SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 22, 2026

Jon Sumrall

Florida Gators

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Greg, for that introduction. Really grateful to Greg Sankey and his staff, his leadership in our conference office in what they do to support our university.

Thank you it the media here that's covering SEC Media Days, telling our player stories and team stories. Thank you for your attendance and what you do for our game.

It's great to be in Tampa for SEC Media Days. This is Gator Country. You're in Gator Country right here, so fired up to be in Tampa. Have had some fun visits down here since my arrival in Gainesville. What a great city to host SEC Media Days. Fun being down here.

I am honored to be the head football coach of the University of Florida. Still kind of get chills sometimes when I hear that or I hear that said. I grew up in SEC territory. Grew up in Huntsville, Alabama. I was born in Texarkana, Texas, but raised in north Alabama. As a kid growing up there were three conferences in football in my mind: There was the NFC, AFC, and the SEC. That's all I knew. So to be an SEC head coach right now for me is very surreal.

I would like to start by thanking our administration at the University of Florida. We have tremendous leadership on our campus, starting with our board of trustees. That group does an unbelievable job supporting us. Really excited about our newly-appointed president, Stuart Bell. Look forward to connecting with him and partnering with him to make Florida football great.

And then Scott Stricklin, our athletic defensive coordinator. Scott's leadership, he's done a tremendous job across the spectrum of all ou sports. When you look on our campus, every sport has success. Every sport at the University of Florida has high standards, every sport is in pursuit of championships it feels like year in and year out.

That's not exclusive to football. We have got to get Florida football back to that standard.

But Scott's leadership has provided all of our sports teams with success through his resourcing, his hard work, and watching those other teams truthfully helped gravitate me towards Florida and has helped motivate me.

When you're a growth mindset person, being around other high achievers inspires you and you motivates you. When you're a fixed mindset person, those people of success may intimidate you. I love watching our other sports teams have success like they have at the University of Florida. We have to replicate that in football. We have to get it back to where it needs to be.

But like to thank our administration for everything they do for us. The main thing they've done for me is allowed me to put together a staff that I'm really excited about. I think a lot of times as a head coach, we get a lot of attention for good or bad that goes on in our programs, but we're only as good as the people around us.

Our administration, our university leadership, has allowed me the resourcing to put together a staff I'm really proud of, I enjoy working alongside each and every day. That's coaches, that's front office, support staff, everybody involved in the development of our student-athletes at the University of Florida. We have a tremendous staff I enjoy working with each and every day.

The Gainesville community has been great to our family and our staff, everybody that's new. It's been very welcoming. It's a very comfortable place to get acclimated and very grateful to what Gainesville has done for all the new coaches so far.

To Gator Nation, part of why I chose Florida, as a head coach you become in that role because they have to choose you, but you have to choose them back. Part of why I chose Florida was because the passion of our fan base. Football matters at the University of Florida. Our fan base cares deeply. We have 18 straight sell-outs through maybe not ideal on-the-field results.

We have a long way to go to catch the record at Florida. From 1989 to 2011 there was 138 consecutive sell-outs. So we have to keep moving forward to keep that going. But The Swamp, man, our fans fill it up and it's a real home field advantage. Our fan base is unlike any in the country.

To our donors, I am very grateful for their support and everything they've done to help afford us the opportunity to be successful in putting together a great roster.

And then it's really been awesome to connect with those that have come before myself, our staff, and the players on our current team and that given so much to Florida football, whether that be coaches or players.

I've had the privilege of spending a lot of time since getting the Gainesville with Coach Spurrier, and my wife with his wife, Jerri. They've been unbelievable to us.

And so for me as a head coach to walk the same walk he's walked, to have him as a resource has been great.

Urban Meyer has been awesome. Spent a ton of time with him since taking the job on very grateful for making himself available as a resource to me. And really all the former players that have come back to spend time around the program this offseason. It's been awesome to connect with them.

I'm really excited about coaching this football team this year. Each team every year this day and age is so new and unique. The amount of carryover regardless of coaching change or not is probably more unique than ever. We have got 116 rostered players currently; 60 returners. Very grateful to that group of guys that chose to stay during maybe uncertain times.

Any time there is a coaching change, the new coach didn't recruit the guys that were there, and those 60 guys that chose to stay that I never recruited, never stepped foot in their homes, I'm very grateful for their commitment to stay at the University of Florida.

Got 34 transfers and 24 freshmen from the high school ranks on the roster, so roughly half returners, half brand new team.

Three individuals I brought with me from our football team I'm excited about ya'll being able to connect with and spend time around today. All three returners. Linebacker Myles Graham. Myles went it Buchholz High School in Gainesville. A legacy player, and really hard worker. Consistent guy. Fun guy to coach every day because of his attitude and demeanor.

