So a transfer who already knew the offense beat out a redshirt freshman who didn’t. Stop the presses. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Well, hallelujah and hide the confetti. Jon Sumrall finally told us something we all probably thought we already knew: Aaron Philo is Florida’s starting quarterback. He announced it Monday, a little tardy to his own press conference because he was busy fretting over a defense that, by his own admission, still has a “long way to go.” Priorities, Priorities. Let’s be honest about what actually happened here. Nobody in The Swamp needed a decoder ring for this one. Philo transferred in from Georgia Tech in January specifically because his new offensive coordinator, Buster Faulkner, already had him drilled in the offense from their two years together in Atlanta, where Philo authored a gaudy 57.8 percent completion rate as a backup. So a transfer who already knew the offense beat out a redshirt freshman who didn’t. Stop the presses. Somebody alert Nostradamus. But Sumrall couldn’t just say that. Coaches never can. “There will not be some crazy big hoopla around our building,” he assured everyone, which is coach-speak for “please do not make this a big story,” delivered, naturally, in the exact setting engineered to make it a story. He met with both quarterbacks Sunday afternoon at 4:45 — because apparently the time stamp matters, gentlemen, write that down — and came away moved to tears about how “awesome” they both are. Both of them. Everybody’s awesome. The tackling dummies are probably awesome too. Here’s the part that should actually keep Gator fans up at night, and it isn’t the quarterback. It’s that Sumrall felt compelled to hedge his own headline. Philo gets “the lion’s share” of reps with the ones, not all of them. Tramell Jones Jr. is “still going to get some.” This is not a decision. This is a rental agreement with an early-termination clause, and Sumrall told you as much himself: “This is not an anointing. This is not permanent. You’re not a starter forever because you got to keep playing good.” Translation: Aaron, enjoy the view from the top. Bring a parachute. And credit where it’s due — Sumrall did manage one unintentionally hilarious moment, comparing this competition favorably to Tim Tebow’s old job description by insisting neither quarterback “needs to be Tim Tebow.”No, they just need to not throw it to the other team, which after watching this defense in camp might be the more pressing job requirement on the entire roster. Speaking of that defense. While the room full of reporters was busy scribbling down synonyms for “lion’s share,” Sumrall was over in the corner quietly admitting the unit Brad White inherited from Kentucky is nowhere close to game-ready, tackling described charitably as “decent for a first scrimmage” against actual first-teamers, with defensive backs getting torched in the open field. That’s the story nobody wanted to lead with Friday, because a quarterback announcement is a headline and a leaky secondary twelve days before Florida Atlantic is a five-alarm fire nobody’s ready to discuss out loud yet. Sumrall’s own words from the spring game still apply word for word: The Gators have “a long way to go before they are the team he envisions.” So here’s where we actually are, stripped of the coach-speak: Florida has a quarterback who knows the playbook better than the alternative, a backup who’s closed the gap enough that his coach won’t stop bringing him up unprompted, and a defense that got exposed in a scrimmage twelve days before kickoff against a Group of Five team. Sumrall wants everyone calm, no hoopla, nothing to see here. Fine. But if Philo throws two picks against FAU and that secondary gets embarrassed again, don’t act surprised when the hoopla shows up anyway. It always does in Gainesville. It’s the one Gator tradition Sumrall — or any other Gator coach — hasn’t figured out how to coach-speak his way around yet. Not that Sumrall would stain his already deservedly earned rep as a straight shooter. (We would call him Billy the Kid, but that first name is already taken.) No, Coach Sumrall, just keep doing you. Buddy Martin has covered Florida football long enough to know that “not an anointing” is Latin for “check back in three weeks.”

Also in a report on Saturday’s scrimmage (below), unsubstantiated, Jones Shines At Quarterback By EDDIE GILLEY GatorBaitMedia.com Very few teams can overcome key injuries and stay in the chase for championships. That’s even more true in the era of college football that exists today. The transfer portal and NIL hasushered in an era where the #3 guy usually bolts for playing time or a few more dollars and a chance to start at a lesser program. But it’s not just the injury bug that you have to worry about. Key players need to perform like the stars you think they are for your team to be successful. Here are some of those key players from my perspective for the Gators on both sides of the ball. #1 – Jaden Baugh. I know Buster Faulkner has said he wants to throw it all around the yard, but I’m just not sure you have a QB that can be trusted to do that well. I am confident in turning around and handing it to #13 or pitching it to him. I’m also hopeful that if we have the lead late in the game, he’s going to be unstoppable on three carries in a row to get the first down to seal the game. He’s a beast and if he stays healthy, he should repeat his 1170-yard season. #2 – Dallas Wilson. We saw glimpses of his talent last year. If he can stay healthy, that production for an entire season should make him an all-SEC receiver. The production from him would be enough to help make the offense scary for the Gators. However, the bigger impact is what that does for the rest of the receiving corp. It makes the second-best cover guy have to cover Eric Singleton on the other side. It forces a safety or the third best DB to cover Vernell Brown III. The domino effect makes all of the receivers more effective and takes a lot of pressure off whoever is the starter at QB. #3 – Cormani McClain. If this guy can ever find the field and stay there, the talent is phenomenal. All he does is make plays, well and give up big plays too! If that can stop this year, the Gators will be much tougher on defense. He has the potential to lock down one side of the field by himself, allowing Brad White the freedom to do some creative things with blitzes and coverages. #4 – Myles Graham. He may not be the best linebacker in the league, or even on the team, but he is the heart of that defense. He bleeds Orange and Blue. He’s vocal. He’s a hitter. If he can become even more of a physical presence in the middle of that defense, look out! #5 – LJ McCray. Can he be the dominant alpha guy on the defensive line? He’s versatile enough to move around to create blocking mismatches, especially on throwing downs. He’s big enough to play tough inside and fast enough to be an edge guy. Can he make the jump to be a dominant force on the defensive front? Those are my five. I’m sure you have your own key players. I didn’t name a QB because as of this date, neither has Coach Sumrall. Obviously, whoever that is will be a key player and maybe the #1 key player overall. Two weeks and counting until GameDay! Time will tell if these guys and other key players exceed our expectations this season. Scrimmage Report By GatorBait Sources Unconfirmed scrimmage report from several sources: (We were not able to confirm these eye witness reports) Closed Scrimmage Quarterbacks Tramell Jones Jr.: • Threw a long touchdown pass to Bailey Stockton — described as one of his best throws. • On the same throw: the pass arguably should have been picked off despite the pretty result. • Followed the TD with a fumbled snap and a bad interception thrown back across his body. • Box score (per one report): 1 TD, 1 INT, 1 lost fumble. • Conflicting report: a second account has the fumble occurring but NOT lost (recovered by the offense). Needs to be reconciled/confirmed. Aaron Philo: • Consistent and steady directing the offense. • Rushing stat line: 1 rushing TD, 0 INTs. Running Backs • Clark: 2 TDs • Pryor: 1 TD • Baugh: 1 TD Pass Catchers • TE Amir Jackson: A 20-yard catch and run. • Heze Kent: Impressive touchdown catch. • Bailey Stockton: Jones’s long touchdown Offensive Line • Bryce Lovett worked at left tackle and reportedly looked good there. • Group overall got a lot of push and looked solid up front. Defense • Cormani McClain had another interception. • Other standouts at times: J. Woods, and Myles Graham LJ McCray — Graham big hit on WR TJ Abrams. • Multiple DBs blew opportunities for interceptions. Did Not Play • Dallas Wilson did not play. • Vernell and Eric both had good days (no additional stat detail given). • The ran roughly 127 plays. • Both quarterbacks (Philo and Jones) were described as competitive, with no clear separation. ---

She had the "it" factor at hello Paul Finebaum told me this week. (Chris Spears Photo) Here’s the irony nobody at Bristol wants to say out loud: ESPN has a likeability problem right now, and it’s largely self-inflicted. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com I’ve watched a lot of young talent come through a lot of newsrooms and control rooms over the decades, and every so often you meet one who makes you stop and think, “This one’s going all the way.” Laura Rutledge — née McKeeman, though around our shop we never called her anything but Laura — was that kind of intern. Diligent. Coachable. Up before everybody else and still working after everybody else went home. So when she stepped away from SEC Nation this year after nine seasons as its host to expand her role covering the NFL — including ESPN’s Super Bowl coverage in February 2027 — a bunch of us who knew her back when felt something close to parental pride. I also mourn the fact that my Saturdays won’t be the same without Laura hosting SEC nation. “Ten years ago, I walked onto this set not fully knowing what the journey would become,” she said in her goodbye. “Today, I walk away knowing it became one of the most meaningful chapters of my life. “ Though it may feel that way to some of us, she’s not leaving the family, mind you. She’s just moving to a bigger room in the same house — full-time Monday Night Football sideline duties alongside Lisa Salters, the year-round grind of hosting NFL Live, and a Super Bowl on the horizon. Still, it’s like seeing your daughter go off to college — you know she won’t come home the same. Laura's first TV gig with us on Cox. Justin Wells (l) and the old guy. (Brenden Martin photo) The Likeability Problem ESPN Won’t Solve With Money Here’s the irony nobody at Bristol wants to say out loud: ESPN has a likeability problem right now, and it’s largely self-inflicted. Then there is the perception that ESPN is obsessed with gambling, WWE and creating conflict to incite viewers. And throwing gobs of money at those who will espouse those tenets — like the soon to be rich(er) punter. Pat McAfee is reportedly negotiating an extension worth $60 million to $65 million a year, which would make him the highest-paid personality in sports media history on paper. Stephen A. Smith, meanwhile, is already sitting on a five-year, $100 million deal he signed last year. Add it up and you’re well north of $50 million a year for two men — a figure that’s about to balloon considerably higher once McAfee’s new number is assigned. The McAfee backlash, whether a sense of inequity or professional jealousy, raises the dander of the ESPN family, present and former. Said one on a recent podcast, “I admire it all, but admiring what Pat McAfee has accomplished doesn’t mean I believe he needs to be everywhere at every time,” Linda Cohn said on her podcast, The Linda Cohn Show. “Because, yeah, ESPN wants Pat McAfee to be everywhere at every time. How much Pat McAfee is enough Pat McAfee?! The answer apparently was more.” McAfee will be very busy this fall. He has his daily show on ESPN, he appears on College GameDay every Saturday and now he’ll be on the pregame show every Monday night. There have also been reports that ESPN is trying to get an alt-cast led by McAfee for MNFgames. That’s a lot. “So, let’s review your potential Monday during the NFL season, which is just a couple of weeks away,” Cohn said. “Three hours of Pat’s daily show, ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ from the game site. Then, Pat joins ‘Monday Night Countdown’ before the game. And then, on certain nights, potentially, his own alternative broadcast of ‘Monday Night Football.’ At this point, let’s just call it ‘Monday Night McAfee.'” Disney insiders themselves are grumbling about it, especially with ESPN laying off employees in the same stretch that it’s throwing tens of millions at its two loudest voices. Stephen A. has become something like the self-appointed godfather/pope of all sports television, holding court over everything from the NBA to whatever’s trending that hour. McAfee draws his own kind of backlash for a different reason — the sense that he’s been anointed the new face of the network at a price nobody else’s résumé would command. Laura draws none of that ire. People love Laura. People root for Laura. In an industry full of manufactured outrage and shouting matches, she’s built a career on being prepared, being kind on air and never needing to be the loudest person in the room to be the best one in it. What She Actually Makes, and What She’s Actually Worth And yet, by comparison, she makes peanuts. The last publicly reported figure on Laura’s salary was a paltry $400,000 a year, cited by multiple outlets referencing Pro Football & Sports Network’s reporting (The Big Lead; Athlon Sports). ESPN did re-sign her to a multi-year contract extension carrying her into her second decade with the network, with content president Burke Magnus calling her “a consummate professional and wonderful teammate” whose versatility lets ESPN use her “in multiple roles, across numerous sports, throughout the year.(Translated: We got her cheap.) But let’s be clear about what that extension was not: One outlet ran with a claim that she landed a “$100 million contract extension,” and that figure isn’t corroborated by ESPN, or by any credible media reporter, or by anybody else covering the sports television beat. It’s an unreliable outlier, and I’m not going to pretend otherwise just because it would make a better headline. Here’s what I will say — in reality, she’s probably worth close to at least half of what McAfee or Stephen A. rake in. She’ll never actually get there, because that’s not how this business values a versatile, camera-ready professional who does her job well without generating controversy for controversy’s sake. But she’ll get a bigger chunk of it eventually, and deservedly so. There’s been chatter — unsubstantiated, and I’ll flag it as such rather than launder it as fact — that her career earnings could approach $100 million over its full lifetime. Maybe. I’ve learned not to bet against Laura Rutledge underestimating her own timeline. The Airport Interview None of this looked inevitable when she was 25 and scared she’d missed her window. She was fresh off sideline and feature reporting for the Tampa Bay Rays and San Diego Padres for Fox Sports, freelancing at CNN International hosting World Sport — “It was all about like cricket. You couldn’t call soccer, you had to call it football. I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’” — when the SEC Network started coming together around her. “I’m sending incessant emails to anybody with an ESPN email address that I could find online,” she told me. “I was scrounging the internet for somebody to send my resume reel to. And they wouldn’t call me back. Wouldn’t call me back. I’d given up. That was a real low point. I was 25 and I’m thinking, God, I can’t get anybody at the national, regional level to give me any attention. “I knew I was pretty good at that point. I had a pretty good resume reel. There were many things that needed to be worked on, but I thought, for my age I’ve got a pretty good amount of stuff here. “So finally they gave me a call back, and they said, ‘We’ll do an interview with you in the Atlanta airport. You have to come at exactly this time — we’re doing a layover in the Atlanta airport, and we’re going to come out of security, interview you, and then go back through and get our connecting flight.’ And I’m like, oh my God, are these people taking me seriously? This doesn’t seem very serious!’ So whatever, I roll up to the Atlanta airport. I think I bombed the interview.” Nobody bombs their way into a Super Bowl assignment, but that’s how little Laura believed in the moment at the time. She had already married Josh Rutledge, whom she met at a tailgate in Tuscaloosa for the 2011 Alabama-LSU game and who went on to a big-league career with the Red Sox, among other clubs. They now have two kids, Reese — already a budding star in her own right for her football picks — and Jack, who has yet to negotiate his first ESPN contract. The Road Not Taken CNN had actually offered her a full-time position in its sports department. She turned it down. “And then I decided at that point I should go ahead and keep trying to put my eggs in the SEC Network basket,” she said. “And thank God they called me and they said, ‘Okay, well, we’ll hire you. You’re going to do a 12-event contract’ — which was like nothing. And I had a good job in mainstream with Fox Sports. “I’ll never forget going to my husband. We had just gotten married and I said, ‘Hey, I know you thought I was making this, but what do you think about this?’ And he’s probably like, oh golly, this girl I marry thinking she’s bringing in some cash, and turns out she’s not.” It was, in hindsight, the hinge point of her whole career — a former ballet competitor turned young wife turned future national TV star betting everything on a network that hadn’t even launched yet. “I did sort of take a leap of faith. I took the uncomfortable turn there. If you’re a fan of Robert Frost, I was kind of taking ‘The Road Less Traveled,’ because it didn’t make sense. I had everything mainstream with Fox. I even had the opportunity at CNN, and here I am saying, I’m going to throw all that away for a big risk, because it was obvious that ESPN was sort of having me on a trial period. “But I tell this story because that first year at SEC Network, I was on the 12 events. I did 68 events on a 12-event deal. I told them anything and everything, I’ll do it. So it was gymnastics, softball, college baseball — everything they had, every event they had, I said, I’m going to show you that you made the right decision here. But it wasn’t that easy, because the next year they were kind of like, ‘Uh, maybe we’ll have her back, maybe we won’t.’ They ended up having me back, but I kind of did the same thing. I felt like I was spinning my wheels. And then fast forward — enter Paul Finebaum.” She had the "it" factor at hello Finebaum told me this week. “I saw it very early when she would sit in studio on our show and eviscerate callers who tried to outsmart her about football. It was like an early Mike Tyson fight. Over in seconds. As Laura’s fame grew, she never changed. Always charming, always smart. Always helpful and engaging in every way. “The most surprising thing about Laura is I don’t think her real talent and stardom has occurred yet.” Worth the Wait That’s a story for another column, because we all know how it turned out. Twelve events became sixty-eight became a decade of Saturday mornings hosting the top pregame show in college football, then a full-time seat on Monday nights, then the host’s chair at NFL Live, and now a runway toward Super Bowl week itself (New York Post; ESPN Press Room). ESPN can keep handing McAfee and Stephen A. whatever it wants — that’s the business the network has chosen to be in, likeability crisis and all. But somewhere in Bristol, somebody ought to be doing the math on what it actually costs to keep the one personality who never generates a bad headline, never needs damage control, and still manages to be the most trusted face on some of the biggest stages in the sport. We knew she was going to be a star one day. I saw it. Brenden Martin of GatorBaitMedia.com and Steve Russell of WRUF saw it. Said Russell: “When she was a student with me in the UF Journalism school Laura always wanted to work hard, to learn and to get better but it was the work ethic that stood out to me and her success because of that work is wonderful to see and well earned.” Brenden Martin added: “She wouldn’t take no for answer and never said no to an assignment. It wasn’t just her (Miss Florida) looks or charm. You could tell from jump street that she was willing to work harder than anybody in the room.” Turns out we were right — and ESPN, eventually, is going to have to admit it in the one language that network actually speaks: The number on the check. My Saturdays just won’t be the same now.

