took team reps,” Sumrall said. “Maybe not a full capacity of team reps, but took them.” CB Javion Toombs: Sumrall said, “… did some individual and special teams work today, not 11-on-11 work yet, but he'll be close to being back.” RB Duke Clark: Did individual work Monday. Sumrall said, “Probably could have done team, but just out of an abundance of caution, probably going to wait till tomorrow or the following day to put him back in teamwork.” PK Patrick Durkin: Similar situation to VBIII. “Probably if it was a live Saturday, he could have gone,” Sumrall said. “You know, he needs to continue to get work. Nobody's arrived, but he was 25-for-28 last year on field goals [at Tulane] with, I think, three over 50.” Backup Liam Padron went 3-4 in the scrimmage with one of 50 yards. CB Jordy Lowery: Injured a few plays into the scrimmage. “It's not gonna be a terribly long-term deal but a soft tissue deal that we'll just have to see how he responds,” Sumrall said. DT Kendal Guervil: “I think is going to have a shot to return to play, but we're just kind of making sure we're thorough there.” Sumrall said.

The problem was never a lack of of volume or standards. It was a lack of teeth. There’s been a story or two around making reference to Jon Sumrall being “loud.” I hope so, because the first rule of a good communicator is that he or she need to be heard. Not the “NOW HEAR THIS” yell with a megaphone, but somebody who stands up, looks you in the face and makes notification that they’ve got something to say that you need to hear. I think the new coach Gator has earned that respect before his first game. I don’t think the last guy did in four seasons. Players don’t stick around for a coach whose message they’ve tuned out. Good news: They are definitely tuned in to Sumrall. AND SO FAR ARE TRUSTING HIM. Here’s where I have to be honest instead of a homer: None of this has been tested against adversity. Sumrall’s tone has only had to survive an offseason of comparisons to one of the worst stretches in Florida football history, and that’s the lowest bar a new coach can clear. Muschamp is the permanent reminder that loud and intense doesn’t automatically translate into wins, and players have a well-documented habit of tuning out even a great message once the results stop matching it. But “untested” isn’t the same as “unconvincing.” There’s a version of this story where Jon Sumrall is simply the guy who yells more than Billy Napier did, and Florida fans are so starved for anything that resembles fire that they’re mistaking volume for substance. That would be an easy to write. It would also be wrong. Dig past the “he came in loud” quotes — and there are a lot of them now — and what emerges isn’t a coach who’s louder than his predecessors so much as a coach who’s specific in ways Napier, Dan Mullen, and even Will Muschamp never quite managed to be with this roster. That distinction is the real story of Sumrall’s first eight months in Gainesville, and it’s why the mood around this program feels different heading into fall camp. The problem was never a lack of of volume or standards. It was a lack of teeth. Go back and read Napier’s own postmortem on his tenure, and it’s almost an admission against interest. He told On3 this summer that he was “stubborn” for refusing to hand off play-calling duties, and that he “struggled to manage the workload” of the NIL and portal era because too much of the program’s day-to-day sat on his desk alone. Former tight end Jonathan Odom, who played under both Napier and Mullen, was more colorful about it, calling Napier “a micromanager” who “wanted to have his hands on everything” and describing an offense so rigid that opposing sidelines knew what was coming before the snap. Maybe the most damning detail of all: According to multiple reports, Florida players actually went to the previous staff and asked for tougher, more physical practices. Nothing changed. That’s not a coach without standards. That’s a coach whose standards never made it past his own office door. Mullen’s failure mode was almost the inverse. Odom’s read on him is instructive precisely because it isn’t hostile — he said Mullen’s “downfall wasn’t coaching,” it was getting dragged into recruiting fights and administrative battles until, in Odom’s words, “people weren’t really bought in anymore,” concluding that Mullen “really just needed a manager.” And Muschamp, the coach every “just be loud” argument eventually runs into, proves the point that intensity by itself is not a program strategy. He was every bit as fiery as Sumrall appears to be, and it still ended in a 27-20 record and a Sunday-afternoon firing. Three different coaches, three different flavors of the same underlying issue: A message that either never had force behind it, or force with nothing organizing it. Sumrall’s version of “loud” comes packaged with mechanisms, and that’s the part that should worry Florida fans less about this being a honeymoon phase. Start with the tone-setting itself. LJ McCray’s now-widely-quoted line — “He came in loud. He let us know what it was going to be and what it’s not going to be, and he’s upheld that standard” — isn’t an outlier. It’s the consensus. Running back Jadan Baugh said Sumrall is “24/7 on our heads.” Edge rusher Jayden Woods called him “very, very hands-on.” Linebacker Myles Graham said flatly, “I love the intensity.” Presence was never the Napier era’s strong suit. Then there’s the weight room, which Sumrall didn’t just criticize — he rebuilt it. He brought in Rusty Whitt, a former Green Beret, as strength coach specifically to reset a culture he called “underwhelming,” pushing what he’s described as an Urban Meyer-style standard of physical toughness. That’s not a slogan. That’s a personnel decision. There’s also a philosophical shift in how he talks to players about their own accountability. In the NIL era, Sumrall’s pitch is transactional and adult: “You’re earning money, so put in the effort… don’t tell me this is too difficult, we’re all professionals here.” Compare that to Mullen’s “family” framing or to Odom’s allegation that Napier once dismissed a legitimate concussion concern as “just a motivation tactic.” Different eras call for different tools, and Sumrall seems to understand that the 2026 Florida locker room needed a coach who treats players like professionals rather than either sons or subordinates. And then there’s the delegation piece, which might be the most pointed contrast of all. At SEC Media Days, Sumrall said, “It’s a player-driven game. Nobody comes to our games to watch me coach… it’s about the coaches putting our players in the situation to be successful.” Set that next to Odom’s account of Napier refusing to let a tight ends coach adjust to what he was seeing on the field mid-game — “we’re not changing what we’re going to do for one gap,” in Odom’s telling — and the difference in operating philosophy is stark. One coach hoarded control. The other is spreading it out and holding everyone, including his staff, to the standard. None of this is theoretical. Amid a portal era that gutted Napier’s rosters, Sumrall managed to retain core pieces like Jadan Baugh, Vernell Brown III, Myles Graham, Dallas Wilson and Jayden Woods, and talked five-star edge rusher LJ McCray out of testing the market. What Sumrall has built in eight months isn’t just a louder version of Billy Napier — it’s a coach who paired the intensity with actual structural changes: A rebuilt weight room, a delegated staff, a professional-not-paternal relationship with his roster, and a standard that, by every account so far, hasn’t wavered once it was set. That’s a meaningfully different foundation than either of the last two coaches to walk through the door in Gainesville. Whether it’s a sturdy enough foundation to survive a three-game losing streak in October is the only question left to answer — and it’s the one that will actually decide how this era gets remembered.

(Photo by Chris Spears) Jon Sumrall’s inner linebacker is alive and kicking, his tough guy mentality formulating every aspect of transforming the Gators from losers in four of the past five seasons back into the championship mode that made Florida the winningest team in the country from 1990-2010. In Sumrall’s way of thinking, finesse can only take you so far. The teams that compete for and win championships take on an only the strong survive attitude. “I am into making things hard,” Sumrall says. “Like, this is a challenging game and tough teams win. And so I think you have to embrace a level of toughness and grit it takes to be successful.” The Gators and toughness have been like two ships passing in the night a hundred miles apart the past several seasons. Go back to 2020, the COVID year when the Gators had as explosive an offense as there was in college football but lacked the toughness necessary to win when it mattered most. Shoegate comes to mind. Marco Wilson picked up an LSU shoe and threw it drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that extended what became the Tigers’ game-winning drive. Since then the Gators are 29-37. There was also the SEC Championship Game that season, winnable except for too many frivolous mental mistakes that gave Alabama the championship. Tough teams would have won both those games. A tough team would have beaten Alabama in 2021, a game that proved pivotal for Dan Mullen’s tenure as Florida’s head coach. Fourth quarter collapses and failures to make big plays when they were most needed became the lasting memory of the four Billy Napier years at UF. Tough teams rise up in the fourth quarter. Tough teams don’t make silly mistakes like false starts at crunch time, jumping offsides or not having enough players on the field. Some guys are born tough, but for others it is an acquired skill. In his first year as Florida’s coach, Sumrall is demanding toughness both individually and collectively. Whether it’s watching film, going through Rusty Whitt’s demanding strength and conditioning regimen or on the practice field toughness is demanded. It is as much a mentality as it is physical, specifically designed to create players capable of dealing with any situation or circumstance with a winning response. “I do want our guys to be challenged to the point that they're mentally tough and they can overcome adversity because there's going to be adversity,” Sumrall said. “And so