Jon Sumrall Opens Florida Camp With the Logos Still Off

Florida’s players reported to fall camp Tuesday, and Jon Sumrall still has not named a starting quarterback. The gear they practice in Wednesday morning carries no Gator logos either. Sumrall removed the logos from every shirt, every pair of shorts, and every piece of workout gear in January, and nothing has gone back on since. “Gotta earn it. Gotta earn the logo,” Sumrall said. “We ain’t earned it yet. We haven’t earned a damn thing. All we’ve got is our name.” Asked how a player earns one back, he said he had not thought about it. Florida opens against Florida Atlantic in 32 days.

The Culture Shift Started on Day One

Florida fired Billy Napier the day after a win over Mississippi State moved the Gators to 3-4. Billy Gonzales ran the team the rest of the way, and Florida finished 4-8, a fourth losing record in five seasons. Napier left 22-23 with one winning season in four years.

Sumrall described what he found in the building. “I just feel that what I first experienced around this team was way too casual for me, too nonchalant,” he said. “I didn’t feel the urgency and intent initially.” He returned to it after the spring game. “I don’t like casual behavior, and complacency’s a killer,” Sumrall said. “If you think because you did something one week, it’s gonna happen the next week, you’re going to be exposed.”

Athletic director Scott Stricklin hired him in late November, days after Lane Kiffin chose LSU, on a six-year deal worth $44.7 million. Sumrall and general manager Dave Caldwell kept five players who had considered the portal at a combined cost of $5.2 million: linebacker Myles Graham, running back Jadan Baugh, edge rusher Jayden Woods and receivers Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson. More than two dozen transfers followed, along with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner and defensive coordinator Brad White.

Georgia Tech quarterback Aaron Philo came with Faulkner and arrives as the likely starter, with sophomore Tramell Jones Jr. behind him. Scrimmages on Aug. 15 and Aug. 22 should settle it. Camp closes a week later.

Why Jon Sumrall Will Not Call It a Rebuild

SEC media voted Florida ninth. CBS Sports ranked Sumrall 10th among the league’s 16 coaches, the highest of any first-time SEC head coach. Both numbers hand him an excuse he refuses to use.

“I came here to win at the University of Florida, and I want to win fast,” he said. “I’m not going to act like it’s going to be easy. We play in a tough league, and we’ve got nine SEC games next year. Do I have an idea of what long-term success looks like, and how do we build a sustainable program here? Hell yeah, I do. But I also want to see how fast we can get competitive and relevant again.”

Sumrall has won at least nine games in all four of his seasons as a head coach, taking Troy to back-to-back Sun Belt titles and Tulane to the American championship game twice, winning it last season and reaching the College Football Playoff. Florida has never made that field. He arrives as one of the sport’s most scrutinized coaches, with everything riding on whether a Group of Five record travels. Napier came from Louisiana with the same kind of resume, and every Gator fan has already run that comparison.

Urban Meyer did the same thing in 2005, his first year, and won two national titles in four seasons. Meyer also removed the Gator head that players touch on their way into The Swamp. He gave it back on the morning of the season opener. Sumrall did not know of that when he ordered the plain gear. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he said.