John Sumrall, Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer are prominent figures in Florida coaching history “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” – The voice of MacDonald Carey for the intro of the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” which first aired on television in 1965. Officially, the soap opera that is University of Florida football began on October 5, 1906 with a 16-6 win over the Gainesville Athletic Club. James Forsythe was the head coach. It wasn’t until 1911 that UF athletic director William G. Kline adopted Gators as the team nickname. In the 115 years since, the narrative associated with the Florida Gators truly resembles a soap opera with its many plot twists and a constantly changing list of characters in lead and supporting roles most of whom are mysteriously connected in small ways to the legendary Tennessee coach General Robert Neyland. Our saga begins at the United States Military Academy in West Point of all places. The graduating classes of 1915-16 that included future president of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Omar Bradley, included future generals James Van Fleet and Robert Neyland. Van Fleet, a Polk County native, would become Florida’s football coach in 1923-24 where he would compile a 12-3-4 record. After UF, Van Fleet never coached football again, instead going on to fame as one of Patton’s top generals during World War II. General Neyland would become the head coach at Tennessee in 1926. His legacy, not just at Florida but throughout college football endures prominently today. Here is a connect the dots condensed version of Florida football history starting in 1928 with General Neyland and continuing to the present. Starting in 1950 and with very few exceptions, the Neyland legacy has been present in Florida’s head coaching decisions. 1928: Florida went to Knoxville for the final game of the regular season in contention for the Rose Bowl. The Gators were 8-0 and the Vols were 8-0-1. A drought had engulfed Eastern Tennessee and there had been no rain in weeks but when the Gators showed up at Shields-Watkins Field, it was a muddy quagmire. The explanation a torrential rain had fallen sometime after midnight and the only place it rained in all of Knoxville was the stadium. The mud negated Florida’s speed advantage. Florida needed long cleats for the mud but the sporting goods stores in Knoxville were all closed and Tennessee mysteriously had none to spare. The star for the Vols was quarterback Bobby Dodd, who also made the defensive play that saved a 13-12 win, ending Florida’s dreams of an unbeaten season. Georgia Tech, coached by Bill Alexander, went to the Rose Bowl. More Bob Neyland: Neyland compiled a 173-31-12 record as the UT head coach with one official and three unofficial national championships. Among his prominent players who went on to become head coaches and athletic directors were Dodd, Bob Woodruff, John Barnhill, Murray Warmath, Bowden Wyatt and Ray Graves. Dodd became the head coach and athletic director at Georgia Tech where he went 165-64-8 with one national championship. Woodruff became the head coach at Florida and later the Tennessee AD. Barnhill became the head coach and AD at Arkansas who would hire Frank Broyles. Warmath won a national championship as the head coach at Minnesota. Wyatt coached Johnny Majors and is somewhat responsible for Steve Spurrier coming to Florida. Graves became the head coach and athletic director at Florida. Bobby Dodd: Dodd hired Woodruff as an assistant coach in 1946. That year his quarterback was Frank Broyles, later to become an assistant coach for Woodruff at Florida and the head coach/AD at Arkansas. Dodd’s quarterback in 1953 was Pepper Rogers, who became an assistant to Ray Graves at Florida and later head coach at Kansas, UCLA and Georgia Tech. Rogers gave Steve Spurrier the offensive coordinator job after Doug Dickey’s entire Florida staff was fired following the 1978 season. Graves, Dodd’s defensive coordinator from 1951-59, became Florida’s head coach, succeeding Woodruff in 1960. Bob Woodruff: Florida hired Woodruff in 1950 after he went 19-10-2 in three years as the head coach at Baylor, where his quarterback was Hayden Fry. At Florida he was 72-52-8, taking the Gators to their first two bowl games in school history. Six Woodruff assistants went on to be head coaches including Frank Broyles and Charlie Tate (Miami). His 1952-53 quarterback was Doug Dickey. As the Tennessee AD in 1964, he hired Doug Dickey to succeed Bowden Wyatt. In 1977 Woodruff hired Johnny Majors, who had just won the national championship at Pittsburgh. Frank Broyles: The former Woodruff assistant became head coach at Missouri before he was hired at Arkansas by former Tennessee player and assistant John Barnhill. His enormous coaching tree includes Barry Switzer (3 national championships at Oklahoma, Super Bowl Dallas Cowboys), Jimmy Johnson (national championship Miami, 3 Super Bowls Dallas Cowboys), Johnny Majors (national championship at Pittsburgh, Tennessee), Joe Gibbs (3 Super Bowls Washington Redskins), Pete Carroll (2 national championships Southern Cal, Super Bowl Seattle Seahawks) and Douglas Adair Dickey (head coach Tennessee and Florida, AD at Tennessee). A prominent branch on the Broyles tree is Hayden Fry, whose coaching tree includes former Florida assistant coaches Bob Stoops and Dan McCarney, plus Mark Stoops, Bob’s younger brother and the former Kentucky head coach who hired Jon Sumrall as his defensive coordinator. Ray Graves: Florida’s head coach from 1960-69 and athletic director most of the Doug Dickey years. Seven of his former assistants became head coaches. In 1963 Graves got a boost from former Tennessee buddy Bowden Wyatt, who succeeded Neyland. Wyatt continued running the single wing, which eliminated Tennessee from landing Johnson City Science Hill star QB Steve Spurrier. Spurrier went to Florida, won the Heisman Trophy in 1966, and came back to coach the Gators from 1990-2001. Doug Dickey: Dickey was Woodruff’s quarterback at Florida. After finishing at UF he went into the army. In 1957 he went to work for Frank Broyles at Arkansas. From 1964-69 he was the head coach at Tennessee where he went 46-15-4 with two SEC titles. At Florida from 1970-78 Dickey went 58-43-2. Six of his former assistants went on to be head coaches including Steve Spurrier. Chan Gailey, one of Dickey’s quarterbacks, went on to become head coach at Troy and Georgia Tech as well as Dallas and Buffalo in the NFL. As the Tennessee AD he hired Phillip Fulmer, who won the 1998 national championship. Pepper Rogers: The former Georgia Tech QB for Bobby Dodd was Florida’s offensive coordinator from 1960-64. He went on to be the head coach at Kansas and UCLA. As head coach at Georgia Tech in 1979, he hired Steve Spurrier as his offensive coordinator. Charley Pell: Pell was the UF head coach from 1979 to three games into 1984, fired for NCAA discretions. His most prominent assistant was Mike Shanahan, who won two Super Bowls as the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Former player Gene Chizik won the 2010 national championship as head coach at Auburn. Pell’s 1984 QB was Kerwin Bell. Pell also gave Charlie Strong his first assistant coaching job. Galen Hall: Hall came to Florida as Charley Pell’s offensive coordinator having served as the OC for Barry Switzer of the Frank Broyles coaching tree. Hall coached UF from game four of 1984 until he was fired in 1989. Bell was his QB from 1984-87. Charlie Strong was one of his assistants. Steve Spurrier: Florida’s all-time winningest coach (122-27-1) with six SEC championships and the 1996 national championship. Twelve of his assistants at Florida went on to become head coaches. Bob Pruett won the D1AA national championship at Marshall in 1996. Rod Broadway won five black national championships at North Carolina Central, Grambling and North Carolina A&T. Kerwin Bell won the DII national championship at Valdosta State. Bob Stoops won the 2000 national championship as the head coach at Oklahoma. Charlie Strong worked for Spurrier. Bob Stoops: The defensive coordinator for Spurrier’s 1996 national championship team, Stoops played collegiately for Hayden Fry at Iowa. His coaching tree includes Brent Venables (Oklahoma), Josh Heupel (UCF, Tennessee), the late Mike Leach (Texas Tech, Washington State, Mississippi State) and younger brother Mark Stoops (Kentucky). Ron Zook: A Phil Fulmer and Spurrier assistant who was the Florida head coach from 2002-04 where he was 23-14. His coaching tree includes Larry Fedora (Southern Miss and UNC), Charlie Strong and current Maryland HBC Mike Locksley. Urban Meyer: Meyer succeeded Zook, went 65-15 in six years winning two SEC and two national championships. Eight of his assistants went on to become head coaches including Charlie Strong (Louisville, Texas, South Florida), Dan Mullen (Mississippi State, Florida, UNLV) and Ryan Day, the Ohio State head coach who won the 2024 national championship. Meyer worked for Bob Davie at Notre Dame. Davie worked for Jackie Sherrill of the Bear Bryant/Johnny Majors/Frank Broyles coaching trees at Pittsburgh and Texas A&M so there is a small connection to the Neyland coaching tree. Will Muschamp: Was the defensive coordinator at Valdosta State (2000) when current Florida OC Buster Faulkner was the backup quarterback. Muschamp was the head coach at Florida from 2011-14. Four of his assistants became head coaches including DJ Durkin (Maryland), now the DC at Auburn, and Dan Quinn (Atlanta Falcons, Washington Commanders). Muschamp’s connection to the Neyland coaching legacy is through Mack Brown of the Barry Switzer coaching tree at Oklahoma. Jim McElwain: McElwain succeeded Muschamp from 2015-17. Three of his assistants at Florida became head coaches including Geoff Collins (Temple, Georgia Tech), Tim Skipper (Fresno State, Cal Poly) and Robb Akey (Oregon State). As the head coach at Colorado State prior to Florida, future Florida HBC Billy Napier coached his quarterbacks and was the assistant head coach. Dan Mullen: He was the OC for Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow’s quarterback coach. None of his assistants became head coaches. He’s now the head coach at UNLV. Mullen earns a small place on the Neyland coaching tree for his time at Notre Dame working for Bob Davie. Billy Napier: Head coach from 2022-25. No assistant coaches became head coaches. Quarterbacks coach for Jim McElwain at Colorado State. Jon Sumrall: Florida’s head coach. Played at Kentucky for Hal Mumme, Guy Morriss and Rich Brooks. Morriss was a former Jackie Sherrill assistant. Sumrall began coaching at Kentucky in 2018 for Mark Stoops, younger brother of former Florida DC and Oklahoma HBC Bob Stoops. Head coach at Troy and Tulane prior to Florida.

“Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, passion, practice and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.” – Elbert Hubbard TJ Shanahan’s dream come true story comes complete with speed bumps, detours and an amazing string of events orchestrated with such precision that the only plausible explanation is unseen forces of the universe have been working overtime. When pieced together the Shanahan story reads like something only a novelist could concoct. The Shanahan story begins long before he became a 6-4, 309-pound people-moving hulk who has settled in as the mortal lock to start at right guard for the Florida Gators. His first visit to Ben Hill Griffin Stadium was to watch his cousin Jon Halapio in a spring game. He was just a tyke when he visited Ben Hill Griffin Stadium the first time to watch his cousin Jon Halapio in a spring game. Halapio, a road grading hulk of a right guard, started 43 games for the Gators and was a team captain in both 2012 and 2013. From UF he spent a few years in the National Football League playing for the Denver Broncos and New York Giants. A love affair with the Florida Gators spent that spring afternoon. “I grew up watching [Halapio], and I remember I came to a spring game his freshman or sophomore year, and I just fell in love with being a Florida Gator,” Shanahan said Monday. Time to start connecting dots. Halapio was recruited to Florida by Steve Addazio, whom former Gator coach Urban Meyer compares to the greatest offensive line coaches in the modern history of college football. Addazio becomes a critical piece in Shanahan’s journey which hopscotches from Orlando to Austin to College Station and then to State College before Gainesville once again became the destination. Halapio caught the Gator dream growing up in Orlando where he became a high school battering ram at Timber Creek prior to transferring to Texas where he played his senior season at Austin Westlake. By then he was a 4-star recruit that Rivals ranked as the No. 1 guard in the country and the No. 39 player in the entire country. Everybody wanted him. Well, everybody not named Billy Napier. The dream of playing for the Florida Gators hit a speed bump the day Dan Mullen was fired late in the 2022 season and Billy Napier was hired as the replacement. “I did [get recruited by the Gators] when Coach Mullen and Coach (John) Hevesy were here, and then whenever the coaching staff change happened, I didn't really hear much from Billy (Napier) and I didn't know who the offensive line coach was at the time,” Shanahan required. More dots to connect. Mullen was the offensive coordinator and Hevesy one of the offensive line coaches on Urban Meyer’s staff at Florida when Jon Halapio was recruited in the fall of 2008. The other offensive line coach was Steve Addazio and the starting left tackle that year was Phil Trautwein, currently Florida’s offensive line coach and one of the chief reasons Shanahan is now a Gator. Trautwein holds the distinction of starting at left tackle on two (2006 and 2008) Florida national championship teams. Immediately following Florida’s national championship win over Oklahoma in Miami in early January 2009, Mullen departed for Mississippi State as the new head coach and Hevesy followed him. They returned to Florida in 2018, Mullen as the UF head coach, Hevesy as the O-line coach. When Mullen vacated the offensive coordinator position, Addazio took over and was Florida’s only offensive line coach for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He left to become the head coach at Temple in 2011, then took the Boston College head job in 2013. Trautwein toiled four years in the NFL, then became a grad assistant for Addazio at BC in 2013. Two years later, Trautwein was Davidson’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach. He returned to BC in 2018 where he spent two years as Addazio’s offensive line coach. In 2020, Trautwein became James Franklin’s offensive line coach at Penn State where he remained until leaving for Florida to work for Jon Sumrall back in January. Addazio re-enters the narrative in 2022 when he was hired by Jimbo Fisher to coach the O-line at Texas A&M. Addazio made Shanahan a priority recruit. Shanahan played three games in 2023, taking a redshirt. The entire A&M coaching staff was fired after the 2023 season. Playing for new HBC Mike Elko and offensive line coach Adam Cushsing in 2024, Shanahan realized his dream of playing in The Swamp. This wasn’t exactly the scenario Shanahan grew up envisioning. He played 50 snaps at center for the Aggies as they ran for 310 yards while dominating the Gators, 33-10. Though he played in 10 games starting five for the Aggies in 2024, the decision was made to enter the transfer portal. “I played and started some games and then that's when I felt like I should have just taken a chance on myself,” Shanahan said. “… it's kind of the same thing I got in the portal and I found Coach Trautwein and the rest is kind of history as well.” It was a difficult season at Penn State. Predicted to be a contender for a deep run in the College Football Playoff, the Nittany Lions got off to a 3-3 start which resulted in James Franklin being fired. Penn State finished 6-6 in the regular season, then whacked Clemson, 22-10, in the Pinstripe Bowl. In 13 games, Shanahan started five games, played 416 snaps at the two guard positions, didn’t commit a penalty and didn’t give up a sack until the bowl game. Within a couple of days after Sumrall was hired at Florida, reports surfaced that he had targeted Trautwein as his choice for offensive line coach. Shanahan knew the moment he heard the reports that Trautwein was Gainesville-bound. “Whenever I was on my visit to Penn State he told me up front and he just said, ‘I’m not gonna lie, like there’s one job that I would leave this place for, it’s the University of Florida’ and I kind of knew,” Shanahan said. Upon taking the Florida job, Trautwein offered Shanahan a scholarship. He made the official visit and then committed but even before he arrived in Gainesville he knew what he was going to do. “I just wanted to see Gainesville,” Shanahan said. “I haven't been down here since I was, like I said, like eight or nine. I just wanted to kind of come see the place, but I knew I was going to come here, so I was just ready to get to work.” On January 6, Shanahan’s dream of becoming a Florida Gator was at last realized. In the months since he and center Harrison Moore have become leaders, both on the offensive line and the entire team. Sumrall has singled them out for their work ethic. “Two transfers that have really set the standard for how we work – Harrison Moore, offensive center from Georgia Tech, and TJ Shanahan, offensive guard from Penn State – have both kind of elevated the rhythm that that room marches to,” Sumrall said. “Those guys have worked incredibly hard. They have a lot of pride in their craft and what they’re doing. And I’m very direct. When we do something well, I tell our guys we did it well. When we don’t, I let them know it wasn’t quite good enough.” That also seems to be the Phil Trautwein way of doing business. Shanahan loves the way Trautwein challenges both the entire offensive line and each player individually. Not only does he get in their heads, but he’s hands on with the way he demonstrates proper technique. “We're leaning on him to get us better and stuff, and he knows that, and he tells us all the time,” Shanahan said. “Like, that’s what drives him. That's what wakes him up in the morning. He gets up at, like, 4 o'clock and goes to work out, and then he eats and does all that. He's a big nutrition guy … at the end of the day, he's going to do what he has to do for this place, and I totally agree with him, and I'm right behind him on that. Yeah, I think he just he wants to see me just keep working on my technique. I feel like no matter what, like no matter how good a rep is, like there's always something you can work on. And that's like the biggest thing about him. “Like you could win a rep flat out, but he'll say, oh, your first step has to get here and your hand has to get here, and that’s kind of the thing of just being a student of the game. That's the thing I love about Coach Traut is that there's always something you can get better at. You can have the best rep known to mankind, but he would see someone and be like, oh, you have to bring your left foot with you on your set and stuff like that. So, I mean, the biggest thing with him is just how technical he is, and I feel like that's what makes him, like, such a great coach.” TJ Shanahan is finally at the place he always wanted to be (Florida), coached by a former Gator great who happens to be the only left tackle in Gator history who started for two national champions (Phil Trautwein), who is almost a clone of the offensive line coach he admires most (Steve Addazio). Best of all, he gets to wear number 67, the same number worn by his cousin (Jon Halapio), who earned his bones mauling Florida opponents. There have been twists, turns, injuries, disappointments and the usual carousel of coaches hired and fired. If an astrophysicist were to study this dream come true journey he might conclude that stars and planets have aligned.

(Photo by Chris Spears) A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning: Oddsmakers seem to be in agreement that anything more than 7.5 wins would constitute a brilliant first year on the job for Florida’s first year coach Jon Sumrall. Since arriving in Gainesville from Tulane, Sumrall has been quick to respond to anyone suggesting seven or eight wins that he came to Florida to win championships not win seven or eight games. Winning seven or more games is a lofty goal for a team that finished 4-8 a year ago and has posted four losing seasons in the last five. Just getting to seven wins would ensure Florida’s second winning season since 2020. Eight would match the win totals of 2020 and 2024. Nine? Pipe dream. Stars and planets might have to align. But are eight wins possible? How about nine? Possible, yes. Realistic? Eight more so than nine. There is only one cupcake game – Sept. 12 at home against D1AA Campbell – on a schedule that includes five teams ranked among the Associated Press preseason top 25. The Gators play six games in The Swamp, five on the road and one in Atlanta against Georgia in which the tickets will be split evenly among the two teams. ESPN ranks Florida’s schedule the seventh toughest in the country while College Football News calls the UF schedule the eighth toughest. Based on what we know now, the Gators should be favored in six of the 12 games, underdogs in four with two in the toss-up category. Win the games the Gators are favored in and the two toss-ups would result in eight wins, doubling last year’s total. Here is a look at the schedule game-by-game. Florida Atlantic: Win. The Gators have already been established as 26.5-point favorites. Campbell: Win. D1AA team. Dial-a-score. Campbell went 2-10 last year. At Auburn: Toss-up. Auburn is already a 1.5-point favorite. First SEC game and it’s on the road at a place where wins have been hard to come by traditionally. Auburn has had five straight losing seasons which is why Alex Golesh was hired to right a sinking ship. He brought Byrum Brown with him from South Florida. Golesh and Brown beat the Gators in The Swamp last year with Brown passing for 263 yards and running for another 63. The DC at Auburn is DJ Durkin, the DC at Florida in 2013-14 who was named interim for the bowl game after Will Muschamp was canned. (9) Ole Miss: Loss. No line set on this one yet but if the Gators get a win at Auburn, this could move into the toss-up category. Florida will have to contend with the Ole Miss dynamic duo of quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy. Chambliss will be throwing to all new receivers so Ole Miss might go conservative and try to run it down Florida’s throats with a steady diet of Lacy. At (25) Missouri: Toss-up but very winnable, especially if Ahmad Hardy still hasn’t hit full stride after recovering from a gunshot wound. Mizzou is very tough at home, 33-9 in the six years that Eli Drinkwitz has been the head coach. The Mizzou QB is expected to be Austin Simmons, who the Gators tried to recruit when he was prepping at Pahokee. South Carolina: Win. The Gamecocks’ problems a year ago were largely on offense so Shane Beamer fired Mike Shula and hired Kendal Briles. Huge step up. As the OC at TCU the last three years, Briles put up lots of yards and scored lots of points with a QB that isn’t nearly as good as LaNorris Sellers, who could play his way into a top ten NFL Draft pick this