we create adverse situations every day in practice, but I’m never really prescribed, like, let's break them down. Now, I do prescribe to the theory of, like, let's push them to the edge. Like, let's make it right. Let's put our toe right on that line of how hard can we make this.” You don’t instill toughness with practices that rely on finesse rather than physicality. You don’t instill toughness without finding the emotional and physical limit in each player. The only way to bring out the desired attitude is raising the bar in practice, making the learned art of toughness into an instinctive response to daily demands. This is how progress is measured, telling Sumrall who he can count on and who probably would be happier somewhere other than the University of Florida. “We coach them really, really hard all the time,” he said. “And, if they’re not coachable or don't want to get coached, then I don't want them to come here because it's not going to be a good fit.” It has been 18 years since Florida’s last championship team. In the years since 2008 when the Gators beat Alabama for the SEC title and Oklahoma for the national championship there have been four unsuccessful appearances in the SEC championship game. A 34-year streak of non-losing campaigns ended in 2013 and in the years since five more Florida teams have finished with a sub-.500 record. Sumrall is the fifth Florida coach since 2011. He knows what Florida once was and is tasked with bringing a return to life among the national elite. “Our job is to always be demanding,” Sumrall said. “The standard is really, really high and it never waivers.” ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC Alabama: Running back AK Dear suffered what is being called a lower leg injury in Alabama’s first scrimmage that will keep him sidelined for at least six weeks. Dear gained 140 yards and caught three passes last year as a freshman. First game: September 5 vs. East Carolina Arkansas: It’s a battle between KJ Jackson and AJ Hill for the starting QB job. Jackson can make some spectacular throws, but misses wide open sure things. Hill’s issues center around decision making. First game: September 5 vs. North Alabama Auburn: “Sloppy” is how first-year Auburn coach Alex Golesh termed the team’s first scrimmage. “We need a bunch of work tackling, we need a bunch of work perimeter blocking, we need a bunch of work pre-snap, we need a bunch of crowd noise work,” Golesh added. First game: September 5 vs. Baylor in Atlanta Georgia: College football Hall of Famer Aaron Taylor came away impressed with Georgia’s offensive line after spending a day watching the Bulldogs practice. Taylor was particularly impressed with tackles Earnest Green and Juan Gaston. First game: September 5 vs. Tennessee State Kentucky: Wide receiver Nic Anderson is being brought along slowly while recovering from a knee injury suffered last year when he was at LSU. Anderson caught only 12 passes for 106 yards after transferring to LSU from Oklahoma. First game: September 5 vs. Youngstown State LSU: Tennessee transfer Jordan Ross has settled in as a first team defensive end, filling in for Gabriel Reliford, who will miss the 2026 season for a knee injury suffered during spring practice. As a sophomore at Tennessee last year, Ross had 23 tackles and 1.5 sacks. First game September 5 vs. Clemson Mississippi State: Defensive lineman Will Whitson, who suffered a knee injury in game two last year, is back at full speed. Whitson had two sacks in six quarters before going down against Arizona State. First game: September 5 vs. Louisiana-Monroe Missouri: Mizzou’s first unit offensive line is shaping up as LT Cayden Green, LG Tristan Wilson; C Dominick Giudice, RG Curtis Peagler and RT Luke Work … Ole Miss transfer Cayden Lee, who caught 44 passes for 635 yards for the Rebels last season, is expected to be the go-to guy in the Mizzou passing game, hooking up with fellow Ole Miss transfer QB Austin Simmons. First game: September 3 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Oklahoma: Wide receiver Trell Harris, who transferred from Virginia after catching 59 passes for 847 yards and five touchdowns, is still waiting clearance for full speed contact. Harris and Texas transfer Parker Livingstone are expected to take the pressure off Isaiah Sategna III, who was the Sooners’ only downfield threat last season. First game: September 4 vs. UTEP Ole Miss: On an On3 podcast with Andy Staples, Kirk Herbstreit called Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss “the face of college football this year. I think he’s as good as the sport has to offer at the position. The guy’s a stud.” First game: September 6 vs. Louisville South Carolina: Freshman wide receiver Sequel Patterson has been an early standout. Patterson was a 2027 4-star recruit who reclassified to enroll early … Offensive tackle Jaccarius Peak will miss the first scrimmage with an injury. First game: September 5 vs. Kent State Tennessee: Edress Farooq, who was slated to be a starting safety, left Friday’s practice in an ambulance. His place in the lineup is expected to be taken by Penn State transfer Dejuan Lane. First game: September 5 vs. Furman Texas: Wide receiver Ryan Wingo has been the early standout in fall camp heading into the first scrimmage. Wingo led Texas with 54 catches for 835 yards and seven touchdowns last year. Also standing out for the Longhorns has been linebacker Rasheem Biles, a transfer from Pitt who last season had 101 tackles, 4.5 sacks and two interceptions, one of which he ran back for a TD. First game: September 5 vs. Texas State Texas A&M: Wide receiver Mario Craver added 15 pounds of muscle during the offseason. Craver, who caught 59 passes for 917 yards and four touchdowns in 2025, played at 165 pounds last season. First game: September 5 vs. Missouri State Vanderbilt: Freshman Jared Curtis, who checks in at 6-4 and 235 pounds, is solidifying his grip on the first team quarterback position. New Mexico transfer Blaze Berlowitz is getting the second team QB reps. First game: September 5 vs. Austin Peay

'I’m not so sure I don’t like the all blue pants jersey helmet better.' Jon Sumrall hasn’t called a single play in The Swamp. Doesn’t matter. The man already knows the one rule that trips up every outsider who walks into Gainesville: You honor Steve Spurrier, or you don’t survive here. Florida just rolled out the 2026 throwback — white jersey, white pants, orange-and-blue stripe, and that flat blue helmet with the old block “F.” Also, the blue helmets are making a comeback. Florida Football,revealed some interesting new uniform combinations for the 2026 season this week, including an all-blue look that will include blue pants, blue jerseys and blue helmets. The last time the Gators wore blue helmets was in 2020, when quarterback Kyle Trask threw for 433 yards and 4 TDs in UF's 31-19 win over Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. I appreciate the tribute to the HBC on going to the All-White throwbacks sometime this season, but in truth, I’m not so sure I don’t like the all blue pants jersey helmet better. What do you think? Sixty years ago, a brash, Tennessee kid named Spurrier slung it around Florida Field and became this school’s first Heisman winner. Nine and two. Orange Bowl win over Georgia Tech to close it out. That kid became the Head Ball Coach. The visor. The swagger. The national title. Everything Gator football thinks it is today traces back to him. You don’t get to skip that. Sumrall gets it. “I’ve seen them and I’m excited about them,” he said of the all whites. “I look forward to them… I do think they’re a cool tribute and such a cool look.” Smart. A first-year coach who leans into the program’s history instead of pretending he invented the place. No date locked yet, but smart money says Homecoming against South Carolina on Oct. 10. Now here’s where I’ll level with you: Two days later, Florida dropped an “all blue everything” combo — blue helmet, blue jersey, blue pants (Bleacher Report). And it’s got a hold on me I can’t shake. So let’s settle this the only way that matters — pro and con, no hedging. Here’s my ruling, and I’m not blinking on it: Wear the all-blue on the road when you want to scare somebody (if the home team all of as you to). Save the white-and-blue for the one Saturday big enough to deserve it. A uniform can look tough. Only one of these two actually means something. Sumrall picked the right one to lead with — don’t let a shiny alternate talk you out of that. Quick Jump Starts 1.Arrogance+Incompetence. College football journalist Bruce Feldman stated, "Arrogance plus incompetence is a lethal combination," while criticizing North Carolina general manager Mike Lombardi during an The Athletic discussion regarding the UNC football program's crisis mode under Bill Belichick. Brilliant! 2.Good move by Ole Miss to finally put the great Archie Manning in bronze. His number 18 was the first jersey number retired by Ole Miss. Archie finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1970 and was the second overall pick in the 1971 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. 3.What a beautiful site for Rays fans! On top of all MLB, 6 1/2 ahead of those Damn Yankees! 4.Not posing as an NBA guy, but maybe the most underrated, unappreciated player ever? Respect from one league to another. Congrats on an incredible career, Russell Westbrook. 5. I’m flummoxed that the SEC Media Days crew didn’t even vote Jadan Baugh first team all-preseason. But ESPN voted him first team pre-season All-Americans. I predict he’ll become one of the greatest Gators ever. Today’s Signoff Jon Sumrall isn’t bluffing. When he says he’s going to play “a ton” of people against FAU and Campbell, believe him — and if you want a number, I’ll go ahead and stick my neck out: Somewhere in the 60-to-70-player range across those first two Saturdays, maybe more before it’s over. Here’s my thinking. He’s done it before, with the same math. Sumrall isn’t guessing about how deep he’ll dig into a roster he barely knows — he’s got a track record. Asked this week how many players he actually had at Tulane last season, his answer wasn’t a number pulled from thin air: “116, I think… yeah, 116, 118. We were under 120, but we were over 110 for sure,” he said. And that means he’s coaching deep in the roster. That concept worked well for Urban Meyer.

