Jon Sumrall breaks down Florida's first scrimmage

Florida football coach Jon Sumrall met with the media Monday following the Gators’ first scrimmage of fall camp.

The first-year skipper provided updates on several injured players, assessed the ongoing quarterback competition between Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. and discussed where things stand across the roster. He also touched on Florida’s upcoming mock game week, the program’s emphasis on special teams and his approach to the Gators’ uniforms.

Here’s everything Sumrall said following Florida’s first scrimmage of fall camp:

Opening statement on Saturday's scrimmage

I thought the scrimmage on Saturday got a lot of good work. One hundred and twenty-seven total plays — 50 with the first group, 43 with the second, and I think that leaves 34 with the third group. Still moving people

up and down at all positions — ones, twos, threes, some guys at the end.

I know I appreciate you guys being there that were there, and I appreciate you protecting us. I don't need everything public because we do play other people coming up, and I don't need everything we're doing. But I appreciate y'all being there to watch.

Then I think, as you saw the thing go, once we got to the break, certain guys that were on a rep count, like Jadan Baugh or Dallas (Wilson) or some of those guys, got to their rep number and then they went and conditioned on the south end zone by our locker room as we continued the scrimmage.

Really good work. Started minus-25, played it out. Had a backed-up period, a red-zone period, a two-minute period — a lot of different situational things. Still mixing and matching some of the O-line combinations. We're going to hone in on how we're going to rotate, probably the top eight more this week a little bit.

Then next week will be mock game week, and you'll kind of start to act like we have a game next week. But I liked the flow of what we did. Some good, some bad, a lot to clean up procedurally. I was displeased with two false starts at wide receiver. That's unacceptable.

Only had one interception at quarterback, but as a whole had three or four others that the ball was in jeopardy of being intercepted. If our defensive guys had caught the ball a little bit better, might have had a couple more. We've got to do a better job there.

The one interception we did have was a really good play by Comani (McClain) in a third-down situation. But a lot of good work.

Injury update on VB3

Some guys were out. I'll start with VB3. He was withheld Saturday. He practiced today, full go. That was more precautionary in nature. Had a bone bruise. His foot got stepped on Thursday's practice.

Friday, when we looked at it — Thursday, we looked at it and said, hey, let's hold him Friday. Then just as we got full information on Friday, could have, if we were playing a game, probably pushed it and played. But didn't want to take him out of a boot to go play on a scrimmage day. It felt like we didn't need to do something stupid there.

So he was back full go today.

Injury updates on Kam James, Jalen Lloyd, Jamien Toombs and Duke Clark

Guys that have been out that are back to practice, they were limited maybe in some capacity. Kam James took team reps today, maybe not a full capacity of team reps, but took them.

Jaylen Lloyd, Javion Toombs did some individual and special teams work today. Not 11-on-11 work yet, but he'll be close to being back.

Duke Clark took indy today. Probably could have done team, but just out of an abundance of caution, probably going to wait until tomorrow or the following day to put him back in team work.

Injury update on Guervilil

(Kendall) Guervil, I think, is going to have a shot to return to play, but we're just kind of making sure we're thorough there.

On Jordy Lowry's injury and his progress during camp

Jordy Lowry was the only injury Saturday's practice. A little soft-tissue deal. Played 12 or 13 plays before it happened.

Really frustrating because, honestly, his arrow was up. Off of training camp in the spring, he looked like a new guy that transferred and was swimming a little bit at times. This training camp, he's been a pleasant surprise, so disappointed for him.

It's not going to be a terribly long-term deal, but a soft-tissue deal that we'll just have to see how he responds.

Injury update on Durkin and on Leon Padron's kicking

(Patrick) Durkin did not kick. He's back today. Similar type deal as VB. Probably, if it was a live Saturday, could have gone.

He needs to continue to get work. Nobody's arrived, but he was 25-of-28 last year on field goals with, I think, three over 50.

It was really good to watch Liam Padron kick. He went — I think, I don't think, I know exactly — he went 9-for-10 on field goals Saturday. In the scrimmage setting, he went 3-for-4. He missed the first one but then made the next three, one of them being a 50-yarder.