Running back Jadan Baugh from Columbia High School in Decatur, Georgia. Jadan has played high-level football at Florida the last two years. We have high expectations for what he's going to do in our new scheme offensively.

And then wide receiver Vernell Brown, III, also a legacy player from Jones High School in Orlando.

Three great representatives of what our team is all about, what we want the future of Florida football to look like. Enjoy coaching each and every one of them every day, and excited ya'll get a chance to spend time around them today.

With that, I'll open up to questions.

Q. You're one of the three coaches from the American in the league now. Talk maybe specifically about Ryan, Alex, and then the traits, the qualities that you guys maybe bring that made you attractive to the conference. Second part, Joker Johnson, what's Arkansas getting out of Joker?

JON SUMRALL: The coaches you mentioned. Ryan Silverfield, Alex Golesh, friends of mine. In the same league with them the last two years. Both really good football coaches. Did great jobs where they were in our conference. Ever time we would coach against them I knew we had to be ready to play our A game to have a chance to win.

Happy for their success and their opportunities. Both guys I'm very proud of.

And then Joker Johnson, man, played high school quarterback. Enjoyed coaching him at Tulane. From Hammond, Louisiana. A smart, dependable, tough player. I think the Razorbacks fans will enjoy watching him play. Tremendous young man. High character.

Q. You mentioned the Gators traditions, history. Steve Spurrier had an interesting introduction to Kirby Smart in February at the Spurrier Awards. Can you talk about how do you embrace the Georgia rivalry? Do you have a relationship with Kirby Smart, or was that the first time you had the exchange and thoughts about the nature of that?

JON SUMRALL: Yeah, it's a great rivalry. I think it's one of the best rivalries in college football. A lot of respect for Kirby and the job he's done over the years. Been very consistent. That was a fun event. I think it was a night we were all able to let our guard down and have a little fun. Kirby and I caught up before the event.

Look, it was all good natured. What would you expect at the Coach Spurrier Award show, other than a lot of jabs being thrown? Right? Like it wouldn't be his award show if it wasn't a lot of jabs.

No, fun event and really respect what they've done, Kirby and his staff.

Q. Coach, curious how much of an emphasis you're placing on injecting a new energy into this program, be it like a swagger, moxie? Seems like that's something you personally have a lot of. How much you trying to inject that into the program you've now taken over?

JON SUMRALL: Yeah, I don't -- I'm just trying to inject an attitude we're going attack every day with enthusiasm. I may have some bad moments; I don't have bad days. I got life pretty good.

So I want everybody in our building to have an appreciation for the privileges that we're afforded each and every day. When I interviewed for this job one of the questions the committee had for me was, Coach, what do you view as our negatives at the University of Florida? I said, the biggest one I see is we haven't been winning enough.

But like the places I've coached, look, I've got a full time nutritionist now. I didn't have that at Troy. Got a staff nutritionists. Like there are so many great resources we have.

So for me, I think you have to have a great attitude in what you do. I define attitude as demeanor, drive, and desire. Demeanor is your body language. Drive and desire is the mindset if you never arrive, you can always get better.

I am a firm believer that the only disability in life is a bad attitude. I ain't going to have a bad attitude. When things go bad I am still going to have a positive attitude.

That's not purple skies and butterflies. We are going to have some moments that don't go our way. There will be adversity hit, but when adversity hits, I don't change.

You know, things are going to go bad. When they go bad, how do you respond? You better respond with the right attitude. I want everybody in our building to be filled with urgency and excitement and passion about what they do.

Q. You had a challenge for the offensive line at the spring game, buck up or get off. Have they answered that response? In this OTAs, how have they handled that?

JON SUMRALL: We've only got two guys that really started football games at University of Florida that are returners, so it's a very new group. This is a line of scrimmage game. This is a line of scrimmage league. But I don't care what league you're in. You better be good on the line of scrimmage.

I've been really pleased with the growth of our offensive line this summer, in particular the weight room. That was probably my greatest disappointment when I took the job and started to watch our team work in January and February, just the strength of our O-line was underwhelming for me; not where I felt like it needed to be.

They embraced the challenge and worked hard. I think we got great leadership in that room. Two transfers that have really set the standard how we work. Harrison Moore, offensive center from Georgia Tech, and TJ Shanahan, offensive guard from Penn State have both kind of elevated maybe the rhythm that that room marches to.

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 good enough.

We also through the spring rolled a lot of different combinations. I think the offensive line takes continuity, time to gel, the cohesion component of playing offensive line as a unit matters.