Jadan Baugh catches a pass at Wednesday's practice (Photo by Chris Spears) A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: Only three weeks ago in Tampa at SEC Media Days, writers and broadcasters from all over the country voted Florida running back Jadan Baugh second team on its preseason all-conference team. Ahead of Baugh on the first team were Ahmad Hardy of Missouri and Kewan Lacy of Ole Miss. When ESPN released its preseason All-America team Thursday, Baugh was selected first team All-America along with Lacy. Hardy, who is recovering from a gunshot wound that might keep him out of a couple of early games, made second team. Among the notable preseason All-America teams, Athlon selected Baugh to its second team, while On3 placed him on the third team. CBS Sports selected Baugh as the No. 41 player in the nation. Running backs ahead of him are Lacy, Mark Fletcher Jr. (Miami), Hardy and Justice Haynes (Georgia Tech). Baugh didn’t make first, second or third team on Phil Steele’s preseason All-America. It should be noted that Steele has Georgia’s Nate Frazier on its second team. Frazier is a very good back, but he’s not in Jadan Baugh’s league. Gator fans, who are accustomed to the yearly snubs by the SEC coaches, might think this year’s preseason All-America teams further conspiracy theories that there is a bias against the University of Florida, case in point Jake Slaughter. In 2024, the SEC coaches didn’t make Slaughter either first, second or third team all-conference. Not only did Slaughter make the Associated Press first team All-SEC center, but Slaughter was the consensus first team All-American center as well. In Baugh’s situation for All-America, it’s not a conspiracy. It has everything to do with wins and losses. Lacy scored 24 touchdowns for 13-2 Ole Miss. Fletcher gained 1,192 yards for national runner-up Miami (13-3 record). Hardy gained 1,649 yards for 8-5 Missouri. Before he was injured in the seventh game at Michigan last year, Haynes had run for 857 yards and 10 TDs for a team that eventually finished 9-4. Nate Frazier gained 947 yards for 12-2 Georgia. Jadan Baugh ran for 1,170 yards and eight touchdowns plus he caught 33 passes for 210 yards and two more touchdowns. Those stats are fairly remarkable when you consider Florida went 4-8 with an offense that ranked 104th in the nation, 13th in the SEC. Everybody knew Baugh was going to get the football in Florida’s pedestrian and very predictable offense yet he still finished third in the SEC in rushing. Had the Gators gone 8-4 rather than 4-8, Baugh would have received far more recognition last year and wouldn’t have been snubbed by the likes of Phil Steele, Lindy’s and Sporting News. It’s kind of like the Heisman Trophy voting. The trophy is supposed to go to the best football player in the country but a tremendous amount of weight is placed on winning. All but one of last year’s top 10 finishers in the Heisman voting played on teams that won at least 10 games. Georgia Tech’s Haynes King finished tenth after leading the Yellow Jackets to a 9-win season. It is a much easier path to fame and glory when you play for a winning team. Here is the ESPN preseason All-America team. First team offense QB: Julian Sayin, Ohio State; RB: Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss; Jadan Baugh, Florida; WR: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State; Cam Coleman, Texas; TE: Terrance Carter Jr., Texas Tech; OT: Trevor Goosby, Texas; Carter Smith, Indiana; OG: Kade Pieper, Iowa; Anthonie Knapp, Notre Dame; C: Drew Bobo, Georgia; All-purporse: Malachi Tony, Miami Second team offense QB: CJ Carr, Notre Dame; RB: Ahmad Hardy, Missouri; Mark Fletcher Jr., Miami; WR: Nick Marsh, Indiana; Charlie Becker, Indiana; TE: Trey’Dez Green, LSU; OT: Jordan Seaton, LSU; Trevor Lauck, Iowa; OG: Greg Johnson, Minnesota; Evan Tengshdahl, Cincinnati; C: Ianapi Laloulu, Oregon; All-purpose: J’Kopy Williams, Texas Tech First team defense EDGE: Colin Simmons, Texas; Dylan Stewart, South Carolina; DT: A’Mauri Washington; Oregon; Ahmad Moten Sr., Miami; LB: Rasheem Biles, Texas; Xavier Atkins, Auburn; Sammy Brown, Clemson; CB: Leonard Moore, Notre Dame; Brice Pollock, Texas Tech; S: KJ Bolden, Georgia; Ty Benefield, LSU Second team defense EDGE: Anthony Smith, Minnesota; John Henry Daley, Michigan; DT: Will Echoles, Ole Miss; AJ Holmes, Texas Tech; LB: Rolijah Hardy, Indiana; Kip Lewis, Oklahoma; Whit Weeks, LSU; CB: Brandon Finney Jr., Oregon; Kelly Jones, Mississippi State; S: Amare Ferrell, Indiana; Bray Hubbard, Alabama First team special teams PK: Tate Sandell, Oklahoma; P: Evan Crenshaw, Troy; KR/PR: Ryan Niblett, Texas Second team special teams PK: Lucas Carneiro, Ole Miss; P: Palmer Williams, Baylor; KR/PR: Vicari Swain, South Carolina LSU HAS HURT JAYDEN DANIELS’ FEELINGS Jayden Daniels, who won the 2023 Heisman Trophy after passing for 40 touchdowns and running for four more, has sent a cease and desist letter to LSU, informing the school it can no longer use his name, image or likeness all because cornerback DJ Pickett will wear the No. 5 jersey this season. Daniels wore No. 5 at LSU while putting up Star Wars statistics and even though no Tiger has worn No. 5 in the two years since his departure, the jersey was never retired. While earning freshman All-America honors last season, Pickett wore No. 3. A spokesman for the Daniels’ family said, “The Daniels family is deeply disappointed and feels profoundly disrespected by LSU’s decision to give Jayden’s number to another player. Jayden and his family had every reason to believe that his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy and would be honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university.” As for Pickett, he was promised the No. 5 jersey by then LSU coach Brian Kelly when he was being recruited out of Zephyhills, Florida. Kelly did not allow Pickett to wear No. 5 last year without Daniels’ approval. Kelly was fired last year. New coach Lane Kiffin awarded Pickett the No. 5 jersey but did not award any player No. 9, which hasn’t been worn since Joe Burrow won the 2019 Heisman while leading LSU to the national championship. PREDICTING THE FUTURE The pads are on throughout the SEC this week with most schools scheduling their first scrimmage this weekend. Time to pick the order of finish in the league this year. 1. Texas: Steve Sarkisian brought in wide receiver Cam Coleman and running backs Hollywood Smothers and Releek Brown to complement Arch Manning, but his best move was luring Will Muschamp to become the defensive coordinator. I predict a Texas-Miami national championship game. 2. Georgia: The Bulldogs aren’t as deep as they used to be, but they’re still good enough to make the semifinals of the College Football Playoff and even win it if the stars and planets align. 3. Oklahoma: A dark horse pick. The Sooners have to play Georgia and Florida on the road, Texas in Dallas and Ole Miss at home. Brutal schedule but the defense will be second only to Texas. 4. Ole Miss: Trinidad Chambliss is a Heisman candidate at QB and Kewan Lacy is outstanding but the receivers are brand new and the schedule includes roadies with Florida, Texas and Oklahoma plus Georgia at home. 5. LSU: Sam Leavitt is 100 percent healthy, which means the LSU offense will be extraordinary. 6. Alabama: The schedule is one of the easier ones in the SEC, but the offense has way too much to prove. 7. Texas A&M: Road trips to LSU, Alabama and Oklahoma will decide if the Aggies are contenders or pretenders. 8. Florida: An 8-4 season would mean doubling last year’s win total. Anything more than eight wins is a bonus. 9. Tennessee: The Vols went 8-5 last year. That’s about right for this year, too. 10. Missouri: As long as Eli Drinkwitz is the coach, you can pencil the Tigers in for at least eight wins. 11. Auburn: The Tigers could really surprise people but one thing for sure, they will break the string of five straight losing seasons. 12. Vanderbilt: The Commodores will hover around 6-7 wins. 13. South Carolina: Another team that could surprise based on the hire of Kendal Briles as the OC. 14. Mississippi State: A 6-6 season would be an accomplishment, but seven isn’t out of the question. 15. Kentucky: New coach Will Stein talks a good game, but it is Kentucky, after all. 16. Arkansas: If the Hogs double last year’s total they will still be a 4-8 team. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: CBS Sports reported that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has sent out a memo telling the coaches in all sports to follow the NCAA eligibility guidelines as written in the 5-for-5 legislation until advised otherwise. Translation: Comply with the NCAA rules until the NCAA get clobbered enough times in court to give up its ridiculous fight to prevent high school grads from 2022 from getting a fifth year of eligibility. Despite getting hammered in the courts all over the country and Federal Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Colorado issuing a nationwide injunction that grants a fifth year, the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, is determined to appeal, claiming chaos will ensue, causing irreparable harm to 2026-27 freshmen and walk-ons due if this ruling is allowed to stand. Judge Sweeney determined that it would be the plaintiffs not only in her case, but throughout the country who do not understand why it is a third-year junior from the 2025-26 athletic year gets two more years to play and those who were fourth-year players are shut out. Judge Sweeney stated, “They (plaintiffs seeking a fifth year) will suffer irreparable harm without issuance of an injunction. And, the balance of equities as well as the public interest, favor them. They are entitled to injunctive relief.” The NCAA has tried to paint itself as the last bastion of hope for freshmen and walk-ons who will lose their scholarships in numbers game situations where to bring back fifth-year players coaches cut freshmen or walk-ons to stay within the limit of 105 for football, 15 for basketball. If this had actually happened, we would know about it because the media would have jumped all over the case for a kid being kicked to the street. Why, that kid might be the next Rudy, for all we know. Hasn’t happened, which leads us to understand the real motive behind the NCAA’s insistence on fighting every case in every courtroom across the country, billable hours racking up for attorneys at each whistlestop along the fruited plain. This is nothing more than a veiled attempt by the NCAA to re-assert itself as the final and absolute authority for college sports. What the NCAA has failed to do is look in the mirror. The problem isn’t kids challenging its authority. The problem is the NCAA and its own convoluted sense of fairness. Way too many inconsistencies in the way it enforces its own rules, evoking memories of Jerry Tarkanian who once said, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they’re going to give Cleveland State another year of probation.” The NCAA is attempting to expedite its appeal since football season begins in three weeks and there is that rare chance it will win an injunction that overthrows Judge Sweeney’s decision, but that will not be the end of this. The NCAA isn’t the only one capable of an appeal so this could drag on for a long, long time. Meanwhile, friendly judges everywhere will be issuing injunctions that prohibit the NCAA from banning the 2022 high school grads. The NCAA has chosen this hill to die on and die it will. Football season is about to begin. Basketball players like Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen are already enrolled for the fall semester. One of two things will happen: 1. After losing its appeal, the NCAA will capitulate and grandfather in last year’s fourth-year seniors; or 2. Even after the appeal the courts will continue deciding in favor of players and against the NCAA. Figure this. Denzel Aberdeen will be suiting up for the Gators when the season begins November 2. The only question is who ultimately decided his eligibility, the NCAA by giving up or the courts by more injunctions.