So to know that we've got another guy that's capable- maybe he hadn't kicked in a bunch of games or anything, but he's got the ability- that's encouraging because I think we know what we've got there.

Alec Clark has done a great job punting, holding.

On the quarterback competition

I like a lot of what both have done. I know you guys are going to talk about the quarterbacks, I'm guessing, so I like what both have done. Neither one is just light years ahead of the other. They're both doing really good things.

The one thing they both have to continue to work on is who's going to operate the best at the line of scrimmage. We cannot forget motions and shifts, and then protect the football and then just lead.

But they're both doing a great job. They're both supporting each other. They both compete with each other. Do both of them want to start? Yes. But they're doing it the right way in the competition with each other, and they have each other's back.

I like where we're at there. I'm not announcing anything today there, in case you want to know.

Injury update on Dijon Johnson

Dijon has been going individual, certain things. Today, he was full go, and he will be full go all week and he'll be live in the scrimmage Saturday.

We maybe could have pushed the gas there last week, but same type deal. It's like, hey, the ramp-up process for him is important. Talking with the medical staff, just felt like ramping up more this week to build up to Saturday's scrimmage.

But he went full go today. Looked good. He's looked really good. He's had a great attitude. Played a lot of snaps, veteran. I like where he's at mentally. He's in a good spot.

What did you think of the red-zone execution and the things that stalled there?

There's a couple offensive things that stalled, and there were a couple of blown coverages too. You guys were there. Two of the passing touchdowns we gave up on Saturday, we just decided not to cover anybody. I can throw it. It drove me crazy.

It's okay to get beat on a play. It's not okay to just give them plays. We can't beat ourselves. Florida beat Florida on defense a couple of times Saturday, which was really frustrating.

Then offensively, we've got to get touchdowns down there. We can't kick field goals. But we'll continue to do that.

We got red zone a little bit today at times. We're going to continue to get red zone throughout camp. We got red-zone seven-on-seven today, but it's an area where I think when I go back and look at teams that are successful, they offensively score touchdowns and defensively keep them out of the end zone.

We've got to do a better job there, both sides.

What was your assessment of the offensive line as a whole?

I'll say this: I love the fact that we were at 11:00 roughly for start, going 127 plays. It was steamy in the stadium. I liked that. I wish it could have been just a little bit hotter, like just a little bit hotter. But I think we saw these guys have to fight through some of that, which I'm grateful for.

Some guys are elevating. The challenge there is mainly consistency. We have to be dialed in and we have to be detailed in assignment, fundamentals, technique, and then we've got to strain all the time. Non-negotiable up there.

Some guys are getting better. I think Eagan Boyer is taking some steps forward. Emeka (Ugorji) has looked good at times at tackle. Bryce Lovett is unbelievably talented — unbelievably talented. We've got to keep going all the time, but he's got giftedness.

All those guys. (Tavaris) Dice is getting better. (unintelligble) needs to continue to step up and play, needs to play like a veteran. We're challenging him every day.

Interior, I think, probably played cleaner and better all training camp maybe. I feel really, in the interior line, I feel pretty comfortable with who we are and where we are. Tackles, the biggest question.

Are the questions at tackle related to rotating guys at multiple positions and getting them acclimated?

I'd say there's something to that. There's also something to, right now, the playbook's volume is really big. We're not pared down in a game-plan mode. That affects everybody on the offense — the quarterbacks, the line.

I think when the call sheet is that substantial, the volume of plays that you could get called and you have to go execute, that's a lot.

Then the other side of it is the amount of volume of defense Brad (White) has in. We're getting some front pictures that are like, good luck. I felt sometimes, I look out there today, we're in a front picture on second down, I'm like, Brad, are you trying to make these guys just quit? Because it's such a challenging picture that he gets pre-snap.

So the line's getting challenged in a lot of ways, and so they're growing. When we start to — a week from now, we'll start to act like we're in a game week. It's mock game week. We'll start to streamline, like, okay, who are we a little bit? What are we going to be? How does it look?