So we were mixing and matching so many different groupings that I don't know if it was fair to them in the spring to really assess where we'll play as a whole unit on the O-line come this fall because we were trying to find out which guys could be swing guys, and by that I mean tackle to guard or left side to right side or which guys can snap.

So you go out and watch the ones one day and didn't look like the ones the next day, so we'll settle on where we will go with who will start, who will be the first five, but that group has embraced the challenge and they're working incredibly hard and I'm proud of the work they've done.

Q. Talking about rivalries, you're playing Texas for the third straight year, which is kind of something different for the program. Have you gotten a sense in Gainesville that it's an emerging rivalry? From your perspective, what have you seen with Sark and Arch Manning are doing in Austin?

JON SUMRALL: Yeah, it's a big game because you're playing Texas and they're really good. Every SEC game is a big game. Every game is a big game. I don't change; don't matter who we play. Doesn't change the prep. It stays the same.

But it is new and unique to be playing Texas a third year in a row. It's not something that's historically been a part of Florida's past or Texas' past. Who would've thought ten years ago that Florida was playing Tennessee for the third year in a row and not playing Tennessee. Like we don't play Tennessee this year. That's really kind of weird.

But to address Sark and Arch, man, a lot of respect for Sark. He's a brilliant offensive mind, a playcaller. I've always admired how he does things. Think he runs a great program.

Arch, man, what a great young man. When I was a coach at Tulane Archie would shoot me a text or a phone call and say, hey, is it okay in May in some down time if Arch comes over and throws? I'm like, yeah, and ask him if he wants to transfer, because he want' a starter yet.

I'd go out there and might watch him throw or Cooper whoever might be out there and I'd be like, I would like it coach that guy. But he's a good player. I really have a lot of the respect for the Manning family as a whole. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree with Arch how he carries himself.

Q. First of all, Coach, thank you for your time as a Wildcat. Just want to ask you what your time as a Wildcat meant to you, and then the rivalry that you guys are going to face this year and beyond.

JON SUMRALL: Yeah, look, University of Kentucky is where I played. It means a great deal to me. Wouldn't be where I am at today if it wasn't for Hal Mumme, Guy Moriss, Rich Brooks. Those are my college head coaches. All of those men poured into my life. That place helped me go from being maybe a boy to a man.

I needed to get away from home. Grew up in north Alabama and I needed to get away. Lexington helped me become a man. A lot of respect for that program, and means a great deal to me. We play every year so it's a big game.

Look forward to continuing that rivalry, if you will. Special place. Means a lot to me, and grateful for my time in Lexington.

Probably my finest memory of this summer when I was out on vacation with my family, my twins just turned 13, and me and my wife and my twins are in the Bahamas and walking through this one area of the resort. One guy stops and he goes, are you Jon Sumrall? I said, that's my brother. And he goes, no it's you. Yeah, you're right, it's me. What's up? He goes, dude, I loved watching you play at University of Kentucky. I said, you and two other people. I wasn't that good of a player. I tripped a lot of people in 2004. Led our team in trips. But not very often do I get recognized for being a college football player.

That was one of those moments I looked at my son and said, see, dad had it one day. No, Kentucky is a special place. Had a lot to do with where I'm at today.

Q. How has the experience of taking over a new program -- this is the third time -- how has that experience changed your philosophy on taking over a new program? Each place is different. What has changed over the period of time since you started?

JON SUMRALL: Yeah, good question. I do feel fortunate to maybe have only been a head coach since 2022, and so the transfer portal and NIL and all the chaos that has ensued is all I know. It's not like I've been doing it forever and had to shift mid-stream. It's all I've known.

Every time you walk into a place that's different, the most important thing you do as a new head coach is you listen to maybe what's gone right and you listen to what's gone wrong, and you try to identify where you have to recalibrate. Try to get the right people in your building. Maybe some people it's okay if they leave.

But every situation is different. I walked in at Troy, they had been 5-7, 5-6, 5-7 for three straight years. I went to the first few weeks of workouts and I thought we had a chance to be okay here, like I think we can be decent.

My athletic director at the time, Brent Jones, who hired me, I said, I think we can go to a bowl game. Like be descent. Well, we won 12 games. The roster was a lot better than I realized or probably anybody realized. There was about six, seven guys off that team that are in NFL training camps right now from five years ago at Troy, and they hadn't been winning.

Compare that to Tulane. I walked in and they had been winning for a couple years and I walked in and there were still some good players left but most the guys that had won a lot of the games that occurred right before I got there, they weren't there anymore. I'm like, hang on, where did that running back go? Well, he's with the Titans now. A lot of the guys were gone.