year. At (5) Texas: Loss. Texas has a real shot at winning the national championship because Steve Sarkisian has surrounded Arch Manning with outstanding talent plus brought in Will Muschamp to coach up his defense. Expect a vastly improved Arch Manning from the one who took a loss at The Swamp last year. (3) Georgia (in Atlanta): Loss. Georgia has been frothing at the mouth thinking about getting the Gators out of Jacksonville. This year the Bulldogs will be the team coming in on the bus while the Gators have to fly into Atlanta. Georgia is a legitimate national championship threat. (10) Oklahoma: Loss. The Sooners made the playoffs a year ago without a healthy John Mateer. If he’s healthy they could be very, very good. Brent Venables defenses are always formidable. If Mateer isn’t healthy or is having a bad year, this is a game the Gators could win. At Kentucky: Win. A big game for both Jon Sumrall and DC Brad White. UK is Sumrall’s alma mammy and White was Mike Stoops defensive coordinator in Lexington the last several years. This will be a take no prisoners game for the Gators. Vanderbilt: Win. Vandy won 10 games last year but that was with Diego Pavia at QB. Pavia and TE Eli Stowers are gone along with several other key players from a team that was good enough to make the playoff last year. Home field and finishing the season strong should motivate the Gators to win this one. At Florida State: Win. The Seminoles went 5-7 last year but they could have just as easily finished 9-3 in the regular season. Does one year older make them one year better? And, if Florida beats FSU in Tallahassee then Mike Norvell’s tush will be as hot or hotter than your basic blowtorch. ANOTHER COURT CASE FOR THE NCAA TO DEFEND Just because the NCAA had an Ohio temporary restraining order set aside earlier this week until an appeal can be held doesn’t mean the lawsuits are going to stop. Thursday, a Louisiana court issued a TRO that will allow 30 former college football players to go back to school to play a fifth season. Among the 30 were Jack Pyburn, the former Florida and LSU defensive end now on the Tampa Bay Bucs roster, and DaeQuan Wright, the former Ole Miss tight end now with the Cleveland Browns. Former SMU running back TJ Hardin played in an NFL preseason game for Seattle before he was cut and former Ole Miss D-lineman Zxavien Harris was with the New Orleans Saints before he was also cut. Immediately upon the TRO ruling, several players entered the transfer portal. The portal for football is also a mess for the NCAA since it ran from January 2-16. The NCAA invented a rule that would suspend a coach for half the season and fine a program 20 percent of its football budget for adding what it calls “ghost transfers” after the January portal window closes. The ghost transfer rule was addressed in the ruling by the Louisiana court. Not part of the Thursday ruling in East Baton Rouge is a case involving LSU attempting to sign former Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis, who signed a two-way NBA contract, spent a year in the G-League and missed all of last season due to injury. That case will be heard Monday. LSU has only four players on its roster currently who are cleared to play next year. There is a challenge to the NCAA 5-for-5 rule by UCLA transfer Skyy Clark, four international players awaiting an eligibility ruling and Israeli pro Yam Madar, who was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2020. The NCAA will probably win cases that involve players who have signed contracts with the NFL, NBA or other professional sports. There is precedent for that (see Alabama and Charles Bediako). What the NCAA will find very difficult to continue challenging and defending is the ban on high school graduates from 2022 getting a fifth year of eligibility. The NCAA is claiming irreparable harm if these players get the fifth year but a Colorado Federal Court ruled that it is the players petitioning for the fifth year that will be harmed. The NCAA can issue as many statements that it wants about “irreparable harm” but it continues a fight at least 18 cases in 15 courtrooms around the country with more cases ready to be filed as well as appeals all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary. This is a never-ending fight against opponents every bit as determined to gain the extra year as the NCAA is at preventing it. We are days away from first classes for the fall semester at most Division I schools, which means athletes enrolled and lives about to be disrupted if there is no definitive ruling. Football season begins in two weeks and basketball season begins the first week of November. If the NCAA were made up of leaders with functioning brains, it would see the futility of fighting. This is a no-win situation for an organization whose reputation is only slightly better than that of mass murderers awaiting the chair or a lethal injection. Rather than fight it out, the smart thing to do would be to call in its attorneys and make the 5-for-5 rule retroactive, grandfathering in last year’s fourth-year athletes. This is, however, the NCAA, which, in its infinite wisdom, will not wave the white flag. ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Seven national championships and 11 Southeastern Conference titles cement Nick Saban’s place as the greatest college football coach of all time. He could still be coaching but chose to walk away while still on top of his game. His last national championship was the undefeated 2020 Alabama team. He was 36-6 during his last three seasons. Just because he no longer coaches, his influence on the game is unmistakable. All you have to do is look at the top 12 teams in the most recent Associated Press poll where eight of the teams are led by branches off the Saban coaching tree. Here is how it breaks down: 2. Oregon: Dan Lanning was a Saban grad assistant on the 2015 national championship team and then with Kirby Smart at Georgia from 2018-21. Career record: 48-8. 3. Georgia: Kirby Smart was with Saban at LSU in 2004, then at Alabama from 2007-16, part of four Alabama national championships. He has won two national titles at Georgia. Career record: 108-18. 5. Texas: Steve Sarkisian was Saban’s interim offensive coordinator in 2016 and the OC in 2019-20. Bama won the 2020 national title. At Texas he is 48-20, 89-50 overall. 6. Indiana: Curt Cignetti was the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator for Saban at Alabama from 2007-10, part of the 2009 national championship. Since leaving Alabama he’s been head coach at four schools. He won the 2025 national championship at Indiana with a 16-0 record. At Indiana he is 27-2, 146-37 career. 7. Miami: Mario Cristobal was Alabama’s assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator from 2013-16, a coach on the 2015 national championship team. He led Miami to the national championship game last season. At Miami he is 37-19, career 97-79. 8. Texas A&M: Mike Elko falls falls under the Saban tree since he spent 2018-21 working as the defensive coordinator at A&M under head coach and former Saban offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher. At A&M he is 19-7, 35-16 overall. 9. Ole Miss: Pete Golding was Saban’s defensive coordinator from 2018-22 at Alabama, then the DC for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss from 2023 working for Lane Kiffin. When Kiffin left for LSU, Golding became the interim head coach who was promoted to head coach after leading the Rebels to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Career record 2-1. 11. LSU: Lane Kiffin was Saban’s offensive coordinator from 2014-2016. Alabama won the 2015 national title. This is his first year at LSU. He went 55-19 at Ole Miss, career record 116-53.

Not Saturday, but Philo later in the week. (Chris Spears Photo) It reads more like a coach trying to find a smarter way to manage information flow around a genuinely undecided quarterback race, and getting a little tangled up in the execution. By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Jon Sumrall had what he thought was a good idea, and in fairness, it mostly was. He let a handful of the regular beat writers into the first fall-camp scrimmage at The Swamp last Saturday — the real one, not the abbreviated look reporters usually get — on one condition: Don’t write it, don’t talk about it, just watch, and save your questions for Monday’s press conference. The idea, as best I can tell, was to let the people who cover this team see enough with their own eyes that they could ask sharper, better-informed questions once he was ready to talk — particularly with a quarterback competition between Tramell Jones Jr. and Aaron Philo that everybody in the state has an opinion about. It backfired a little. Not in any way that’s going to make Sumrall lose sleep, but in the way these things always backfire: Word got out that reporters were in the building and weren’t saying anything, and the fan base — starved for scrimmage details the way Florida fans are starved for most things football right now — filled the silence with jokes and conspiracy theories instead of facts. “Why so serious?” was about the nicest version of it. That’s what happens when you create a vacuum. Somebody fills it, and it’s rarely with the truth. I don’t think this rises to the level of a controversy. It’s certainly not a flap, and it’s entirely Sumrall’s prerogative to run his program and his practices however he sees fit. So far, he’s pitched a pretty close to perfect game with the media in this town — accessible, direct, willing to answer hard questions about a quarterback battle most coaches would rather duck. This was a well-intentioned idea from a coach who has otherwise earned the benefit of the doubt. It just didn’t work quite the way he hoped. Here’s the underlying problem, and it’s not new, and it’s not going away: coaches and journalists are frequently at cross purposes. It’s not the cobra and the mongoose — nobody’s trying to eat anybody — but it’s a rivalry with some age on it. Journalists want to get information to the public. That’s the job. Coaches, more often than not, want information to go out in a way that serves their message, their program, their locker room. Sometimes what a coach wants most is for the media to just go dark for a while. That’s understandable from where he’s sitting. It’s just not the job of the journalist to grant that wish. I’ll say this for Sumrall: He’s been about as transparent as a coach can be on just about everything else. This wasn’t a case of a coach trying to hide bad news. It read more like a coach trying to find a smarter way to manage information flow around a genuinely undecided quarterback race, and getting a little tangled up in the execution. When Gainesville had more press than Knoxville had assistant coaches Florida football was already a big deal around these parts — bigger than most people realize until they see another program’s press box for comparison. I remember when Doug Dickey first got to Gainesville and was taken aback by how many writers showed up to cover practice. Everything the team did, somebody from the press was there to see it. Dickey used to tell some of us about his old job at Tennessee: “When I was in Knoxville, we only had one person covering practices — Marvin West. And if we had to kick four guys off the team, all I had to do was tell Marvin, ‘please hold that for a few days.’ And he would.” That’s never been how it works at Florida. It wasn’t then, and it isn’t now. The Gator media contingent dwarfs practically every other program in this part of the country, and that scale changes the math on every access decision a coach makes. What works with one guy in Knoxville doesn’t work with a press box full of writers, radio hosts, podcasters and beat reporters in Gainesville, all of whom have a job to do and an audience waiting on them. I don’t want to make this bigger than it is, and I genuinely hope it just fades away. There are good people on both sides of this trying to do the right thing — a coach trying to manage a complicated situation fairly, and reporters trying to do their jobs fairly. My guess is it works itself out without anybody having to dig in. Truth is, I hadn’t expected practices to stay open to the media much anymore anyway. Access has been shrinking everywhere in college football for years, and Florida’s no exception. So I’m grateful for what access we’ve had, glad Sumrall’s instinct was to include the media rather than shut it out entirely, and content to let him work out the mechanics of it as fall camp rolls on. That’s his call to make. It’s ours to keep asking good questions when he does.