By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Let’s get one thing straight before the compliance office starts sweating: Nobody is talking about stealing signs here. No trash cans, no drones, no guy in a hoodie with binoculars in the upper deck. What I’m talking about is something far more embarrassing for a coach to admit — getting figured out in broad daylight, on film, by people who did nothing more than watch enough tape and keep count. That’s the dirty secret of play-calling in football. You don’t need espionage. You need patterns. And for four years in Gainesville, Billy Napier gave the whole conference plenty of patterns to count. The Secret Isn’t Cheating — It’s Repetition Every defensive coordinator in America builds the same weekly homework assignment: Pull every snap from an offense’s last several games, sort them by personnel grouping, down, distance, hash and formation and look for the plays that repeat when the math says they shouldn’t. If a team runs the ball 66 percent of the time out of one specific set, that’s not a tendency anymore — that’s a tell. If the same route shows up on third-and-long enough times, a safety starts jumping it before the ball is snapped. None of that requires stealing anything. It just requires an opponent who never varies the disguise. That’s precisely what Miami defensive coordinator Lance Guidry admitted to doing before dismantling Florida 41-17 in the 2024 opener. Guidry told reporters the Hurricanes “took the top five to seven plays that showed up in every game last year — a reverse, the crossing routes, a tailback screen,” and that “within the first 10 plays, probably four or five of them showed up.” That is about as close as a coordinator will ever come to a public confession: We knew exactly what was coming. The Teams That Cracked the Code Miami wasn’t alone, and it wasn’t a one-time thing. Heading into 2024’s showdown with Texas A&M, Florida’s own athletics website admitted the Gators were “haunted by routine play-calling, running the ball out of the pistol on every first down” of the opening quarter of a 33-20 loss. By February 2025, it wasn’t just Miami saying it out loud. Three anonymous SEC coaches told Athlon essentially the same thing about Napier’s offense in Florida’s “11” personnel: “Our safety called route trees pre-snap. They are predictable in that grouping… they weren’t hard to scheme for us in the passing game.” Then 2025 happened, and it got worse before it got fixed. USF — a team that had never beaten Florida — walked into the Swamp and won 18-16, with the media flatly noting “the next time Napier genuinely surprises a defense will be the first, still.” Then came the rematch with Miami: 141 total yards, 0-for-13 on third down, the fewest yards for a Florida offense since 1999. Napier himself said afterward it was “not good enough.” And this year, former Gator Jordan Odom removed all doubt about how it looked from inside the building, telling a podcast that Napier “would fold anytime we got into pressure situations… and we just became super predictable,” calling the offense “a bland waste of food” and adding, “If I’m a defensive coordinator watching our film, I could predict everything that was going to happen” Napier was fired seven games into 2025 with a 22-23 record, the worst by any Florida coach since the 1940s. Shirley, Doug Dickey and the Family Football IQ Now, I’ve told this story on the podcast before, but it bears repeating for the youngsters: My sweet late sister Shirley had a football IQ of about a 2 — bless her heart, she thought a “nickel back” was spare change — and even she could call Doug Dickey’s plays before he called them. That’s not really an insult to Shirley, a very smart lady. It’s an indictment of Dickey, who by his own admission after a crucial 1976 loss to Georgia said his staff “did a miserable job… I made some dumb calls” on a fourth-down gamble so predictable the Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville) paper ran the headline “Fourth and Dumb” the next morning. Conservative, by the book, and easy to see coming — that was Dickey’s brand, decades before anybody called it “predictable playcalling” on a podcast. Here’s the thing, though — decoding an opponent can be exhausting work on both sides of the headset. Even Steve Spurrier, the most creative offensive mind the SEC has ever produced, occasionally needed to hand the keys to somebody else. Back in 2010, with South Carolina on the verge of history, Spurrier turned play-calling into what ESPN called a “community effort,” sharing duties with his staff. He did it again in 2014 after second-guessing himself early in the season, before deciding a year later he’d rather live with his own mistakes: “You make a bad call and you say, ‘Aw, dumbass, why did I do that?’ Maybe somebody else can do it better… but I plan to be the playcaller again. “ Even the Head Ball Coach needed a breather now and then. That’s how demanding this actually is — which makes it all the more inexcusable when a coach refuses to ever hand it off, the way Napier famously did in Gainesville, per multiple reports of his “stubborn refusal to give up offensive play calling duties.” Enter Sumrall and Faulkner So how do Jon Sumrall and Buster Faulkner avoid becoming the next punch line? Start with the obvious structural fix: Sumrall is a defensive-minded head coach who has no interest in also being his own offensive coordinator. He hired Faulkner away from Georgia Tech specifically to own that job, calling him “one of the most innovative offensive coaches in football.” That alone separates this regime from the last one — nobody at a headset is going to tell Faulkner “we’re not changing what we’re going to do for one gap,” the way Odom said Napier once did. And Faulkner’s résumé backs up the hire. He was part of two national championship staffs at Georgia (2021, 2022) and one at Valdosta State (2007), spent three years building Georgia Tech into a top-12 national offense, and was named the 2025 FootballScoop Offensive Coordinator of the Year before Florida ever called. 247Sports labeled him “widely regarded as one of the top offensive coordinators in college football” at the time of the hire. The antidote to predictability isn’t a trick play — it’s disguise: Multiple formations that produce the same handful of core concepts, and enough answers on third down that a safety can’t just call it out anymore. That’s what a genuinely multiple offense buys you, and it’s the exact muscle Napier’s staff never built. So Who’s Actually the Best Play-Caller in the Country? Depends who you ask, and everybody’s got a favorite. On3’s Coach Dan Casey put Texas’s Steve Sarkisian at No. 1 this offseason -- we’ll see about that this season — followed by Kentucky’s Will Stein, Vanderbilt’s Tim Beck, LSU’s Charlie Weis Jr. and Navy’s Drew Cronic, with Lincoln Riley an honorable mention. Down in Athens, quarterback Gunner Stockton will tell you it’s his own coordinator, Mike Bobo, hands down — yet every day we hear a segment of Dawg fans calling for his head. My take, for what it’s worth after decades of watching this sport from the press box: There’s no wrong answer among that group, because they share the one trait Napier’s Florida never had — they change the picture enough that a defense can’t just count snaps and know what’s next. If Faulkner meets expectations in Gainesville, anything close to what he did at Georgia Tech, don’t be surprised if his name is on that list a year from now. Shirley would’ve liked that. She never did enjoy calling plays that already got called for her.

DT Jeremiah McCloud hits a sled during a practice drill on Tuesday (Photo by Chris Spears) The pads go on and football gets very serious for the Florida Gators today. With 24 days remaining until the season opener with Florida Atlantic at The Swamp, Jon Sumrall has 93 players on scholarship, 45 on offense, 42 on defense and six on special teams. Talent isn’t an issue for Sumrall and the Gators, but depth and experience pose potential issues at several positions, starting with quarterback where Aaron Philo and former walk-on Aidan Warner have exactly two starts between them. The size and strength are more than adequate at tackle, but experience is lacking. At linebacker, the Gators have seven scholarship bodies, three of them outstanding, but most experts believe it takes at least nine to make it through an SEC schedule. Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the scholarship players with concerns that follow each unit. OFFENSE (45 ON SCHOLARSHIP) QUARTERBACK (4) Aaron Philo (6-1, 207, RSO); Tramell Jones Jr. (6-0, 196, RFR); Will Griffin (6-3, 219, FR); Aidan Warner (6-3, 202, RJR) Concerns: There are exactly two starts among this group – one by Philo at Georgia Tech and one by Warner at Texas in 2024 when DJ Lagway was hurt. There is no question Philo and Jones are bright, talented young guys but game three at Auburn will begin a 9-game SEC gauntlet, the kind of which will either bring out the best in them or humble them. Philo has great natural running instincts while Jones has a strong enough arm that safeties will back off when he’s in the game. Philo likely will start the season at No. 1 but for how long? RUNNING BACK (5) Jadan Baugh (6-1, 225, JR); Evan Pryor (5-10, 189, RSR); London Montgomery (5-10, 192, RJR); Duke Clark (6-2, 208, RFR); Byron Louis (6-0, 195, RFR) Concerns: None. Baugh is one of the five best backs in the country, now with the opportunity to work in an innovative offense after toiling the last two years in a predictable, pedestrian scheme. Baugh should average between 15-20 carries per game, leaving another 15-17 to be shared by teammates. Pryor and Montgomery are former top 10 recruits who joined the Gators from the transfer portal. Both have make-you-miss moves, good hands catching the ball and they’re good enough to play in the slot where they will give the Gators an additional running threat. Clark has the size and speed to be the running back of the future. WIDE RECEIVER (11) Eric Singleton Jr. (5-10, 184, SR); Vernell Brown III (5-11, 178, SO); Dallas Wilson (6-3, 212, RFR); Bailey Stockton (5-10, 183, RJR); Micah Mays Jr. (6-1, 197, RJR); TJ Abrams (5-10, 198, RSO); Jaylen Lloyd (5-10, 185, RJR); Davian Groce (6-2, 199, FR); Kahliel Jackson (6-3, 214, FR); Justin Williams (5-11, 199, FR); Marquez Daniel (6-5, 219, FR) Concerns: None. The Gators haven’t had this much talent and speed at wide receiver since the 2019 team which featured six who went on to play in the NFL. The Gators have the receivers. The only question is can someone get the ball to them? Singleton has 152 career catches, 104 of them when he was the go-to guy in Buster Faulkner’s Georgia Tech offense. He figures to start along with Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson, both of whom should find a lot more space to operate in the Faulkner offense. Micah Mays Jr. is a big play looking for a place to happen. Bailey Stockton is a possession guy and TJ Abrams has world class speed. He might actually see the ball. Keep an eye on Jaylen Lloyd who is a legitimate deep threat. TIGHT END (7) Amir Jackson (6-5, 232, RSO); Lacota Dippre (6-3, 248, RJR); Luke Harpring (6-3, 237, RSO); Evan Chieca (6-4, 253, RJR); Jaylen Jordon (6-5, 247, SR); Micah Jones (6-4, 253, RFR); Heze Kent (6-6, 288, FR) Concerns: Blocking. The Gators have experienced pass catchers, but can they block at an SEC level? Jackson has speed and good hands, but he’s light (232) for the position. Dippre had 17 catches for James Madison’s playoff team. Harpring showed good hands at Georgia Tech and Chieca was a reliable pass catcher (31 receptions) at DII New Haven. Jordon is a former basketball player trying his hand at football. TACKLES (8) Emeka Ugorji (6-4, 308, SO); Caden Jones (6-8, 319, RJR); Eagan Boyer (6-8, 306, RSO); Fletcher Westphal (6-8, 309, RSO); Jahari Medlock (6-5, 309, RFR); Chancellor Campbell (6-8, 318, FR); Tyler Chukuyem (6-6, 300, FR); Javarli Lucas (6-6, 313, FR) Concerns: Plenty. Phil Trautwein has his work cut out for him with this group. Once past Ugorji, who started at Stanford last year, and Jones, who took over right tackle for UF in the last half of 2025, there isn’t much in the way of experience. Boyer came from Penn State where Trautwein was his coach. Westphal is long on potential but playing time has been minimal because he can’t stay healthy. If Boyer and Westphal are capable of giving rotation minutes, this unit could be better than expected. A fifth guy in the rotation has to be developed. There isn’t enough quality depth so these guys have to stay healthy. GUARDS (8) Knijeah Harris (6-3, 308, SR); TJ Shanahan (6-4, 309, RJR); Roderick Kearney (6-4, 303, RJR); Bryce Lovett (6-5, 305, RJR); TJ Dice Jr. (6-3, 298, RFR); Daniel Pierre Louis (6-4, 327, RFR); G’Nivre Carr (6-4, 311, FR); Desmond Green (6-5, 321, FR) Concerns: Minimal. Harris will be a fourth-year starter. Shanahan has emerged as a team leader. He knows Trautwein’s system and is a mauler in the running game. Kearney and Lovett have a lot of experience. Kearney can shift over to center if there are injuries. Lovett is versatile enough to slide over to tackle. Like tackle, there isn’t a lot of experience after the first four guys, but if they stay healthy they should be very good. CENTERS (2) Harrison Moore (6-4, 293, JR); Jason Zandamela (6-3, 286, RSO) Concerns: None as long as Harrison Moore stays healthy. He’s drawing comparisons to Jake Slaughter by the guys who were here last year. Tough enough to handle a nose tackle by himself, athletic enough to lead a sweep or get to the second level. Zandamela is long on potential but extremely short on experience. If anything happens to Moore, Rod Kearney may shift over from guard to be the replacement. DEFENSE (42 ON SCHOLARSHIP) ENDS (5) Kamran James (6-6, 278, SR); Emmanuel Oyebadejo (6-6, 299, RSR); TJ McCray (6-6, 277, RSO); Jaylen Wiggins (6-5, 271, RFR); JaReylan McCoy (6-7, 268, FR) Concerns: Potentially a force as pass rushers, but can they stuff the run? James has put together solid seasons back-to-back. Oyebadejo had a spectacular season as a pass rusher at Jacksonville State last year, but can he do it against SEC tackles? McCray is in the best shape of his life and appears ready to put it all together for an impact season. Depth is in short supply. Injuries must be avoided. TACKLES (8) Brendan Bett (6-4, 319, RJR); Joseph Mbatchou (6-5, 321, SO); DK Kalu (6-3, 309, RJR); Jeremiah McCloud (6-3, 294, SO); Jamari Lyons (6-4, 312, RJR); Mason Clinton (6-5, 293, RJR); Kendal Guervil (6-5, 309, FR); Stive-Bentley Keumajou-Yondui (6-3, 295, FR) Concerns: When it comes to sheer numbers, the Gators have it. When it comes to experience, not so much. Bett had exceptional games against Miami, Texas A&M and Ole Miss, but had games against lesser opponents in which he disappeared. Mbatchou erupted for a big game against Tennessee late season but otherwise rarely made a mark. He’s got ideal nose tackle size and mobility. Lyons can be a difference maker if he can stay healthy. Kalu and McCloud are long on potential, short on experience. Same with Clinton. JACK (3) Jayden Woods (6-3, 245, SO); Kofi Asare (6-5, 247, RSR); KJ Ford (6-4, 250, FR) Concerns: Depth. Great expectations for Woods, a potentially spectacular pass rusher who can also cover in space. Sumrall raves about him for both on and off the field demeanor. Asare is experienced but not overly productive. Ford is good enough to be on the field early and often as a true freshman. Behind Woods experience and depth are a concern. Woods has to stay healthy. LINEBACKERS (7) Myles Graham (6-1, 228, JR); Aaron Chiles (6-3, 238, JR); Jaden Robinson (6-0, 227, SR); TJ Bullard (6-1, 213, RSR); Ty Jackson (6-2, 228, SO); Myles Johnson (6-1, 232, SO); Malik Morris (6-0, 246, FR) Concerns: Graham, Chiles and Robinson are one of the better threesomes in the SEC. Graham is capable of an All-SEC type season. He’s rarely out of place. Run stuffer and good against the pass. Chiles was extremely productive the last seven games of 2025. Robinson’s best quality is he makes few mistakes. The problem is depth and the lack of experience behind the three starters. With only seven scholarship linebackers, the Gators can’t afford any kind of debilitating injuries. CORNERS (9) Jordy Lowery (5-10, 183, RSR); Dijon Johnson (6-1, 202, RJR); Cormani McClain (6-2, 181, RJR); Javier Jones (6-1, 181, RFR); J’Vari Flowers (5-10, 189, SO); Ben Hanks III (6-1, 186, RFR); Onis Konanbanny (6-0, 190, RFR); CJ Bronaugh (6-0, 183, FR); CJ Hester (6-0, 192, FR) Concerns: Experience. The Gators don’t lack for talent, but they have experience issues. Johnson was well on his way to a big year in 2025 when he went down with a knee in game four. He’s back but until he shows he’s back 100 percent in a real game there will be questions. McClain has put on weight since he arrived after his freshman year at Colorado. He’s good in coverage but has to improve his tackling. Lowery played his first two years at Western Carolina, last year at ECU where he was outstanding in the second half of the season. Flowers played very well last year once he got a chance to play. Hanks is a ballhawk who is going to be on the field. Bronaugh has world class speed. SAFETIES (7) Alfonzo Allen Jr. (5-11, 196, RSR); Bryce Thornton (5-10, 211, SR); DJ Coleman (6-0, 206, SR); Cam Dooley (6-2, 207, JR); Lagonza Hayward (6-1, 207, SO); Drake Stubbs (6-1, 203, SO); Kaiden Hall (6-2, 210, FR) Concerns: Very few. The Gators have experience and just enough depth. Best looking group of safeties in several years. Picking up Coleman and Dooley in the portal turned one of last year’s weak positions into a position of strength. Coleman is a hard hitter who plays the ball very well while Dooley plays the run well and doesn’t miss tackles. Allen didn’t play the first six games of 2025, but played very well the second half of the season. Thornton has been a regular in the lineup for three very productive years. Hayward is talented but needs more playing time. STAR (3) Kanye Clark (5-10, 184, RJR); Elijah Owens (6-2, 209, RSO); Dylan Purter (6-0, 185, FR) Concerns: Experience. Clark played well coming off the bench last year at UCLA. Owens is a juco transfer with skills. If Clark were injured Bryce Thornton might be moved from safety to STAR where sure tackling and coverage as a must. SPECIAL TEAMS (6) KICKERS (2) Patrick Durkin (5-11, 189, RSO); Liam Padron (5-9, 191, RSO) Concerns: None. Durkin was 25-28 on field goal attempts at Tulane with two of the three misses from beyond 50 yards. Padron was a kickoff guy at Texas A&M last year. PUNTERS (2) Alec Clark (6-0, 186, RJR); Miller Fealy (6-1, 208, RSO) Concerns: None. Clark averaged 46.52 yards per punt a year ago at Tulane, landing 16 punts inside the 20. Fealy punted at DII Southwestern Oklahoma. LONG SNAPPERS (2) Carter Milliron (SR); Hunter Solwold (6-3, 232, FR) Concerns: Newbies. Milliron has experience at Louisiana and Solwold took a redshirt at Washington. Neither one has snapped in an SEC environment.

