Florida’s Sumrall Provides Offseason View on Sportscene
New Florida football coach Jon Sumrall gave fans a quick overview of what the offseason has looked like, such as team workouts, team runs that began at 6 a.m. Monday and what some of the plans are for the season during his appearance Wednesday on Steve Russell’s Sportscene show on WRUF.
Over the course of the interview, Sumrall had three main points he hit on.
Russell asked Sumrall, regarding the portal, isn’t retaining some of the guys on the team just as important?
“I almost want to say it’s more important,” Sumrall responded. “You’re always going to have to go out and fill some holes through the attrition that occurs. But man, guys that came here and chose to be Florida Gators out of high school, guys that have given this place a lot already and that you know are going to fit the culture of what we want to build, who are also good players.”
Sumrall said he is excited that the Gators were able to keep guys like Myles Graham, Jadan Baugh, Jayden Woods, Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown III. Those are only five of the 20+ players returning to Florida for 2026, the former Tulane coach said.
Sumrall pointed to building a culture in Gainesville and how that affected his staff hires.
“I want to make sure we hire great people. I’m a firm believer that better people make better players. Better people make better football coaches, better people make better people in the media,” he said after Russell asked what he looks for in assistant coaches.
“So I think the better the person, the better you can be in anything else you’re doing. I want guys that care about young men, care about whole person development and really have the mindset of they’re coming here to serve and develop. They’re not coming here to be served.”
Sumrall said this led to hires such as the Gators’ new strength and conditioning coach, Rusty Whitt, a former Green Beret in the U.S. Army. He talked about the importance of the weight room, how it reinforces the culture of a program, gets players ready for the fall and that they’ve already begun workouts this week.
The final point he touched on echoed his introductory news conference last month. Russell asked what attracted Sumrall to this job. Sumrall recognized the Gators’ coaching legends in Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.
“I didn’t want to go somewhere where mediocre was OK,” he said. “I wanted to be somewhere where the expectations were to pursue championships year in and year out.”
With the transfer portal window closing Friday, the Gators hold a top-10 portal class ranking according to On3.
Category: College Football, Feature Sports News, Football, Gators Football