Photo by Chris Spears On the QB battle: He likes the way both have competed. By Eddie Gilley GatorBaitMedia.com Let me just state for the record that I was not one of the media guys who got a chance to see the scrimmage on Saturday. It would have been nice to see, but if you can’t report what you saw, what’s the point? I get the need to keep the other schools from knowing what you plan to do but I do miss the days when not only media but also fans could see the first couple of weeks of practice. But alas the times they are a changing as Bob Dylan once sang! Let’s see if we can glean any nuggets from Coach Sumrall’s press conference on Monday. On the injury front it looks like the Gators came through Saturday with no injuries to key players. He stated that most of the players looked like they will be back and that includes Vernell Brown III, who was held out for an abundance of caution, as was Duke Clark. That’s really what you want to hear coming out of the scrimmage, no injuries to key players. On the QB battle: He likes the way both have competed. He felt like Tramell Jones has narrowed the gap that was present because Aaron Philo knew the offense from his time at Georgia Tech. He believes that both have grown from the spring and both continue to work hard and support each other. He did point out that Jones needs to do a better job with procedures at the line of scrimmage but overall was very pleased. He was happy to state that he was glad that whoever starts the first game will be starting because they did well, not because the other QB played poorly. Coach Sumrall pointed out that it may take a couple of games for the Gators to really know who they are. He hinted that there would be a lot of rotating players in the first couple of games as they seek to really find their identity. As we have said before, until you line up against some folks in different color jerseys you really won’t know what kind of team you have. It’s only a couple of weeks away, so we will know soon enough.

(As ranked By Bill Benner, Sporting News 1. Lee Corso 2. Beano Cook 3. Mike Leach 4. Keith Jackson 5. Brian Bosworth 6. Paul Finebaum Family Photo 7. Steve Spurrier (UAA Photo) 8. Lou Holtz 9. Nick Saban 10. Tim Tebow (UAA Photo) Second 20 11. Brent Musburger 12. Bear Bryant 13. Uga Barry Switzer 15. Michael Irvin 16. Bobby Bowden 17. Kirk Herbstreit 18. Johnny Manziel 19. Knute Rockne 20.Verne Lundquist As re-ranked by Buddy Martin: From Corso’s headgear to Spurrier’s smirk, the coaches, broadcasters and characters who made the sport must-watch television Introduction. College football has never lacked for talent. What it has never lacked for, either, is personality — the coaches who talked as good a game as they coached, the broadcasters who turned Saturday afternoons into theater, and the players who made you feel something whether you loved them or couldn’t stand them. This list isn’t about who won the most games or threw the most touchdowns. It’s about who made you stop what you were doing and pay attention — the visors, the headgear picks, the one-liners that outlived the seasons that produced them. Some of these names built dynasties. Others built a single unforgettable moment and rode it into the sport’s permanent memory. There will be arguments here, and there should be. Steve Spurrier landing this high, ahead of Beano Cook and Brian Bosworth, is by my design — no one in the sport’s history combined swagger, wit and championship substance quite like the Head Ball Coach, and pretending otherwise does a disservice to just how loud he changed the conversation in the SEC. Lee Corso at No. 1 should surprise no one. Here are the 20 characters who made college football impossible to look away from — ranked, debated, and ready for you to disagree with me about. Paul And Linda Finebaum 20. (tie) I refuse to put UGA the Georgia Mascot on there unless Florida's Albert the Alligator can also be on it. 19. Broadcaster Verne Lundquist Later joined by Brad Nessler, paired with analyst Gary Danielson and sideline reporters Jill Arrington, Tracy Wolfson and Allie LaForce as the soundtrack of the SEC’s BCS-era dominance. His versatility and Danielson’s sharp analysis made them the perfect Saturday-afternoon pairing for a conference stacking national titles. The “Kick Six” remains the signature call — tension building perfectly before the moment hit. CBS has since shifted focus to the Big Ten, but the “Uncle Verne” era was the best. 18. Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne Rockne, born in Norway, became college football’s first superstar coach as the sport — and Notre Dame — entered the national spotlight. His buttoned-up image belied a jaw-dropping 105-12-5 record. “The Four Horsemen,” immortalized by sportswriter Grantland Rice, cemented an Irish mystique the program still chases today. Rockne died in a 1931 plane crash at just 43. 17. Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel “Johnny Football” played like a pop-up twister and leaned headfirst into his bad-boy image off the field. His signature moment: a scrambling touchdown pass to Ryan Swope that powered a 29-24 upset of No. 1 Alabama on Nov. 10, 2012. Suspended the next season for signing autographs for money, he turned the controversy into his iconic “money sign” celebration. 16. Broadcaster Kirk Herbstreit Herbstreit is one of several “College GameDay” alums on this list — a show that’s also produced Tim Brando, Chris Fowler, Rece Davis, Desmond Howard and Lee Corso. He’s leveraged that platform into a career spanning studio and booth work alongside Fowler on Saturday Night Football with Holly Rowe and Molly McGrath. 15. Florida State coach Bobby Bowden Bowden was the consummate Southern gentleman, and Florida State’s rise to super-power status in the late 1980s and ’90s rode the wave of expanding TV exposure. He charmed the sport one “dadgummit” at a time, built fierce rivalries with Miami and Florida, and racked up 346 career wins. His down-home grace still defines Tallahassee. 14. Miami wide receiver Michael Irvin Irvin embodies generations of Hurricanes football — a star receiver on the 1987 national title team during “The U’s” peak, and now one of the program’s most visible sideline boosters, on full display during Miami’s CFP title run last season. He brings the over-the-top alumni passion Canes fans live for. 13. Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer Switzer had swagger before the word was cool, once literally wearing a “Beat Texas” hat to stoke the Red River rivalry. He won three national titles with stars like Lee Roy Selmon, Billy Sims and Brian Bosworth, and never reined in their personalities. Switzer said and did whatever he wanted — and Norman loved him for it. 12. Alabama coach Bear Bryant No coach defined “aura” like Bryant. Tweed suits, a houndstooth fedora, a sideline scowl and a booming voice — he was the face of the Alabama machine through the 1960s and ’70s, helping integrate and elevate SEC football. No moment captures it better than the goal-line stand against No. 1 Penn State in the 1979 Sugar Bowl. 11. Broadcaster Brent Musburger “You are looking live!” Musburger set the scene from The Swamp to the Coliseum as one of college football’s premier play-by-play voices, stacking calls like “Hail Flutie” and “Holy Buckeye” in a folksy, methodical style. He also perfected the pregame intro — “Catholics vs. Convicts” remains the gold standard. 10. Florida QB Tim Tebow “Tebowmania” swept the sport from 2006-09. Tebow won two national titles, a Heisman and went 35-6 as a starter under Urban Meyer. A superstar of the social-media era who put faith first, he gave us “Tebowing” and the Jump Pass — and remains the sport’s ultimate good guy through his work with the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. 9. Alabama coach/broadcaster Nick Saban On “College GameDay” he’s just one voice, but at Alabama he was the sport’s most influential figure — six of his seven national titles came in Tuscaloosa, along with a few shattered headsets. When Saban talked to the Coke bottle, everyone listened. His SEC Media Days remarks felt like a State of the Union, and his deadpan chemistry with Pat McAfee still delivers weekly. 8. Coach/broadcaster Lou Holtz Holtz revived Notre Dame’s mystique in the 1980s with tough-love bluntness and a knack for playing underdog in big spots — see the “Cheerios Bowl” against Florida. As an ESPN analyst, he sparred memorably with Mark May under Rece Davis. Through it all, faith, family and football principles guided him. Holtz died March 4 — Rockne’s birthday. 7. Broadcaster Paul Finebaum “The Paul Finebaum Show” exploded alongside the SEC’s BCS-and-CFP-era dominance. His understated delivery, sharp opinions and self-deprecating humor rile up callers whose arguments regularly spill into Big Ten territory. It’s some of the most entertaining material of the social-media era, and Finebaum remains the sport’s leading provocateur. 6. Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth “The Boz” was an action-movie hero brought to life — heavy-metal haircut, punishing style, controversy included (a failed steroid test, a T-shirt reading “National Communists Against Athletes”). Remembered best as the two-time Butkus Award winner who racked up 22 tackles against Miami, Bosworth found a second life as the “Sheriff of Fansville” in Dr. Pepper’s commercials. 5. Broadcaster Keith Jackson “Whoa, Nellie!” Jackson called college football for half a century, and generations still know his colloquialisms by heart — sorting “hog mollies” from “big uglies” with pure elegance. His pregame monologues made every game feel like the most important thing in the world, and he never lost a step calling two of the sport’s greatest games: the 2003 Fiesta Bowl (No. 1 Miami-No. 2 Ohio State) and 2006 Rose Bowl (No. 1 Texas-No. 2 USC). 4. Coach Mike Leach “The Pirate” gave the best press conferences in the sport’s history — his Air Raid wizardry was almost secondary to sound bites that wandered from Pac-12 mascot battle royales to Halloween candy rankings. He finished 158-106 at outposts like Texas Tech, Washington State and Mississippi State, proof there was always more to the transcript. Leach died in 2022 at 61, but he lives on in every story from those who sailed with him. 3. Broadcaster/sportswriter Beano Cook “The Pope of College Football” paired encyclopedic knowledge with Rust Belt humor and zero filter. The Pitt alum set the standard every college football commentator since has chased. Everyone remembers his ill-fated Ron Powlus prediction — but only because Beano was, without question, the sport’s leading authority. 2. Florida coach Steve Spurrier Nobody in the sport’s history talked more trash — or backed it up more completely — than the Head Ball Coach. Spurrier won the Heisman at Florida in 1966, then returned in 1990 and turned the Gators into the SEC’s most feared program with “Fun-n-Gun,” an offense as cocky as its coach. The one-liners still get recycled today: “You can’t spell Citrus without U-T.” “Free Shoes University.” He inflamed rivalries with Tennessee, Georgia and Florida State simultaneously, and did it all with a visor and a smirk that never needed to explain themselves. No coach ever combined swagger, wit and championship substance quite like Spurrier — a résumé that puts him firmly among the top three personalities in the sport’s history, and arguably at No. 1. 1. Broadcaster Lee Corso Corso’s retirement from “College GameDay” last season underscored what “Coach” meant to the sport. “Not so fast, my friend” became a Saturday staple, and his headgear segment turned into appointment television that kicked off every college football weekend. His energy never faded, and neither did the affection for him — an easy call at No. 1. Not that it makes me any more of an expert, but I have met or known most of them, hired one (Beano Cook), wrote books about one (Spurrier), interviewed a half dozen and been on TV numerous times with one (Finebaum). And this is not alist of Albert Einsteins -- just the "Most Entertaining" Personalties. it'spretty wide open. So I submit mine!

