New Headline: Sumrall's Stellar Passing Dictates Gators' Dominance

Jon Sumrall at Florida: How to measure success in Gainesville originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Jon Sumrall, who started his coaching career at Troy going 23-4, has spent the past two seasons in the American Athletic Conference with Tulane, where he continued his success.

During his time at Tulane, taking over for a good coach in Willie Fritz, Sumrall led the Green Wave to two straight conference championship games. Following the 2024 season, Tulane lost the game against Army, while in 2025, the team was able to defeat North Texas to win the conference and gain a spot in the FBS playoffs. The playoffs did not go well as Tulane suffered a 41-10 defeat to Ole Miss, but his ability to take over the program and keep it at the top of the conference led him to getting an SEC job at Florida.

A good but not all expected hire by Florida, Sumrall is the second straight Gators coach to come from the Group of Six ranks. This notion left fans weary. That was before hearing his opening press conference changed their minds.

Where Billy Napier was an elite recruiter, he lacked SEC ability in game day coaching. He was able to get the recruits who would make up a majority of Sumrall’s first team. He was unable to utilize them to their fullest.