Florida football's fall camp kicks off on Wednesday, and ahead of the final rounds of practice before the 2026 campaign kicks off, new head coach Jon Sumrall spoke with the media, answering their most pressing questions.
The topics for discussion covered a broad range, from dealing with the physicalities of fall camp, weight room gains and losses, the growth the program has seen since Sumrall took over, new members of the roster and coaching staff, competing in the SEC, and other areas of interest such as dealing with preseason rankings.
Below is an abridged look at everything Sumrall said in his press conference ahead of the Gators' fall practice season.
How do you balance physicality with being smart in fall camp?
Yeah, some injuries you can't prevent. This is a physical game; you have to practice that
way if you want to play that way. We also have to be thoughtful with our practice planning. I think our training camp model is helpful for the players' recovery.
We'll open training camp with four days in a row. We'll go Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We will have more of like a lower load, lower load, higher load — they will stagger it. But we also have to be cognizant of yardage, distance covered each practice. A lot of times it's your skill guys that get soft tissue worn down. So, we'll make good decisions there.
This practice model is very player-friendly in that regard, but you have to do some of the tough, gritty things to play the game the right way.
So, are you going to mix it up or?
We'll have the second scrimmage at night because we play the first game at night. I'm not sure if you're aware of that or not, but the second and the first games are at night. So the second scrimmage we'll do at night.
But more times than not, it'll be morning practice, similar to what we did in the spring. And we'll carry that through the season, the players. One thing I get: sometimes they call me the "players' coach," and I'm like, well, "I hope so, because it's about the players, not about me."
The guys that were here previously, that went through the spring and got the format of the morning practice schedule, seemed to really enjoy it. And felt like we got the best of their day in regards to waking up, being fresh and ready to go. And so we're gonna continue that. And also, I think late in the week, it helps you in-season, maybe be fast and fresh on Saturday, which is kind of important.
How much growth did you see over the summer? How do you compare to your previous stops?
The growth has been real. The four main lifts — which are power clean, bench, squat and deadlift — our team, as a whole, improved almost 14,000 pounds in those four lifts. Like 13,000, I think, 890 or something, like almost 14,000 pounds — as a team — improvement from January to right now. That's impressive.
The offensive line has made significant gains in the weight room. That was needed. I didn't hide from that. Still haven't hidden from it. Are we fully developed and have we arrived at any stopping point? No, we never will. But I am very grateful for the work the guys have put in.
I think Rusty and his staff have done a really nice job. One thing in our model we will do... and I think your best ability as a player is availability, and you have to be resilient and strong to play this game. You cannot break. Well, how do you not break? You have to be resilient, strong. You have to train that way.
Our guys are still in training camp. When we do lift, we'll still put weight on that bar. Like, they'll still load the bar. We may not do a ton of reps, but you have to sometimes touch the oven to know that it's hot. Like, you gotta fire. You gotta... and if you want to be strong, too many teams, I think, throughout the year don't maintain their strength because they don't lift like it. We're still gonna lift like, oh, you're here.
But I'm really excited about the work that's been done. It's not over, though. This team's got to maintain the strength they've developed and then some guys still got to keep getting stronger.
What's that compare with 14,000 pounds?
Well, it's almost 7 tons. It's really, really impressive. It does remind me a little bit of when Whit and I worked together at Tulane. I don't know if you guys know the story a little bit. Whit and I have only been together for five years now, I was really my first time when I took the job at Troy. I was getting ready to fire him. And then I got to know him. I'm like, "Hang on, I kind of like this guy. We might work well together," and it's as impressive as what I've seen any group do over the length of the period we've just had.
The body comp(osition) changes to... Jake Sankel, who runs sort of all of our nutrition stuff. Um, the DEXA scans have shown significant fat loss and a pretty strong amount of muscle gain, which is your body comp changes and those have been really impressive. So it's also a, you cannot outtrain your diet. All right? You get to this point in life, we're all great pictures of that.
