GAINESVILLE — Opportunities, but not logos.
That was the message Florida football coach Jon Sumrall made clear during his Jan. 24 media availability at halftime of the Auburn-Florida men’s basketball game, his first since being introduced as Billy Napier’s replacement on Dec. 1.
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New coach equals clean slates. The players, via the way they train, prepare and practice will dictate their roles.
And a new coach equals, well, a clean look on the Gators’ apparel. Literally.
“(Have to) earn the logo,” Sumrall said. “We haven’t earned a (darn) thing yet. All we’ve got is our name. To wear the Florida Gator log, to wear ‘Gators’ across your helmet, you (have) to earn that.”
Hokey? Maybe.
Telling? Absolutely.
Required? Totally.
This new era of Gators football is about forgetting what happened over the past few years, including the 4-8 eyesore in 2025. The climb back to respectability has begun with 6 a.m. workouts.
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“Toughness, confidence, discipline, accountability, and grit (and) just the mindset we’re going to work hard,” Sumrall said. “We’re never going to back down (from) anything we ever do. It’s going to be real.”
Sumrall was full of real energy during his briefing, excited to talk about the last seven-plus weeks, retaining key players, UF’s transfer portal additions, working with general manager Dave Caldwell and the buy-in he sees from his players. It kind of made me forget about the dogged flag-waving to bring Lane Kiffin to Gainesville (hand raised).
I can’t wait to see the response Sumrall receives when/if he tours the state to speak at Florida booster events. His juice is just what this Gators program needs.
Retaining ‘The Florida Five’
According to on3.com, the Gators have added 26 players from the transfer portal and lost 29 players.
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But it was the five players Florida was able to retain that highlighted the player procurement process: Running back Jaden Baugh, linebacker Myles Graham, edge rusher Jayden Woods and receivers Dallas Wilson and Vernell Brown III.
Sure, the money helped, but Sumrall had to equal parts get to know them as people and convince them staying at Florida was best for their career.
More from O’Halloran: Why Florida Gators hiring Dave Caldwell as GM may have instant benefit
Sumrall said the situations were “all a little bit different,” for the Florida Five. He said Graham, who father, Earnest, played for the Gators was “probably the quickest to be back,” and Brown, whose father and grandfather played for UF, was “similar-ish.”
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“Dallas was a little trickier — I felt everybody was kind of trying to pick at him (but he) never went in the portal,” Sumrall said.
Sumrall put the full-court family press, bringing his mom, wife, kids and even his mom’s dog to visit Baugh and his family on Christmas Eve.
“Jadan’s a great kid — really kind of a non-nonsense, low-maintenance guy and sometimes, that kind of personality, when you go through the process, can be confusing,” Sumrall said. “He doesn’t love to talk on the phone or text. He just likes to play football.”
Baugh can be a workhorse back who will make life easier for the to-be-determined quarterback.
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Woods entered the portal, so Sumrall flew to the Kansas City area and met with him and Woods’ father and grandparents.
“For me being new, those visits were maybe a little bit anxiety-filled because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Sumrall said. “For me to be able to get in their homes and eat dinner with them or eat breakfast, I’m grateful those guys stayed. I’m grateful a lot of guys stayed.
“(Retaining players) was critical for us to have any opportunity to have success (in 2026).”
Impressed with GM Caldwell
Baugh had a front-row seat at the Auburn-UF basketball game alongside quarterback Aaron Philo, who followed offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech. Shown on the video board, they chomped and were cheered.
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Philo should be pushed by Tramell Jones Jr., the Mandarin High School alum from Jacksonville who was DJ Lagway’s backup last year. As it turns out, former coach Billy Napier’s blind loyalty to Lagway, never benching him when his struggles mounted, helped this Gators staff because Jones didn’t have enough snaps on tape to command major interest if he hit the portal.
Asked about Philo, Sumrall said: “Buster had extreme confidence in him. There are a lot of people (at Georgia Tech) that felt like he was ready to be the starter. He carries himself the right way. If you’ve got the right guy, I think experience can sometimes be oversold. … And Tramell, I’m excited about. I like our quarterback room. Is there a known, proven starter in that room? No. Are there guys I think can help us win football games? Yeah. We got a lot of work to figure out what that looks like and who’s the starter. They’ll make (the decision) for us by how they practice.”
As Sumrall finished up his duties as Tulane’s coach in the College Football Playoff’s first round (loss at Ole Miss) and back in Gainesville, Caldwell, the Jaguars’ general manager from 2013-20, ran point in organizing the portal lists.
“Dave’s been a blessing for me,” Sumrall said. “As a head football coach, there are a lot of things you’re juggling. I’m still making the roster decisions — it’s not like, ‘Dave, you go get the players and I’ll just coach them.’ I’m ridiculously involved in every player we take. But what Dave does, it allows me to really focus on the top guys that we’re pursuing. Our list gets whittled down from maybe 100 guys to 10 guys. I watch (those) 10 and evaluate who we really want to prioritize. Dave has been a pleasure to work with. He’s got great insight, tremendous experience and is really a low-ego, high-output guy.”
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Florida’s portal class is ranked 12th nationally by on3.com.
The team Sumrall sees around the facility is the team he will coach this spring and fall because there isn’t a second portal window.
If Florida fans can match Sumrall’s excitement, The Swamp will be a fun place to be starting in September.
“Man,” Sumrall said, “fired up about the direction we’re headed.”
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: UF coach Jon Sumrall will make players earn everything, including logo