Auto credit UAA Short Stuff: The Rest Of The Story: Napier’s Numbers Show Unmerited Mulligan When asked why he chose to return to college football mere months after being fired at Florida, first-year James Madison coach Billy Napier answered a question with a question: “How many coaches the last 10 years have gotten let go and got a chance to be a head coach the same cycle?” The answer: just eight. Not sure he earned it. Really Cool Stuff By Florida Legends — Next Week Keep an eye out for something special coming from Florida Legends involving the Isaiah 117 House in Ocala. The local chapter of this national non-profit gives children awaiting foster placement a safe, comforting home instead of a child welfare office to wait in. Its mission: • Reduce trauma — minimizes the fear and loneliness kids feel during initial removal from their homes. • Lighten the load — gives caseworkers a safe space to care for a child while they handle the paperwork. • Ease the transition — clean clothes, food, toys and a warm environment before a child meets their foster family. Locally, it’s backed by area congregations like Joy Lutheran Church in Ocala. Tweet of the Week (And It’s Dead Wrong) Some Tweeter declared that Haynes King is a future NFL MVP and that Buster Faulkner “wasted his talents.” Wrong on both counts. What’s not wrong: Buster Faulkner is an offensive coordinator who gets it. Q: Can you sense that this fan base wants a great offense again? A: “Yeah, shoot, I hope they do. That’s what I want. That’s what these kids want. That’s what Coach Sumrall wants. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be here. When you think of Florida football, you think of Coach Spurrier and all the things he did here. He was on the cutting edge of it. Then Urban Meyer, watching his offenses, they were fun too. They were physical, violent, and I think we want to be a combination of both of them. I still think violence and playing tough and playing physical, old-school football, still wins. But we do have the skill players to hopefully look like they did in the ‘90s with Spurrier. It’s all about winning and finding a way to score one more point than our opponent.” Q: What does it take to play quarterback for Buster Faulkner? A: “You got to be the toughest guy in the building mentally and physically. It’s not easy to play this position, especially in this league, what they got to go through each week, the defenses we’re going to see, the crowds we’re going to play against. All those things, you’ve got to be mentally and physically tough to be a great quarterback in this system, or really in any system.” New Day For LJ? McCray on his decision to return to UF: “This is my dream school, I grew up about an hour 30 away from here. So, being at Florida means a lot to me.” New Number, Same Mission: Zero/Hero? Switching from No. 15 to No. 0, Florida edge rusher Jayden Woods hopes big numbers — especially in the win column — help erase the memory of 2025. Real deal? He Flipped from Penn State and chose the Gators over Alabama, Kansas, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Oregon and Texas A&M, among others. History Lesson: Florida–Tennessee Remember when the Vols were a yearly rival? Florida leads the all-time series 33–22 through the end of the 2025 season. Texting with Paul Finebaum the other day about the 1955 Tennessee national champs, which I saw play vs. the Gators. Bowden Wyatt coached against the Gators exactly once, that day, leading Tennessee to a 20–0 shutout in Gainesville on November 12, 1955. His Tennessee tenure ran eight seasons (1955–1962), but the programs didn’t play annually back then — making it his only career meeting with Florida. Torrence Cashes In At his news conference, Bills coach Joe Brady was asked about former Gator guard O’Cyrus Torrence: “He’s one of the top guards in football. He was out there through every injury. He’s as tough as it gets.” Now, he’s richly paid for it. Torrence and Buffalo agreed to a 4-year, $78.4 million extension, making the former second-round pick the 7th-highest-paid guard in the league, with more than $46 million guaranteed. His deal was negotiated by agents Jon Perzley, Brian Mackler and Daniel Scardigno. Shanahan’s Scare Kyle Shanahan said he believed his Tesla was in autopilot mode when it veered into oncoming traffic on June 14, causing a crash that left the 49ers coach with broken bones and a lingering concussion. In his first podium appearance since the crash, Shanahan said autopilot apparently switched off when he reached down to retrieve a dropped phone while driving south on Alma Avenue in Palo Alto. He said he’s used some form of autopilot for nine years. “So I’m pretty comfortable with it and, you know, who knows what happened when I turned around — whether it malfunctioned or whether I knocked it off?” he said. “That’s something I don’t know yet.” “But regardless, that’s always your fault, whether you’re on autopilot or not,” he continued. “You can’t take your eyes off the road. (Driving) is a partnership. You don’t just turn it over to a computer. And it’s a good lesson, no matter how comfortable I am with that, that I believe someday could save my life or someone else’s. It’s really helped me have perspective on that stuff.” Horse Racing Note Churchill Downs and NYRA are reportedly squeezing the Preakness out in favor of a new Thoroughbred Championship Series. Starting in 2027, the Preakness Stakes is moving from its traditional Saturday to Sunday, May 23, 2027. Announced by MarylandGovernor Wes Moore and the Maryland Jockey Club, the race shifts to three weeks and a day after the Kentucky Derby to give horses more rest time. Key Schedule Changes New Timing: Three weeks after the Kentucky Derby instead of two. Day of Week: Sunday (the first Sunday Triple Crown race in history). Baugh’s Motivation Florida Gators star running back Jadan Baugh keeps a photo of his only career fumble on his phone. Gator Growl Is Coming Back Great to hear the HBC promoting the return of the Growl’s prominence. Glad to see us bringing back some of the fun things again at UF. Now how about GatorBait! Sumrall on the Fall Camp Schedule “The guys that were here previously, then went through, and got the format of the morning practice schedule, seemed to really enjoy it,” Sumrall said. “And it felt like we got the best of their day in regard to waking up, being fresh and ready to go. And so we’re going to continue that. And also, I think late in the week it helps you in-season maybe be fast and fresh on Saturday, which is kind of important.” Overdue: A Statue for Archie Archie Manning is getting a statue. Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter informed Manning Saturday of the school’s plans to honor him with a 13-foot statue depicting his legendary playing days for the Rebels. The statue has been commissioned and will be unveiled for the 2027 Ole Miss football season, Manning said. It’s expected to be displayed between the Manning football complex and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Loved that Jon Sumrall honored Steve Spurrier by choosing the 1966 all -white unis with a blue helmet as Gators’ throwback outfit. I Know you also like the all-orange coach Sumrall, but be careful because that makes us older Gators a bit queasy — probably because it’s a Miami-Tennessee-Auburn color.

Aaron Philo launches a pass at Friday's practice (Photo by Chris Spears) Had he stayed at Georgia Tech, Aaron Philo would have been prepping for a season opener against Colorado on September 3. After two years as the understudy for Haynes King, the starting quarterback job at Georgia Tech was the sure thing, not to mention the comforts of home just miles from the North Avenue campus in Atlanta. Instead of the sure thing, however, Philo elected to roll the dice and transfer to Florida when Buster Faulkner left Tech to become the offensive coordinator for first-year Florida coach Jon Sumrall. That might have seemed like a sure thing at the moment, but as the Gators prep for a season opener with Florida Atlantic four Saturdays from now, he finds himself engaged in a daily battle with redshirt freshman Tramell Jones Jr., who threw 28 passes in four games of mop-up duty for the Gators last season. Going back to the spring game where Jones had a statistically better game, it has been viewed as a down to the wire battle to see who will emerge as the first game starter. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either, because for the first time since 2019 when incumbent starter Feleipe Franks went toe-to-toe with Kyle Trask has there been serious competition for the starting job. Franks had the advantage of starting 13 games the previous year when the 2019 season opened in Orlando against Miami but two games later he fractured his ankle and Trask took over. The competition in the spring and throughout August had Trask well prepared to step in seamlessly, taking over a job he never relinquished until he used up all his eligibility in 2020. Competition brought out the best in Franks and Trask, just as it seems to be creating a perfect storm for the 2026 Gators with Philo and Jones. Philo most certainly has the advantage of more than two years immersion in Faulkner’s offense but Jones is a virtual sponge as he learns the details and nuances of his second offense in two years. They might be fighting for the same job, but the competition doesn’t prevent Philo from sharing his wealth of knowledge about Faulkner’s complicated but potentially explosive scheme. “In the quarterback room it’s an open book,” Philo said Friday morning. “We don’t keep secrets. We’re all trying to help each other at the end of the day. It’s not like I’m trying to keep anything in the playbook from anybody. If there’s something out there that I see, I’m gonna tell them, try to help them out as much as I can because I’ve been in it two years, now going on three years. I’m not keeping any secrets I’m trying to help out anybody any way I can.” This is a healthy, ongoing competition that might not be decided until the day of the season opener. Due to his experience and time spent mastering the Faulkner offense, Philo is thought to have the best shot of earning the staring job. Here are a few of his observations about the team he hopes to lead into battle a month from today. On Tramell Jones Jr.: “I think he’s a really smart player. I think he understands the defense really well. Obviously, he has a lot of zip on his ball. I think he’s got a really strong arm, but he’s a really smart player, really sharp.” On conditioning with Rusty Whitt: “This offseason I really wanted to work on my body. I think I dropped like 10 pounds of fat and gained 7 pounds of lean muscle. So that just allows me to be more confident with, you know, my speed, scrambling, and extending plays.” On center Harrison Moore and right guard TJ Shanahan: “Harrison ... He's got a dog mentality, man. There's no other way to put it. He's a trench warrior. He's going to give it everything he's got every single play, like TJ Shanahan as well. Those two guys have really pushed everybody in the room, and they're out there every single day getting snaps after practice, and they were doing that even before practice. Throughout the whole summer, they were getting snaps, so they've really worked their butt off, and those guys are going to get everything they work for.” More about Harrison Moore: “He played tight end in high school, so he's got a good athletic background. He moves really well for his size. It's pretty impressive.” The offensive line: “I feel really confident in those guys. I think they're going to keep improving. When five guys really come together and they play a lot of football together, I think they become more connected and they can play, like I said, more connected and be better. But I think they're doing a really good job. I know they're going to keep working their butts off, and I'm really excited for those guys.” The Faulkner offense: “I would say explosive and just getting the ball in playmakers’ hands. Finding a way to play to the strengths of the players on offense and finding a way to get them the ball and playing to their strengths.” Corner Ben Hanks III: “I think Ben Hanks had a really good spring ... I feel like his eyes are really good. He sees a lot of things, and then I think he plays the ball pretty good as well.” The tight ends: “Obviously we've got Amir Jackson, we've got Luke (Harpring), Lakota (Dipre), (Evan) Chieca … all those guys. I think they're going to be really good. I think we've got a really good tight end room, really versatile. I think we've got guys that can do different things, so excited about that.” On Bailey Stockton, transfer wide receiver from Georgia Tech: “I think, like, he's super competitive, ultra competitive. He wants to be the best. And I think all the guys in that receiver room, him knowing that he's got to compete has really pushed him to be the best that he can be. And, you know, he's not afraid of competition. He comes in every day, works his butt off. I'm really excited for him and what he's going to be able to do this season.” Declining a dig at last year’s Florida team while praising the team getting ready for 2026: “I'm just really excited about the team that we have here. I'm not going to speak on, like, anyone else. I'm just going to be where my feet are, and I'm really excited about the guys that we have and it's exactly the season. I think our skill guys are really good. I think our defense is going to be really good. And then up front, offensive line, we're going to be like, I would say all around like that. And then, obviously, on the perimeter, I think we're going to be extremely explosive.” On what he has to work on to improve: “Probably turnovers, not trying to force anything. Trying to do a better job of protecting the ball, playing winning football. And then just, obviously, just keep getting reps with those guys out there. Keep building chemistry. Just keep trying to build that connection as much as we can.” On the ceiling for Jaden Baugh in this offense: “There's no telling. I don't think he has one.”