I do think in the first couple of games you're going to see us play a few different rotations for no other reason — nothing to do with who we play. It's because we've got to figure out who we are.

I'm still not completely sure yet. I have some ideas, but until you go and do it against somebody else or in a different-colored jersey, you don't ever really know. So we've got to put some guys in those situations.

How much do you have to judge how the quarterbacks are doing with the ones versus the twos?

That's an outstanding question, Zach. Did you read that on ChatGPT or what?

Here's what I would say: When you're with the ones, you may have elevated players around you, but you also have elevated players on the other side of the ball. So now that pass rush is on you faster when you're with the ones.

I actually make the offensive coaches break down the quarterback stats for me on what they're doing when they're with the ones versus when they're with the twos, because sometimes it's easier with the twos because a guy just doesn't get covered, and it's like, okay, well, I can make the throw there. For both the guys, going with the ones and twos, it's not driven toward either one.

There are challenges to going with the twos too because you may not have the full complement of skill players around you or whatever it may be. But I do separate how I look at the quarterback performance with each group. Because usually when you go out the first snap of the ones, usually you look out across and you're like, okay, there's Myles Graham, there's Chiles, there's Brandon, there's maybe McCray or whoever, Jayden Woods. Yeah, that defense looks pretty good.

As you go down, it's less daunting, maybe. And the throwing lanes — not just the pressure in front of you, the pocket — but the throwing lanes against the ones are a little bit tighter. The one interception we threw on Saturday, as you watch it on tape, you're like, where do you go with the football? Where do you need to go with the ball there? Nowhere, because everybody was just blanketed. There's nothing to do.

So sometimes tuck it. If we get the first, great. If we don't, I'd like to just punt. We have to learn as a room from some of that because really that whole room is young at quarterback. There's not a whole lot of experience and time on task in a game environment. There's some, but not a great depth.

But I do think you have to look at who you're going against, who you're playing with on your side, and then going back to how Brad calls it. Brad's a little more comfortable unleashing all the stuff with the ones and the twos, maybe some of it, but not quite as much.

Based on the way Tramell Jones Jr. played Saturday, has he earned more reps with the ones, and what does he need to do to get more?

I think he's earned — they've both earned what they're getting. I think Tramell has grown a ton. The biggest growth that he's going to continue to make is operating at the line of scrimmage with shifts, motions, those sort of things.

We have a motion called and not bring a guy in motion. But he's making plays. He's very comfortable in the pocket. He's got great energy. He's got good touch on the football. When things are right, they're right. He's got a bright future. I'm fired up about him. I really am.

I know everybody thinks that Philo's the starter because he came with Buster (Faulkner) and all this, and yeah, he had a head start. Both guys are doing good things, and we need both of them to get ready.

Has Tramell Jones Jr. gained ground on Aaron Philo in the quarterback competition?

What I'd say has happened in this training camp different is — and I'm going to be very transparent with you — in the spring, I think Philo was way ahead because of understanding the offense, and Tramell was significantly behind.

I think they've both taken some steps up. Tramell probably had more upward mobility, room to grow, because he's learning the offense. So I think they're both playing really good football. I'm not going to sit here and say one guy's way ahead because I think they're both doing good work.

I do feel like we're in a position where nobody's going to take snap one, game one, because the other guy has done a poor job. It's going to be because he's probably just executed at a little bit higher level, whoever it is. We're at a place now where both guys are playing good football.

What did you think of the way Aaron Philo bounced back from his interception and threw a touchdown?

That was the most impressive thing to me of his scrimmage, was bad play and then followed it up with really good football afterwards.

That's the quarterback position. You're going to throw a pick, the whole crowd is going to boo. What do you do next? That says a lot about you.

In full disclosure, he had one other throw and Tramell had a couple that could have gone bad too. On the tight end over route, we threw it right into the coverage one time as well and just didn't get picked because the linebacker covering it had hands like a snake.

When you have a bad play at quarterback, you've got to respond. It ain't always going to go good.

How big is the gap between the first-team and second-team defense?

At certain spots, it's more substantial than others.