So our players, if you want to make significant gains, it can't just be the work in the weight room. It's got to be the things you do with your nutrition, and our guys have committed to making some changes to help them grow.
What kind of month needs to happen for this team to be able to compete in the SEC?
There are a lot of things. We've got to continue to grow as a team and come together. You have synergy. We've got to have certain guys elevate at certain spots to play winning-level football that still have some question marks. Just consistency.
There were, there were some flashes of times in the spring where I'm like, oh, this seemed to be really good, but the consistency wasn't always there. We have to get into a space where we bring it every day and you cannot calculate your effort you give by how you feel — like being tough is being at your best no matter what the circumstances are around you.
And so our guys got to get in a routine of like, every time we go out to practice, it's a great practice because we're showing up. We're going to show up.
How have you changed in the four previous years to this year in getting a team ready?
The biggest change I've made is I've probably, from year one to year five (is to) delegate a touch more, or quite a bit more, to be quite honest. My first year as a head coach, I probably micromanaged everybody to a fault, because I wanted everything to just be absolutely perfect. Now I still want us to chase perfection, but I think, as you grow and you understand, you have to hire great people and let them do their jobs. It's my job to hold everybody to the highest standard and extremely accountable for how we do things.
The beautiful thing about being head coach in Florida is you can hire a great staff. I'm really, really blessed with the resourcing that our administration has provided us with to put together a staff where, yeah, there's times I may need to walk in the offensive room or the defensive room or special team staff and make sure they understand the vision that we need to, be casting and how we need to be growing in certain areas, but all the way to the front office and the support staff.
I think just trusting people to do their job well and then, when it's maybe not meeting the standard we need, then calling it out — but not holding their hand all the time.
When did you recognize that you've got to pull your thumb off of it?
After my first year as head coach at Troy, I was in every defensive staff meeting, and I was in every special teams staff meeting, and the offensive guys would walk down the hall and be like, "Hey, what's your name?" And so then I was like, "Hey, man, you gotta be the head coach of the whole team. Like, you gotta understand it all."
And so really, my second year as a head coach, I spent more time around our offensive staff than I did our defensive staff, and now I'm pretty balanced. I'm at a place where a play call in tomorrow's practice goes in — offense, defense, kicking game — I'm dialed into what we got going on.
Why was it important for you to hire Buster Faulkner?
Buster is well traveled: went to Valdosta State, played for Chris Hatcher, who is an Air Raid, Mike Leach, Hal Mumme disciple. So his upbringing was more in that system, which is explosive and fun. It's very unique. They throw the football a lot, and when they do run it — sometimes they call it bunting — it's like, it's a different style of play.
I think Buster evolved at each stop. He's been out in his career. I think when he was exposed to this league at another school, I think he realized, "You know, you have to run the football to win at a high level in this league and be adaptable and versatile." And then I think if you look at what he did at Georgia Tech, it's unlike anything he's really been a part of in his career.
A great offensive coordinator may have certain things they like to do that fit their system, but at the end of the day, it's how do you fit your system to the people you have. And so I think what he did with the offensive personnel at Georgia Tech really showed how talented he is as a play caller and schematically putting things together because the best coaches, they evolve to what works for their players.
And so you build an offense around your offensive line and your quarterback. And that's where it starts: what can these guys do and what are maybe the limitations that they're not great at? And how do you offset some of those weaknesses? And so I think that versatility that he's presented by doing a lot of different things.
And then I think too, as you put a coordinator in place like Buster, it's how do you support that coordinator? You've got to hire great people around them to allow them to be freed up to call the offense the way they want. And so you look at our offensive staff room, we've got several other guys who have called plays. I mean, Joe Craddock's called plays, Trent McKnight's called plays. Phil Trautwein, Evan McKissick, and all these guys are really good football coaches; Chris Foster, Marcus Davis. There's a lot of guys in that room. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in that room of guys that can support Buster so that we can come up with unique, creative ways to put our guys in a position to be successful
But when I went through the process of taking this job, I was really open with the administration here. I think that there's a style of play when you think of Florida football offensively. Now, the way that Coach Spurrier played the game offensively was different than the way Coach Meyer played offensively — there's still a fun explosive style of play, but it changes a little bit based upon what the personnel looks like.