Looks have a way of fooling you. When it comes to Florida football, we have these images of all that is good and right in the world of Danny Wuerffel with prayer hands together looking skyward, thanking God for blessing him with the skills to do his quarterback job at the highest levels. Danny was every bit as nice as the image on screen after every one of the 114 touchdown passes he threw during a career in which he helped the Gators to four straight Southeastern Conference championships and the 1996 national championship. The tuned up harp, polished halo look was a brilliant disguise for the fierce competitor within. Danny Wuerffel looked rather angelic on the outside, but the competitor behind the heavenly look was a baby-faced assassin. Thirty years later, Florida head coach Jon Sumrall has painted this image of defensive coordinator Brad White, touting him as a “Fortune 500 CEO” at Tuesday’s press conference to kick off fall football practice. It isn’t difficult to envision White in a grey suit, white shirt and striped blue tie, sitting behind a desk with the ever changing Dow and NASDAQ indexes streaming across his computer. That was going to be his life after football assignment when he hung up his cleats at Wake Forest, trading life as a linebacker for life as a Bank of America portfolio manager and analyst. Two years into the Bank of America gig, White’s inner Dick Butkus overruled he corporate life, leading him to gravitate back to football where his coaching career began humbly as a grad assistant at Wake Forest. Twenty years later, the nomadic life of a football coach has brought him to the University of Florida where he is charged with restoring the defense to its once ferocious status. He looks like a CEO but beneath the polished look is an old school football guy, the type that would have thrived in the no facemask era. The last time the Gators fielded a put the fear of God into opponents defense was 2019. A year later the rest of the Southeastern Conference figured out Todd Grantham’s third down blitz schemes and the defense went into a death spiral that has continued through the 2025 season. The 2019 Gators were a top ten national defense that gave up 306 yards and just 15.4 points per game. Since then the Gators have yet to crack the top half of the SEC total defense stats. A year ago the Gators were 13th in the SEC, 70th nationally and nobody was particularly afraid of lining up against the UF defense. White is here at Florida part of a total overhaul of the football program now led by Sumrall, who brings his no-nonsense, hold everybody accountable approach to Gainesville to reverse a four losers in five years trend that began in 2021. Sumrall brings a track record of success and championships after two years as the HBC at Troy followed by two at Tulane in which the 2025 Green Wave won 11 games and made the College Football Playoff. No sooner had the ink dried on his Florida contract than Sumrall called White, a highly respected defensive coordinator at Kentucky where he worked for Mark Stoops. White is one of those coaches that peers wonder out loud what he could do in a program with tremendous resources, an incredible recruiting base and a championship tradition. White has all those things at his disposal at Florida, plus a tough guy head coach with a defensive background. “He’s almost like an accountant,” Sumrall said Tuesday. “Like you hear him talk and you’re like, the level of detail … he’s a great teacher, one of the best teachers I’ve ever been around, doesn’t leave a stone unturned.” Then came the kind of description heard often among defensive coordinators whose units are typically well above average. “He has the ability to maybe see things that others don’t always in regards to how to manipulate the front and the coverage that goes with it, and what matches well and what doesn’t,” Sumrall said. Imagine that, a defensive coordinator at Florida who anticipates what is next and has his troops in position to make a stop. What will they think of next? Anticipation from the defense has been in short supply the last several years when third down has become an adventure. A year ago the Gators were next to last in the SEC and 119th out of 136 teams in Division I at getting off the field on third down. Given the amount of talent on hand and the amount of high school talent in Florida’s recruiting wheelhouse, there is absolutely no excuse for the Gators to live life among as an SEC catfish, dwelling among the defensive bottom feeders. At Kentucky, which will always be a basketball school capable of attracting top tier talent, White had to get the most out of players the SEC big guys overlooked. Those days are over. At Florida, White not only has access to the kind of talent he could only dream of at Kentucky but depth the likes of which he never saw. The questions that are on the mind of every fan in Gator Nation are can he get his troops in the right place at the right time? Can his defense play with enough discipline that those stupid drive-extending penalties are a thing of the past? Can the defense stop being so darned predictable? Can they be as tough in the fourth quarter as they were in the first? The Gators posted a 4-8 record last year that could have just as easily been 8-4 except for fourth quarter collapses and the defense’s inability to get third down stops to get off the field so the offense could have a chance to win the game. It will take a change of mindset both individually and collectively to reverse the trends of the last six years. If the Gators can embrace White’s defensive philosophy then the first steps toward restoration of Florida’s once-feared reputation will be taken. “Forget the noise,” he said. “Forget who's ranked what. Forget what the records are. Forget that person across from you doesn't respect you, and you shouldn't respect that person across from you. The goal is to take everything that they have and they want. That's it, and if we can get to the point that teams don't want to line up against you, or at least they have doubt about it, now we've accomplished what we want to do on defense." Absorb that for a moment. Forget the noise. Forget who’s ranked. Forget the records. Translation: What everybody else thinks is of no consequence. Show no respect for the guy across the line from you. Translation: Bring it consistently and never give him a reason to believe he can beat you whether it’s one play or for an entire game. Take away everything they have and want. Translation: Crush their hopes and make them feel as if surrender is a viable option. There was a time when Florida’s defenses were just that fierce, just that violent, just that mean and nasty. Whether it was in Gainesville where Florida’s defenders had the support of 90,000 screaming maniacs in The Swamp or on the road, the Gators made life miserable both for their opponents on the field and their fans in the stands. From 1990-2010 there was no more hated team in America than Florida. Opponents hated the Gators with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. It was wonderful. Both Sumrall and White are determined to restore the Gators to life among the hated in the SEC. From the day they arrived, old attitudes have been scrapped in favor of toughness, cameraderie, hard work and discipline, the necessary ingredients to build a championship team. White may have wondered what the reaction would be in the locker room to a new coach, a new staff and a new way of taking care of business but it didn’t take long to get the answer he both hoped for and needed. “They've been all in, bought in,” White said. “Do we have work to do? Yeah, we do, but you're encouraged as a coach to know that every coach in that defensive staff – every player in that unit room – is committed to trying to be and live up to coach's standard, that is to be the most feared defense in college football.” Oh, to be feared again. Those two Meet Mr. Wright moments in the past say more than words can express just how intimidating the Gators were. Lawrence Wright hit Tennessee’s Joey Kent so hard in 1995 that the only way fans knew Kent was still alive was when people with binoculars saw the spit bubbles in the corner of his mouth as he lay motionless on the turf on a rainy day at The Swamp. Peyton Manning didn’t dare throw another pass over the middle again that day. Major Wright and the football arrived at the same time on the third play of the 2008 national championship game in Miami against Oklahoma. Heisman Trophy QB Sam Bradford thought he had an easy one on a deep throw down the sideline but Major Wright launched and delivered a chest high blow that knocked Manny Johnson into next week. Oklahoma’s point-a-minute offense was intimidated, rendered pedestrian and scored only 14 points. Bradford’s receivers, who had been torching opponents all year, spent the rest of the game with an eye open for a pair of headhunters named Wright and Ahmad Black. Standing at the podium Tuesday, White grinned when he talked about a feared defense. He did indeed look like a guy who could pass as a Fortune 500 CEO, but looks can indeed deceive. Behind that easy grin and analytical demeanor is the heart of a linebacker, who, like Butkus doesn't like to inflict pain on anyone except maybe if it is important, like maybe a league game.