I've been really pleased with the depth of the inside linebacker room, the growth there. Ty Jackson, Myles Johnson and all those guys. Truthfully, in training camp, I've probably seen 44, talking about Myles Johnson, effort plays more. I'm like, whoa, he's getting better. Then Ty, man, you talk about physically gifted. Man, getting way better. So the depth there is stepping up.

I think the safety room is unique because you look at guys like Bryce (Thornton) and DJ (Coleman) — really, really, really good football players. A lot of snaps, veteran experience. Then behind them you look and you've got some really talented guys, like Lagonza or maybe Dooley. Less time on task, less veteran and less proven.

Then you have another guy in that room like Alfonzo Allen who's just really steady as well. Kind of complements the top guys in that room. He just does the right thing a lot and does it really well.

So I think across the board defensively, it's kind of different in each room. Right now, the D-line, I like the rotation we've got. I feel pretty good about the way that looks. Kam James being back makes it look even better. That's a group that right now can play with some depth.

So I think each room is just a little bit different as you go. But the guys that have to make the most adjustments are the linebackers and the safeties. Those are the guys that when the picture changes, they have to adapt more. So those guys have to be smart football players.

Was Ty Jackson the player who forced the fumble inside the five?

Yeah, on the one — that was frustrating too. We had two balls on the ground in the receiver room and a third one that was questionable. But yeah,Ty was in on that.

He came in and you could watch him in winter conditioning and you're like, this guy's talented. It reminds me of Jamin Davis when I got to Kentucky. I'm like, who's that guy? And they're like, well, he hadn't played at all. And I'm like, well, he looks pretty good. That's Ty Jackson.

Then Jamin became the 19th pick in the NFL Draft. I'm not saying that's going to be Ty, but Ty, he's played on kickoff. He's played a little bit of special teams. Hasn't been a major contributor defensively, really.

But when you watch him right now, what's happened is, at that position, man, there's so much going on. There's a lot of noise. There's shift, there's motion. You have to communicate. You've got to talk. So he is growing from a football IQ standpoint. He's becoming more confident.

He's still, by nature, who he is as a person, he's not naturally a real loud, talkative guy. I met him in the team room the other day, trying to see if he could yell to the team louder than me. He still can't. Because at linebacker, I think you have to have a voice. You can't be quiet.

But he's seeing things cleaner. His vision lines have improved. He's adjusting better. His spatial awareness has improved. He's always had great athletic traits. Now his football training is elevating.

Does everything Brad White is installing defensively change how you evaluate the defense?

I think it's easier on defense to some degree at times, but at the same time, you have to adjust to the offensive formation. But yeah, those guys have handled it well.

I feel like the volume on both sides, it's going to get cut back in a game week. Right now, that call sheet's pretty big on both sides. We went into Saturday's scrimmage and didn't narrow it down like you will for a game plan. We just said, hey, everything's live. Get ready.

So there are some guys right now that their heads spin a little bit. It can make you a little nauseous when you're a young player, and you haven't played a lot. You're looking at that call sheet going, golly, we could call all that?

But in a game, we won't carry as much as we're carrying now.

What was your assessment of how you ran the ball, especially in short-yardage situations?

Short yards, I think we've got to improve. If it's third-and-one and fourth-and-one, we should never get stopped. We've got to get better there.

That first drive, I was absolutely freaking pissed, just to be honest. I'm like, if it's fourth-and-one, that should be 100% conversion for us. We didn't get it. The first drive, that started our ones off negatively.

Now you may say, well, are you going to go for it there? Some we will. If you go by the analytics — not that we're always going to pay attention only to the analytics — but fourth-and-one, the analytics will tell you to go for it from every part of the field. Doesn't matter where you are. Now, we don't do that. But if we're outside our 35, a lot of times if it's fourth-and-one, let's go. So we've got to convert that one. I was frustrated with that.

I thought at times we ran it well. I thought our defense did a good job stressing us too. But Jadan (Baugh), Jadan's a good football player. We know what we've got in him. He has really had a solid training camp, and I'm excited about him.

When you evaluate the short-yardage issues, is it the offensive line, the running backs making the right reads or something else?