Florida-Auburn’s rich history harkens back to the playing days of the HBC. And the fan bases are juiced! By Buddy Martin GatorBaitMedia.com Five weeks out, and Florida-Auburn is already being treated like a Final Four bracket buster. Message boards on fire. ESPN circling it like a vulture over roadkill. Grown men arguing about Jordan-Hare Stadium acoustics. For a game with no point spread, no depth chart certainty, and a combined zero career SEC wins between the two head coaches, this thing has generated almost as much hype than Arch Manning arriving in Austin. So let’s ask the obvious question: Why has a Week 3 clash between two teams nobody can definitively rank turned into appointment television? Simple. Symmetry sells. Florida hired Jon Sumrall away from Tulane and Auburn grabbed Alex Golesh from USF on the exact same Sunday — November 30, 2025 — both walking into rebuilds, both handed keys to programs that fired their previous coaches mid-season. That’s not a coincidence, that’s a narrative gift, and every college football media outlet in the country is going to milk it until Labor Day. Add in that Florida hasn’t set foot in The Plains since 2011 and owns an all-time road ledger there that reads like a bad credit score, and you’ve got yourself a made-for-ESPN plot. A Little History, Because Somebody Has To This series didn’t need help getting dramatic. Steve Spurrier kicked a field goal in 1966 vs Auburn to beat the Tigers and won the Heisman Trophy. But quarterback John Reeves set a national record for the most interceptions (9) against Auburn. Bo Jackson couldn’t finish off a No. 2 Florida team in 1985. Patrick Nix, a guy most of the country still can’t spell, walked into The Swamp in 1994 and handed Steve Spurrier his first home loss ever, 36-33. Rex Grossman closed the door on Auburn in the 2000 SEC title game. And in 2007, Wes Byrum’s field goal as time expired turned Urban Meyer’s mood sour for a week. Real stakes, real theater, zero help needed from a hype machine. The current five-week pregame marathon is trying to manufacture what those games earned organically. About Those Computer Models Early betting markets have started to lean Auburn by a point or two at home, and the algorithms love to lecture us about home-field value like it’s a law of physics I’ve read the simulations. I’ve seen the spreadsheets. What I haven’t seen is a model that accounts for a true freshman crowd noise meltdown turning into a fourth-quarter spark, or an offensive line that gels three weeks into a season faster than projected, or a Sumrall team that plays angry because everybody in Alabama has spent five weeks calling this Auburn’s building block win. Computers are great at crunching box scores. They’re terrible at predicting the moment some 19-year-old decides he’s not losing his first road start. The Actual Football Part Here’s what should worry Gator fans more than any coaching-hire trivia: Golesh and offensive coordinator Joel Gordon are bringing a tempo attack from USF that’s being projected as one of the fastest in the country, and Auburn kept quarterback Byrum Brown and skill talent right along with the school. Pair that with a defensive front that returns bodies and DJ Durkin — the interim coach who held that program together after Hugh Freeze got fired — sliding back to run the defense, and Auburn isn’t the sleepy rebuild some people want to pencil in for a loss. The Pick Auburn’s tempo is real, its defensive front is real, and Jordan-Hare at night is genuinely nasty for a visiting quarterback nobody’s fully vetted yet. I’m not dismissing any of that. But Florida’s roster has more difference-makers than Auburn’s, the Golesh rebuild is still running on borrowed continuity from a Group of Five program that isn’t the SEC, and rebuilding programs on the road that are underestimated by exactly one algorithm-point tend to find a way to be inconvenient guests. Give me Florida in a game that’s closer to a bar fight than a chess match, something in the range of 27-24, with the last punch landing in crimson and orange’s face instead of the other way around. Though it doesn’t trouble me, it’s a legit concern — is that Florida still hasn’t settled on a starting quarterback five weeks out, with Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo and redshirt freshman Tramell Jones Jr. still trading first-team reps after DJ Lagway’s transfer. Whoever wins that job gets to make his SEC road debut at night, in front of 88,000 people who have been waiting fifteen years for this exact rematch, on ESPN at 7 p.m. ET No pressure, kid.

(Photo by Chris Spears) Fasten your seatbelts, folks. After four years of blah, blah, blah press conferences in which it seemed Florida’s head football coach was intent on using as many words without actually saying anything during 15 painful minutes, enter Jon Sumrall. He’s the type that if you’re afraid of the answer, you better not ask the question. He spent 37 minutes Monday offering far more info, detail, humor and enthusiasm than the question required. What a concept. Here are a few Sumrallisms from Monday that might have been overlooked to a degree: About the linebackers: “I've been really pleased with the depth of the inside linebacker room, the growth there. Ty Jackson, Myles Johnson, all those guys … Talking about Myles Johnson, effort plays more, and I'm like, whoa, he's getting better. And then, man, you talk about physically gifted, man, getting way better. So the depth there is stepping up.” About the safeties: “I think the safety room is unique because you look at guys like Bryce (Thornton) and DJ (Coleman), really, really, really good football players. Like a lot of snaps. veteran experience, and then behind them you look and you got some really talented guys like Lagonza (Hayward) or maybe (Cam) Dooley, less time on task, less veteran, less proven. And then you have another guy in that room like Alfonzo Allen, who's just really steady as well, kind of complements like the top guys in that room, and he just does the right thing a lot and does it really well.” About the D-line: “I like the rotation we got. I feel pretty good about the way that looks. Kam James being back makes it even look better. I mean, that's a group that right now can play with some depth.” Who has to step up on defense: “So I think each room is just a little bit different as you go. But the guys that have to make the most adjustments are the linebackers and the safeties. Those are the guys that, when the picture changes, they have to adapt more. And so those guys have to be smart football players.” The bad: “Two of the passing touchdowns we gave up on Saturday, we just decided not to cover anybody. Like, I could throw those. Like, it drove me crazy. Like, it's okay to get beat on a play. It's not okay to just give them plays. We can't beat ourselves. And so Florida beat Florida on defense a couple times Saturday, which was really frustrating.” The good: “The one interception we threw on Saturday, as you watch it on tape, you're like, where do you go with the football? You know where you need to go with the football there? Nowhere. Because everybody was just blanketed.” Another word about QB Aaron Philo and defense: “That was the most impressive thing to me of his (Philo’s) scrimmage was bad play and then followed it up with really good football afterwards. And that's the quarterback position. You're going to throw a pick, the whole crowd's going to boo, and what do you do next? That says a lot about you. And so, because like in full disclosure, he had one other throw and Trammell (Jones) had a couple that could have gone bad too. On the tight end over route, we threw it right into coverage one time as well just to get picked. Because the linebacker covered it, had hands like a snake. And so, when you have a bad play at quarterback, you gotta respond. It ain't always gonna go good.” A name to remember: “Probably my favorite moment in the scrimmage was when Heze Kent was in the slot … We challenged him. He's responded. He still has a long way to go, but he's growing. There was times on Saturday's deal that he looked fatigued, but he's trimmed down quite a bit. He's lost a ton of weight. He's put in a great deal of work. He's shown a great deal of discipline to get his body right to where he can play tight end. I basically told him when we broke spring practice, I gave him the ultimatum of sort of two or three different goal weights by different timelines, or he could play either offensive line or nose. He could make the decision. And he's decided he doesn't want to play offensive line or nose by losing the weight. Now, we're not done with the weight stuff, but I tell you, Heze's impressive. Maybe, I'm not just saying this, this is the truth, he may have the best ball skills on our team.” Associated Press top 25 (SEC teams bold face): 1. Ohio State; 2. Oregon; 3. Georgia; 4. Notre Dame; 5. Texas; 6. Indiana; 7. Miami; 8. Texas A&M; 9. Ole Miss; 10. Oklahoma; 11. LSU; 12. Texas Tech; 13. Alabama; 14. (Tie) Southern Cal; BYU; 16. Michigan; 17. Washington; 18. Penn State; 19. SMU; 20. Tennessee; 21. Utah; 22. Iowa; 23. Houston; 24. Louisville; 25. Missouri ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC Alabama: Kalen DeBoer won’t name a starting quarterback yet, but Keelon Russell clearly outplayed Austin Mack in Saturday’s scrimmage. Post scrimmage DeBoer said, "As the scrimmage went on, they both got better. Both had their moments early where they could have executed better. They could use some help from some guys once in a while, they're not going to be perfect all the time.” Arkansas: The highlight of Sunday’s Arkansas scrimmage was a 96-yard completion from KJ Hill to Chris Marshall. Marshall was prevented from scoring by safety Miguel Mitchell, a former Gator, who ran him down before he crossed the goal line. Mitchell began his career at Texas A&M in 2023, then transferred to Ole Miss in 2024 where he was dismissed from the team. He comes to Arkansas after spending last year in junior college. Auburn: After the weekend, the starting offensive line looks like LT Jo Simmons, LG Jacob Strand of Deryc Plazz, C Cole Best, RG Cole Skinner and RT Stanton Ramil. Georgia: Georgia’s roster is 59.7 percent home grown, highest percentage of home grown talent on any SEC roster this year. Overall, that’s the 15th best total in the country … Ellis Robinson, Demello Jones, Khalil Barnes and KJ Bolden seem to be mortal locks for the four starting jobs in the secondary. Kentucky: Offensive coordinator Joe Sloan says junior college transfer Jordan Knox is going to play his way onto the field whether that is at center or at guard. Knox began his LSU: Lane Kiffin weighed in on the controversy over corner DJ Pickett being assigned the No. 5 jersey, which was worn in 2023 Heisman Trophy quarterback Jayden Daniels. Daniels’ attorney sent a cease and desist letter to LSU while claiming disrespect because an LSU player will wear No. 5. Kiffin’s response: “I'm not going to judge something [that was done] when I wasn't here. But when a kid is promised something [jersey No. 5] to come to a school, he