(UAA Photo) Friendly competition enhances relationship of Philo (l) and Jones. Haynes King’s big night in Canton was more than a nice preseason story. It was a reminder for Florida that, in today’s football, quarterbacks have to do more than read progressions and throw on schedule. King made plays with his arm, his legs and, most importantly, his instincts. When the play broke down, he did not. That should be music to the ears of new Gators offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, brought in by coach Jon Sumrall to revive a Florida offense that has too often looked like it needed jumper cables. Faulkner arrives after directing Georgia Tech’s productive offense, and his first job in Gainesville is clear: Make the quarterback dangerous again. The wrinkle, of course, is that DJ Lagway is no longer part of the equation. The former Florida quarterback transferred to Baylor after two seasons with the Gators, leaving Faulkner and Sumrall to identify the next man for the job.But the lesson from King still applies. Florida’s next quarterback needs structure, certainly — but he also needs permission. Permission to pull the ball down. Permission to extend a play. Permission to turn a collapsing pocket into a first down, or maybe a touchdown. King’s final Georgia Tech season under Faulkner was his most complete: 2,967 passing yards, 953 rushing yards and 29 total touchdowns in 12 games, with a 69.8% completion rate. He set the Yellow Jackets’ single-season total-offense record with 3,920 yards. The evidence says Faulkner made King materially better, rather than simply disguising his weaknesses. King’s completion percentage improved from 61.6% in 2023 to 72.9% in 2024, and he threw only two interceptions in 2024 after tossing 16 the year before. His progress was particularly evident in footwork and intermediate accuracy — two areas directly connected to whether a mobile quarterback can operate on schedule rather than live off improvisation. Did King reach his potential? The fair answer to the question is: Faulkner elevated King’s college game, while NFL preparation 77remains an open question — not an indictment. Faulkner gave King a system that stressed defenses with tempo, quarterback movement and the run game, allowing him meto sharpen his footwork, accuracy and confidence. That helped turn King from a volatile transfer into an elite college playmaker. But because Georgia Tech’s offense also gave King defined, quick answers and leaned heavily on his running ability, he arrived in the NFL still needing to prove he can win consistently from the pocket against pro coverages. His electric Panthers debut suggests he may be further along than the undrafted label indicated — but it does not erase the scouting questions. What does that portend for the Gators’ next QB? In the QB competition between Aaron Philo and Trammel Jones at Florida, Faulkner encourages a spirit of cooperation. And apparently it has worked. “In the quarterback room, it’s an open book,” Philo said. “We don’t keep secrets. We’re all trying to help each other at the end of the day, and it’s not like I’m trying to keep anything in the playbook from anybody. If there’s something out there that I see, I’m going to tell them to help them out as much as I can.” Faulkner is not be looking merely for a quarterback who can run his offense. He will be building an offense that lets his quarterback run free when the moment demands it. That is what Haynes King did in Canton. And if the Gators can find that same blend of discipline and daring under Faulkner, then Florida might finally have something worth getting excited about again. Seems the friendly competition is only enhancing the relationship of Philo and Jones. What about his relationship with Aaron? How would Jones describe it? “Very genuine; we get along very well, laugh, have fun. I think we want to see each other succeed, and I want to see him succeed, for sure. And I think that's why we both get along so well, because no matter who's going on the field, we want to see the other person be great.” He was asked how important is it that the two of them compete healthily and work together to set that example for the team. “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. I think the whole team sees it, and then that's what we want to take on everyone because everyone's competing. Everyone's competing for a starting spot — nothing's given. That's where the 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.” He was asked what he has learned from Buster Faulkner. “To just to take what the defense gives you. To spread the ball to your athletes. That's pretty much been the word. Give the athletes the ball. And I think that's what being a part of a point guard is: not trying to do too much, not trying to be... there's a time to be a game manager and then a game changer. So I've learned that and then, I mean, just doing the extra things outside the facility and inside the facility to learn the offense because I knew — I want to play quarterback here.” Do he and Philo hang out? “Yeah, we hang out — golf. We go eat with the quarterbacks all the time. And then really just outside in the facility, just being able to get close to him, being able to just being able to laugh, giggle, have fun sometimes. I think that's what it is with them.” So the whole quarterback room has a golf page and we’ve been playing golf. “Coach (Joe) Craddock plays golf, Coach (Steve) Spurrier plays golf. So Buster plays golf. So I'm like, ‘oh my gosh, I need to, I need to get in on this because they're going to play after later on in the day.’ And everybody was like, ‘You need to go get golf clubs. You need to go ahead.’ So I'm like, ‘All right, I'll go get some golf clubs. I'll go hit.’ So then that's how I got into it.” Interesting that Steve Spurrier's passion for golf is still influencing the Gator quarterback room today. And maybe there’s a whole lot more to the HBC legacy, which would be a really, really good thing.

Aaron Philo (12) and Tramell Jones (9) await a rep at QB (Photo by Chris Spears) If you hold your breath waiting for Jon Sumrall to name a starting quarterback for the Gators’ season opener with Florida Atlantic four Saturdays from now, you’ll turn blue, pass out and the paramedics will have to be called to revive you. Sumrall has a competitive war being waged between Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. for the No. 1 job, which suits him just fine but to give the edge to one or the other? Well, that’s just not going to happen any time soon. “Are we ready to name a starter today?” Sumrall asked rhetorically Monday morning at his weekly press conference at the Heavener Football Center. He answered his own question with a no, then admitted “the week of the first game, I may not come out and have some big formal announcement who QB1 is.” There is method to his madness and it dates back to the first year of his first head coaching gig at Troy, where he inherited Gunnar Watson, starter in the final seven games the year before, and added Jarret Doege, who arrived with more than 10,000 passing yards to his credit as a multi-year starter first at Bowling Green, then at West Virginia. The competition brought out the best in them as they combined for 3,393 yards and 19 touchdown passes to lead Troy to a 12-2 record and the Sun Belt Conference championship. The competition between Watson and Doege turned into a positive situation. “It worked out really well because Gunnar played good at times, and then he got hurt, and Jarret came in and played pretty good,” Sumrall recalled. “And then one of them wouldn't play good and one time one of them came over to me and was like, Coach, give him his shot. I'm not playing real good right now. And the other guy went in and won the game. And then we start the other guy that he played bad and put the other guy in and we go win the game.” Injuries happen, slumps happen, sometimes a quarterback, like a starting pitcher, just can’t throw strikes or read a zone defense spelled CAT even if you spot him the C, the A and the T. That’s when QB1 needs a QB1A. There is precedent for two quarterbacks to work well together at Florida. Steve Spurrier alternated Doug Johnson and Noah Brindise to knock then No. 2 Florida State out of contention for the national championship game, then used both quarterbacks effectively in the Citrus Bowl when the Gators bushwhacked Penn State. Jesse Palmer started the 2000 season as the No. 1 QB but when the offense stagnated, Rex Grossman took over as the starter. Sumrall recalled 2006 when Chris Leak was the No. 1 QB, but Tebow was essentially the designated runner. That tandem worked well enough together that the Urban Meyer-coached Gators beat Ohio State to win the national championship. “I showed our team this video,” Sumrall said. “I don't know if you guys saw this, but Tim Tebow spoke in an interview about his wanting to be the guy here in ‘06 when Chris Leak was the starter, but he's like, I didn't want to see Chris fail. I wanted Chris to do well. I just wanted to do better. Like you, you want to, yeah, you want to compete with the other guy and outperform me, but you don't, you don't want to elevate yourself and you really don't elevate as an individual because somebody else isn't doing well. That just means somebody else didn't do well.” Friendly, healthy competition fueled by mutual respect and a burning desire for the team to win is the best way for two quarterbacks to thrive while sending off constant, positive vibes to the rest of the team. From what spring football, the summer OTAs and four days of fall practice are telling Sumrall, he has that kind of situation brewing as Philo and Jones compete for the starting job. Philo arrived in January from Georgia Tech, where he spent two years backing up Haynes King in a highly productive scheme designed by now Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. He had a start and some productive relief efforts at Tech, so it has been near consensus opinion that he will be the starter when toe hits football against FAU on September 5. Philo has a quick release and is a decisive, instinctive runner. Jones, who toiled as DJ Lagway’s backup last season when he played in four games while taking a redshirt, has all the makings of a dynamic passer. Although he didn’t get to show off his running skills in Billy Napier’s rather methodical offense, offseason work with strength and conditioning guru Rusty Whitt has increased his speed on the treadmill to a most impressive 22 miles per hour. While going at it on a daily basis whether in the film room or on the field, Philo and Jones have formed a mutual admiration society which settles well with Sumrall. “What I want is both of them to do really well and one guy get to start, get to start because he was just a tad better during training camp in spring,” Sumrall said. “That'd be beautiful. I don't want one guy to, do okay and the other guy be terrible and then it's like we had one guy just did okay and one guy did terrible and we're gonna start the guy was just okay like so they look they both competitive in nature they both want to be the guy if they did we'd have a problem they're both in a great spot they compete with each other well they lift with each other in the same rack they encourage each other they challenge each other they compete with each other but nobody rises because you push another guy down And so, you know, the old adage, iron sharpens iron, one man sharpens another. “I'm a firm believer that like great people, if you're a really high achiever, you know what motivates you? Other people also being successful. If you're a loser or if you're a fixed mindset or you're a soft person, man, you're intimidated by other people's success. So I want our quarterback room … I want all of them to be motivated by somebody else's success, not intimidated. And somebody will go out and take the ball game one, and I expect the guy who does to still be humble about his approach and work his tail off. And the guy that doesn't, I expect him to know, hey, I'm going to be one play away from being put in the game and prepare like a starter because you never know when your opportunity is coming.” Injury report: There are the usual dings and soft tissue injuries but so far only redshirt sophomore backup running back Kelvin Jimenez and freshman defensive tackle Kendall Geurvil have sustained anything substantial. Jimenez suffered his injury in Saturday’s practice. Sumrall said he will be “out for awhile.” Guervil suffered a knee injury in high school that has flared up, causing Sumrall to say, “Just don’t know the full extent of that yet so he’s currently out.” Others on the injury list are redshirt junior tight end Evan Chieca, a transfer from New Haven; senior defensive lineman Kam James; redshirt freshman running back Duke Clark; senior tight end and Jacksonville transfer Jaylen Jordan; freshman safety Kaiden Hall; freshman wide receiver Marquez Daniel; and freshman corner CJ Bronaugh. “Those are the guys that have kind of been limited in some nature,” Sumrall said. “Some guys are close to return. Those last set of guys and Chieca are guys that I don't foresee them being out for any game action, barring something that doesn't go right. But they're guys that right now have some sort of limitation at practice. Some could be back in a couple days, some could be back in a week or two, but don't see any of them being out for a game week as of right now. So nothing substantial, just normal wear and tear from training camp.”