Each play is different. Sometimes it's the offensive line, sometimes it's the back. Sometimes the defensive player makes a great play. I would say, with consistency though, I don't care what block or what running back, we've got to go get a yard all the time. Everybody. I don't care who it is.

That's not Jadan. That's the whole running back room. Fourth-and-one, whatever's there, the contact, we've got to run through it and go get a yard. But we've got to continue to work on creating movement at the line of scrimmage.

There's a couple of really good calls that we have defensively too that make it really, really stressful for the line in short yardage. Just one in particular that, if I'm Brad, I would never call anything but that because it just works a lot. It's something that we stole a couple years ago from somebody else and we made our own, and it's worked pretty good.

Is this the week when things start to crystallize with the offensive line and other rotations ahead of the second scrimmage?

We pared down how many guys are repping at certain spots a little this week.

Then as we turn the page a week from now, like next Sunday — we'll scrimmage Saturday night at 7:45 because that's what time game one is.

Then our staff meetings on Sunday will be the mirror image of what they will be the Sunday after the FAU game. Same meeting times. I'll meet with the offense at the same time, the defense at the same time, the full staff at the same time. We'll watch the tape as a full staff on special teams.

The same exact rhythm this Sunday.

Then we'll turn the page and we'll go into mock game week next Monday, which is like Monday's a run-through, Tuesday's a full-gear practice, Wednesday's shells, Thursday's a walkthrough, Friday's a run-through, and then Saturday we'll do a mock game.

So as we get into a mock game week, we're going to act like we've got a game next Saturday because I want our guys to understand that it's important to me that they understand the flow of the week and how you prepare and ramp up for the game.

I'm not comfortable (heading into) Game 1 going, "It's game week now, here's what we do." I want them a week ahead.

There will be some things we do a little different in mock game week. We'll still do a touch more good-on-good work and a touch less scout-team work. But the rhythm of meetings, practice, I want them to feel it.

We're also going to have to, at that point, start to pare down who's getting reps, how many reps, and then we'll start to also pare down call-sheet stuff a little bit about how do we get game-ready.

Do the players start to feel more of a sense of urgency as the season gets closer?

I think they do. I think they realize it. We had somebody at practice today address our team, and kind of the message was, you have to always — the clock's always ticking, man.

I talked to our team yesterday about, you think you have forever until you look up and you're up in the front row of that team room and you don't have forever. You've got five months left of football. It's like, man, I've got to give everything I've got. The clock's ticking here. So they've got to be urgent.

How did you think the defense tackled in Saturday's scrimmage?

For a first scrimmage, not bad.

Some space tackling I didn't love on the perimeter. One of the touchdowns we gave up in the pass game, the effort on tackling was poor with a couple of DBs at times. There were two of them in particular that I was ready to lose my mind on. Not going to name names, but there were two DBs that their effort tackles on touchdowns, I was really disappointed.

But for the most part, scrimmage one, pretty good. The two things I think that stood out in scrimmage one that proved we still have to work at efficiency were the two procedure penalties at receiver. The receiver should never jump offsides. I'm not okay with a lineman doing it either, but our receivers should never do it.

Then just play clock. We had three delay of games that we've got to continue to work on. But as far as the defense, I felt like most of the tackling was decent for our first scrimmage, to be quite honest.

What did you think of Singleton laying out to make that catch?

That post was a great catch on the throw by Philo. We had another post we dropped that Philo threw that should have been a touchdown. So we hit the one to Singleton. Huge play. It's a very similar play to one earlier we had in training camp, looked almost identical.

Then the one that Micah Mays had should have been a touchdown.

What did you think of how Heze Kent played, and how has he handled getting more reps with Evan out?

Probably my favorite moment in the scrimmage was when Heze Kent was in the slot. He's doing a really good job. I'll say this about Heze: We challenged him. He's responded. He still has a long way to go, but he's growing.

There were times on Saturday's deal that he looked fatigued, but he's trimmed down quite a bit. He's lost a ton of weight. He's put in a great deal of work. He's shown a great deal of discipline to get his body right to where he can play tight end.