should wear it. So at that point, I don't think that's really my decision. We should honor what he was told." … Former Gator wide receiver Eugene Wilson III is emerging as the go-to guy for quarterback Sam Leavitt. Mississippi State: Regarding the offensive line so far in camp, HBC Jeff Lebby said, “Got to create more consistency. Where we are today compared to a year ago today, it's not close. We've got to get better. But our guys are playing with a ton of urgency. I like where that group is. Just want more.” Missouri: Expectations are that Ole Miss transfer Austin Simmons is a lock for the starting QB job. Someone must not have told sophomore Matt Zollers, who played in eight games at Mizzou last year, threw for 503 yards and four touchdowns. Zollers has looked good in practice and may win the starting job if Simmons doesn’t show more consistency. Oklahoma: Starting senior center Jake Maikkula’s knee injury isn’t nearly as bad as initially thought. He will miss the rest of August practice and possibly 2-3 games once the season begins. Ole Miss: There are whispers that redshirt senior offensive guard Troy Everett is considering retiring from football. Everett, who has had injury issues throughout his career, is a transfer from Oklahoma. South Carolina: Wide receivers Jayden Gibson and Jayden Sellers suffered season-ending injuries over the weekend. Gibson is a transfer from Oklahoma. Sellers, younger brother of starting quarterback LaNorris Sellers, caught 22 passes for 337 yards and a touchdown last season. Gibson missed the last two seasons due to injuries, but caught 14 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns in 2023. Both Gibson and Sellers were running first team with returning starter Nyck Harbor, who led the team with 30 catches for 618 yards and six touchdowns last season. Tennessee: Safety Edrees Farooq, who left Friday’s scrimmage in an ambulance suffered a torn patellar tendon in his right knee and is done for the season. Last season Farooq had 76 tackles, two interceptions and four forced fumbles … In Saturday’s scrimmage, true freshman QB Faizon Brandon threw the only touchdown pass while redshirt freshman QB George MacIntyre threw an interception. Texas: Texas will open its new state of the art indoor practice facility September 4, the day before the season opener with Texas State …A flu outbreak caused several players to miss the first scrimmage. MIA were Daylon McCutcheon, Justus Terry, Brad Spence, Rasheem Biles, Ty’Anthony Smith and John Meredith. Terry, Spence, Smith and Meredith returned to practice on Monday. Texas A&M: Sophomore Jamarion Morrow is pushing incumbent Rueben Owens for the starting running back job. Owens led the Aggies in rushing last year with 639 yards and five touchdowns. As a true freshman last year, Morrow gained 182 with one TD. Vanderbilt: The quarterback battle between New Mexico State transfer Blaze Berlowitz and true freshman Jared Curtis heated up after Saturday’s scrimmage. Berlowitz has a better command of the playbook while Curtis makes more explosive plays. HBC Clark Lea said about Curtis, “I thought today, in particular, it was Jared's best day. From a consistency standpoint, I thought he operated well. I thought you saw some of his play creativity come into play today too.”

We have been down this road before. Four times to be exact since the Urban Meyer swansong at the Outback Bowl following the worst – 8-5 record – season of his six-year run as Florida’s head coach. Will Muschamp was the head coach in waiting at Texas, the next great thing. Jim McElwain was an offensive genius who had been the coordinator for two Alabama national championship teams. Dan Mullen was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator and had put together the most remarkable nine-year run in Mississippi State history. Billy Napier was on everybody’s short list for the next big thing and we were lucky to get him. Or at least that’s what they sold and we bought. Four coaches, all of them well thought of before they arrived at Florida and all four of them gone before their contract expired. Muschamp, McElwain and Mullen left with winning records. They just didn’t win enough and all three suffered the indignity of losing seasons, something that hadn’t happened in Florida in 34 years before Muschamp’s injury-marred 2013 disaster. Billy Napier posted three losing seasons in four years, the only winner an 8-5 record in 2024 that included stunning late-season wins over LSU and Ole Miss. We can point to all the things that went wrong for these four coaches until the cows come home without accomplishing anything more than rehashing what we already know. But, for the sake of relevance, here is the Reader’s Digest condensed version for all four: Will Muschamp proved he can coach a ferocious defense but his offenses stunk to high heavens. Had he learned how to be a head coach at a couple of directional schools in the hinterlands prior to Florida, he might have figured out how that it is legal to throw downfield passes on something other than third down and an overnight hike. Jim McElwain was doomed from the “my dog Clarabelle” remark. If he was an offensive genius then Einstein was nothing more than a garage mechanic. He was paid more than $4 million or more a year yet couldn’t spend a few hundred bucks to get his yellow teeth whitened. Plus he lied his way out of a job. Dan Mullen could and still can coach up a dandy offense that can move the football and put points on the scoreboard. He never grasped the concept that winning big at Florida means recruiting better players than the ones that can take you to the Liberty Bowl at Mississippi State. Billy Napier preached integrity and all the good things players were doing off the field. It was as if he wanted to put 22 Boy Scouts on the field, never truly understanding that winning in the SEC requires a handful of Boy Scouts and an overwhelming majority of borderline psychopaths who view football as a chance to take out their aggressions without the fear of imprisonment. Four in, four out. Zero SEC championships. Three trips to the SEC Championship Game, all of them losses at the hands of Alabama. Zero appearances in the College Football Playoff although Muschamp’s 11-2 team in 2012 and Mullen’s 11-2 in 2019 would have certainly made the field if a 12-team playoff had existed at that time. From 1990 to 2010, the Gators went 210-57-1, the best record in all of college football that included eight SEC and three national championships. With the exception of the Zook aberration (2002-04) and until Meyer’s final year on the job, the Gators never had a season with fewer than nine wins. In the 15 years since Meyer the Gators are 110-79 with five seasons with nine or more wins – 2012, 2015-16 and 2018-19 – and six sub-.500 seasons. Contrast that to Alabama which is 183-26 over the same stretch with five national championships, Georgia which is 167-38 with two national championships and LSU which is 142-52 with one national championship. That brings us to the here and now with the question that looms at least subconsciously in the mind of every committed Florida fan: Has the program sunk so far in terms of prestige that it will take a coaching savant like Steve Spurrier or Urban Meyer to miraculously return the Gators to life among the elite? And that question should be answered with another question: Does Jon Sumrall have the same kind of Spurrier and Meyer qualities in him to lift the Gators from the depths of mediocrity back to the level of consistent championship contenders? Is he the one? We had our doubts about Muschamp since he had never been a head coach before. McElwain was too busy trying to act like the cool kid at high school who never wore socks with his Weejuns and drove a convertible. Mullen was so enamored with his own offensive genius that he never took the time to address mounting problems on the other side of the ball or on the recruiting trail. Billy Napier tried to convince us he was the smartest guy in the room. At some point – some earlier than others – everything fell apart for the four coaches prior to the hire of Sumrall. There were flaws in all four of them that eventually negated whatever positives they brought to the Florida football program. Once exposed the Gator Nation turned on them and asked for change. So now it is up to Sumrall to put Florida back on the path of football righteousness. He comes to Florida with better head coaching credentials than any of his four predecessors. In four seasons he has won three conference championships – Troy 2022-23, Tulane 2025 – across two competitive leagues. The one non-championship year was 2024 when Tulane made it to the league championship game. Since arriving he has been transparent and approachable. We were led to believe the four previous coaches were too busy taking care of issues within the Florida program to spare precious moments of their time. Instead of living in self-imposed exile within the football complex, Sumrall is out there for everyone to see. He is affable and doesn’t seem offended by well wishers who simply want to shake his hand or offer an encouraging word. As many Gator fans have remarked these last eight months, Jon Sumrall doesn’t seem full of himself. Now that’s not to say he lacks an ego. When you make $7 million a year as a Southeastern Conference head football coach you better have an ego large enough to apply for statehood because with the money and with the job come the slings and arrows the moment you screw up or when the media takes aim. Sumrall got a taste of that recently at SEC Media Days when he scolded a reporter whose cell phone went off while he was answering questions and then after admitting he enjoys a pedicure. That’s minor compared to what will happen the first time a Sumrall-coached Florida team loses a football game. Then we will find out if he withers under the pressure or simply views it as a speed bump. The Gators went 4-8 last year. Double the win total this year against a schedule that includes Ole Miss, Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma and Sumrall should be viewed as somewhat of a miracle worker. A four-win turnaround against a schedule like that will be a major accomplishment, but we already know there will be no shortage of critics every time the Gators come up empty. It won’t be long before we discover how Sumrall reacts to pressure to win like he’s never before experienced and that will give us our first real clue to what lies ahead. Right now, all we can do is hope. Hope that he’s the right guy. Hope he’s not a clone of the four before him who couldn’t deal with the pressure and expectations. Hope that he won’t be too overwhelmed by his own successes that he falls into a canyon of frustration when he loses. In other words, he can’t get too high when he wins, too low when he loses. All that we will learn in the future. For now, all we can do is take a page from the Ted Lasso script and tape a sign that reads BELIEVE to our hearts and minds. We have no choice but to believe Jon Sumrall is the right coach at the right time and the right place.