Sometimes you walk into situations and think, man, it's going to be really adverse and you're not set up to have immediate success, and you find it because maybe there is more pieces in place to be successful than you realize. Sometimes you walk into a situation and it's been going good, like, man, we got more work to do here than I thought.

It takes what it takes to be great. There are no shortcuts. I don't care if you've been winning or you hadn't been winning.

But every situation you walk into I think you have to evaluate, okay, what needs to be recalibrated and what's been going good. There have been some really good things going on at the University of Florida before my arrival. There have. We haven't won enough games. We need to win more games. Like 4-8 last year is not okay at the University of Florida. We got to fix that.

But there has been some good things going on. You just try to evaluate, okay, what's been working and not working and find the right things you have to maybe address.

Q. I saw earlier you were asked about a nine-game SEC schedule and you said you're not going to whine and complain about being an SEC football coach. What was the last thing you did whine and complain about?

JON SUMRALL: Probably my kids whining and complaining, my four kids at home. Team rule in pur team is no whining, no complaining, no excuses. I have the same rule at my house. I cannot get it done at home. My two 13 year olds, a ten year old, a seven year old, golly. I whine and complain about that. About middle of the summer vacation I usually look at my wife and I'm like, why are they whining so much?

But no, I don't whine and complain a whole lot, man. Life is pretty good.

Q. Of course you decided to stay with Tulane last year going into the playoffs. Some other coaches decided to jump ship. Talk about that decision making process to stay with the team.

JON SUMRALL: I would say no two decisions are alike. Lane and I are friends and we talked several times through the process of October-November about what it was looking like for both of our schedules of how things were going to unfold.

And you would be kicked out of our team meeting, I swear. Like you're lucky I'm not going throw this podium right now. That drives me crazy. I would say who is that, but I'm not going to embarrass anybody.

No two situations are different. Lane and I talked as we were going through. He was like, you and I are going through the same thing in November. I was like, No, Lane, we're not. If you leave you're leaving an SEC school to go to another SEC school. It's a little different. I'm leaving Tulane.

But it was challenging to do it. I wouldn't have done it any other way. I may have on the front end of taken this job maybe not been at my best every second for Florida because I wanted to make sure I left Tulane the right way. If any university told me I couldn't coach in the playoff game I don't think I would've taken the job just because I couldn't leave the team I had coached all year.

That's one of the issues. Not going to get into politics; I'm a football coach now. But the calendar we have, I've heard Coach Saban mention it on game day at the end of last year. He said it beautifully. Our calendar does not make sense. The NFL have it figured out. They play games, and after the Super Bowl they have player movement, free agency, the draft, OTAs, practice, training camp, play games again.

Coaches change jobs, too. Right after the Super Bowl. Kellen Moore, good friend of mine was the OC with the Eagles a couple years ago and couldn't leave because they had to play in the Super Bowl. Couldn't officially take the Saints job.

So the calendar we have in college football right now going from being a one-semester sport essentially to now we are playing our championship game in late January, it doesn't match up with the movement of coaches and players very well, so it's cumbersome to say the least.

I did not envy Lane's situation at all. When we would talk I felt awful for what he was going through and everybody involved because it wasn't fair to anyone.

Q. You got to go up against Pete Golding as the defensive coordinator and head coach this past season. What did you see from him as head coach, and what do you expect to see from him when you two faceoff against each other this fall?

JON SUMRALL: Yeah, known Pete a long time. Pete and I kind of have similar coaching track records to some degree. We zigged and zagged across each other a lot. He was at Southeastern Louisiana; I was at Tulane. I went to Troy; he went to Southern Miss and UTSA. He went to Alabama; I went to Ole Miss and Kentucky. We know each other well for a while. I have a lot of respect for Pete. Really, really good football coach.

Pete is going to be himself. He's not going to change. I have an appreciation for that. You have to be authentic. I think he's going to do a phenomenal job. Really do. Happy for his opportunity there.

Watching him, those teams to me, look, you know, we played them the first time at Tulane and they beat the shit out of us. We played them the second time, different head coach, still beat the shit out of us.

So didn't matter who the head coach was. They were still pretty good. So I think sometimes people forget it's a player-driven game. Pete will do a great job with his team and a lot of respect for Pete.

Q. Your first Georgia-Florida, Florida-Georgia game, whichever one you want to call it, will be played in Atlanta. What expectations do you have for this rivalry matchup with it being inside Mercedes Benz Stadium?

JON SUMRALL: I am sure it will be a phenomenal environment. A great venue. We got to get our team to play better in that game and put our best foot forward. It's going to be an electric environment. Atlanta is a great town. It's a storeyed game. Excited to have the opportunity to be a part of it.

Thank you. Go, Gators.