I basically told him when we broke spring practice, I gave him the ultimatum of sort of two or three different goal weights by different timelines, or he could play either offensive line or nose. He could make the decision.

He's decided he doesn't want to play offensive line or nose, so he's losing the weight. Now, we're not done with the weight stuff. But I'll tell you what, Heze is impressive, man. Maybe I'm not just saying this. This is the truth. He may have the best ball skills on our team. Like, he might.

Micah Mays, that's what was so disappointing about Micah in the scrimmage. He's usually Mr. Automatic, catching everything, and he was disappointed himself.

But Heze's ball skills are really, really elite.

Is Evan Pryor positioning himself as Jaden Baugh's backup with Duke Clark out?

I'd say Evan's got — he's a smart kid. He's got some slashing running-style ability. A little bit different than Jaden, different body type for sure. A little bit different run style. Has good ball skills, can catch the ball out of the backfield.

I like the depth of that room. It's been unfortunate having Duke (Clark) out recently, but I'm excited about him coming back now that he was back today. I'm fired up about him getting back full speed more this week.

But Evan's done a great job. He's done a good job. Byron Lewis has gotten better. London Montgomery is kind of the one, every time he gets it, I feel like he's kind of the forgotten guy in that room. He's good on kick return. He's sturdy, he's physical, he plays a little bit bigger than he is. He's a hard tackle.

I like that room right now. I think we've got good players in there.

What have you thought of Bryce Lovett's transformation and the flexibility he gives you on the offensive line?

Uber-talented athletically. He's changed his body. He has an ideal tackle body. He's good enough to go in and play guard. One of our best short-yardage plays last week in our live period was him at right guard and moving.

He can be as good as he wants to be, man. Bryce has the ability to be as good as he decides to be. It's up to him. He's changed his body. He cut out all the fast food and the junk he was eating, and he looks like a different athlete.

I just want to see him play to his capacity. If he maximizes his potential, sky's the limit. He can be as good as he wants to be.

What's your process after a scrimmage, and how many times do you watch the film?

Come in, split staff, watch it. Offense and defense in their rooms watch it. I usually watch — I kind of bounce back and forth. So I started that day with the offense. Then I went in most of the defense. But then when I saw something on a play that I wanted the offense to know, I'd walk out of the defensive room.

They're conveniently right next to each other, better than my situation I had at Troy. They're on the opposite end of the building, so I'd be in one room and have to run to the other end. Here, they're right next to each other, which is awesome.

So I'd sit there and watch a little bit with the defense and then pop in and out. But they grad it. We watched it that night with the players, most of it. We met on it in more detail as a staff yesterday and then cleaned up a little bit more of it yesterday afternoon with the guys.

I probably watched it in total five times. I watched it sort of with a different lens each time. So I'll watch it with a defensive lens, an offensive lens, and then I'll kind of slow down and watch it with just a quarterback lens, and then just an O-line lens. Sort of the four ways I look at it.

Defensively, the time I watch the defense, just watch the big picture. But then I go back and hone in more on the offense, to be quite honest with you. It's kind of how I do it.

What was your main takeaway from listening to Florida's championship coaches speak, and how receptive was the team?

I've said this before. I think one of the great things about being at the University of Florida is the standard of everybody is championships and excellence. I've gotten really close with those other head coaches in the athletic department.

TG (Todd Golden) opened us off. I felt like when TG talked, I felt like I just had him tell them our message every day, and he just said it. I was like, this is awesome. So good to hear, so refreshing.

Our guys were like after he had done that, a couple of them were like, coach, did you tell him what to say? I'm like, no, that's just who he is. The good thing about having TG talk to our team is I think he cusses a little bit more than me, so it makes me look good.

But he was awesome. He killed it. He participated in the knockout that night that we had. We play a different nighttime activity game every night. Y'all don't know that, but we like to have a little fun too. It's not always just rough-and-tumble football. But he participated in that.

Jenny (Rowland) did a great job. Cool hearing her present from her perspective. Then Tim (Walton) on Friday, and then tonight we'll have Mouse (Mike Holloway), and then Jake, and then Sully, and basically everybody that's won a national championship here is going to talk to our guys.

