GAINESVILLE — As Florida positioned national championship-winning Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer feet away from the podium where next year’s coach Jon Sumrall spoke in his introductory press conference, the current team pensively stared at him.
While Florida wanted onlookers to believe it could still recapture the magic of Tim Tebow and Danny Wuerffel, the reality of this season hung over the 100-person crowd like an August thunderstorm.
This team, to put it kindly, has been dragged through the sludge of the college football sewers, ending one of the worst seasons in a decade with a 4-8 record. The representatives of the team – DJ Lagway, Myles Graham and seven other players – sat before the Gators’ latest hire, bruised and battered.
Sumrall cracked jokes and reinforced his winning mentality, but Florida’s current players watched with straight faces. After all, the team had experienced this before. When former head coach Billy Napier was hired from a Group of Five team, he preached a return to Florida’s dynastic reign in the 90s and early 2000s. Instead, Napier produced only one season with more than eight wins during his short tenure.
The comparisons between the two didn’t escape the Tulane coach.“No two people are the same,” Sumrall said. “Judge me for who I am. I’m a winner. We’re going to win. Just give me a shot. Believe in me.”Belief in Gainesville comes sparingly, and criticisms quickly follow any falter. Sumrall will have to rapidly assemble a team able to overcome the fourth-quarter letdowns that haunted this year’s team to have any chance of success in 2026.“He is wired to win,” athletic director Scott Stricklin said. “He builds teams that reflect his competitive identity, and he creates environments where players and staff understand what it takes to perform at a championship level every single day.”Sophomores like Graham and Lagway will have to decide if they believe Stricklin’s and Sumrall’s words. Five days after a new coach hire, players have 15 days to express a desire to enter the transfer portal. After all, Napier could spin platitudes better than he could win games.Despite Sumrall’s pleas for a chance, players might not be keen to sign on for another year in Gainesville. Wide receiver Tank Hawkins already gave up his season weeks ago in favor of redshirting. Some, like running back Jadan Baugh, who crossed 1,000 yards in last Saturday’s game against FSU, will have suitors beckoning for a change of scenery.Somewhere inside coaching his former team in the AAC Championship, hiring a new staff and preventing a mass exodus, Sumrall also has to recruit. Napier assembled the No. 13 class in the nation, according to 247Sports, and the Tulane coach has been cycling through FaceTime’s to ensure every high school player has a chance to speak with him.“While maybe future Gators matter to me, current Gators matter more,” he said. “I’m going to give more to the guys in the back of the room that are on our football team than I’m going to give anybody who could become on our team.”His words earned a few nods from Graham and defensive lineman Jamari Lyons, but the rest remained like statues, silently assessing the coach before them.While Florida may have rolled out the red carpet, printing out cardstock sheets of Sumrall’s accomplishments, the hardest crowd in Gainesville to win over might be the players who survived the 2025 season pummeling, armed with skepticism and cynicism.The Gators might not be uncrackable, however. As the press conference conclusion neared, Spurrier joked that Sumrall should go and win another championship. Defensive lineman Brendan Bett smiled. The hardened shell around this team is rock-solid, but not unbreakable.