I want them to know what that looks like.

Do you also get to learn from those championship coaches as a head coach?

Awesome. So good. So good. I'll tell you, the best part about it is their encouragement to me. They see what we're doing. They're like, hey man, block out the noise. Keep doing your thing. Y'all are doing it the right way.

They've been at practice. They've watched us work. A lot of them have come around. So to hear their perspective on just — they feel what we're trying to build, and they've got our back, and they're great allies.

What do you think about switching up Florida's uniform combinations, and what have you learned about the do's and don'ts?

I'm pretty staunch on I want our uniform colors to be orange, blue and white because those are our school colors. I'm a traditionalist in nature, so I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about uniforms, to be quite honest with you. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how we're going to win games.

I'm so routine and regimented. Every Monday in the season, I eat the same thing for lunch. Every Tuesday, the same thing. Every Wednesday, same thing. So if it was up to me, probably — we had a uniform meeting this spring with the athletic department. I don't know, there were probably some Jordan people in there. I don't even know who half the people in the room were.

I'm like, hey, I'm cool if we go every home game orange, blue, white and every road game orange, white, white. I'm good. And if we play a team that's on the road that's wearing blue, let's go orange, white, orange. We're playing a team that wears orange, let's go orange, white, blue. I would be fine with that.

We've got some other cool stuff that's going on. I think last week we talked about the tribute to Coach Graves' team, 1966. It's coming, that team. But yeah, as long as we keep it orange, blue, white, I'm good. I don't have any desire to wear those green alligator uniforms that were worn here.

You know what's funny is the players, they love black, man. Love it. I know that that's, I think, the vibe here has been anti-that. Black's not in our school colors. But when recruits come in, I do watch. When the recruits come in, I'm like, all right, what did they put on? Because when a big-time recruit wants to put it on, you're like, well, does that mean we need to wear that in the game?

I don't spend a ton of time thinking about it. I'm sure everybody thinks that's all I do all day, is put uniform combinations together. A lot of those decisions, I would say the administration here and other people that were involved in planning that out with everybody in that room probably were looking at me like, why are you so disinterested in this? Because I really could give two (expletive). I just want to win games.

How do uniforms establish that as part of the program's identity?

Yes and no. I mean, I was involved, but I was in the meeting. My involvement in the meeting probably wasn't great because we're in the middle of spring practice. I was worried about the next practice.

But no, at the start, we're going to always have orange helmets, and we'll have blue jerseys and white jerseys and have white pants always, forever. The other stuff that goes on around it, there may change some things to kind of create.

On winning mattering more than uniforms

If we win, I don't care what we wear. I just want to win. When you win, you can wear whatever you want. It looks good because you won. You can wear the coolest uniform ever and lose, and the uniform stinks then. So let's win games, and the uniforms will look better.

On his emphasis on special teams

I'm very involved in special teams. Former special teams coordinator as an assistant coach. I feel really privileged from a staffing perspective to have Jonathan Galante and Greg McMahon and Gunner Hudspeth and so many good people on our staff.

We probably spend more time on our schedule on special teams than most people in college football. We watch it as a full staff. I think you guys don't get to watch enough during special teams. Probably did in the spring, but you haven't in this training camp.

I think one thing we do that is a little bit different is when we go to special teams work, you're going to see everybody involved in coaching. Nobody's on the sideline smoking a cigarette watching practice. Everybody's coaching. Everybody's involved. Everybody's hands-on.

That includes myself. I'm in every special teams meeting. I think you have to win in small margins a lot of times in this game, and that part of the game is where you create some of those margins where you can find ways to win. We've got to be great there. We've got to win the hidden-yardage battle.

We've worked a ton on blocked punts. We've worked a ton on everything this training camp, and we're really meticulous about the workload of each player on special teams and how much they're getting.

You're going to see us play starters on certain teams. Our punt team, we're going to put our best players out there, typically guys we trust. But we're putting a lot of time in it, and it is something that Urban cared about. That's one thing we have that is somewhat similar.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Jon Sumrall breaks down Florida's first scrimmage