How much have you seen Brad White evolve?
Brad's like really, really brilliant. You know, it's fun talking to Brad. He's such a high-level thinker. He could be a Fortune 500 CEO. I mean, it's just these, you know, he's almost like an accountant, like you hear him talk and you're like, the level of detail. He's a great teacher. One of the best teachers I've ever been around. He doesn't leave a stone unturned.
He has the ability to maybe see things that others don't always, in regards to how to manipulate the front and a coverage that goes with it and what matches well and what doesn't. And so I'm blessed to be able to have Brad lead that side of the ball because then, being from a defensive background, it frees me up to be a little bit more, whole program vision.
And so I'm grateful for Brad and what he does and once again, I have a great staff over there. You know, you look at so many guys, the depths of that room, that's really good, strong, defensive staff. You talked about playing anywhere, anybody anytime.
Have you thought about week 0 games?
It's crossed my mind. I'm probably so focused on being where my feet are right now that I'm worried about this season, but yeah, I think there's a lot of conversation around the calendar of college football, you know, the number of bye weeks we have moving forward, all those things. And I think there's always (an opening) for conversation on, "Could there be a week 0 game? What does that look like?" Opponent-wise, location, all those things.
I never hear somebody say something about a potential matchup or game or whatever, and my response is, "(You) never know." It's always like, "That could make sense maybe." You just have to always get all the information.
You mentioned how much more of the linemen are lifting. How dramatic are those changes?
Well, you still have to be really, really physical with the line of scrimmage, but you also have to be athletic and efficient with your movements. You know, to move other people, you have to be able to move yourself. So if you can't move yourself well, you can't move others.
And so Dez Green, Bryce Lovett, all these guys, Kay Jones, all those guys, they're body comps. That offensive line, body comp — the charts you can see on weight gain, that's been muscle mass and weight loss of fat. It's so impressive. You know, I was walking in the indoor, a few, a couple weeks ago, and Bryce Lovett was in there doing some drills on his own with his shirt off. Bryce Lovett, seven months ago, wouldn't have taken his shirt off. You know, and now he's like, "I'm feeling pretty good about myself."
I think when you've put that kind of work in, you've made the changes, it helps you build confidence. You believe, "Hey, this is working. Like, my hard work is working." And so, I'm excited to watch those guys put it into action.
You don't win the, you don't win games by just looking good or your physique being better, you got to go play the game. But I think it gives them an opportunity to improve their style of play and be more productive as players.
How much do you think the weight room renovations after spring facilitated a lot of those changes you saw? When did you realize this was something that needed to happen?
The first time I walked in there, I was like, "Okay, I didn't love some of the layout." I am not trying to take shots, but I don't, you know, there's a big patch of turf in the weight room. We have 120 yards of turf right outside. I don't need turf in a weight room. We need weights in a weight room. So that to me, I was already like, "I don't need a little patch of turf."
You know, some guys, I'm not going to name any names, but they've got like a little patch of hair. "What's that doing? Just cut it." And so just don't try to hang on to it. So the idea of turf in the weight room made no sense, and we have a full turf practice field outside. Or inside. And we got two grass ones right there. So, we wanted to maximize the space, the functionality, the spacing in the racks, too, like I told you before, Whit and I will lift together some, and when I would go to spot Whit, to bench, I (had to) get skinny and shimmy through there, to get to the rack, to spot him on bench, and I'm not as big as a lot of our guys.
And so that was a needed change. So very grateful to the administration for letting us do that project because it was needed.
And then I do think the functionality of the weight room created an environment where our guys understand that's important. How you invest your time and your money tells me what's important to you. Well, when our administration allowed us to do that in the weight room, it sent a real clear message to everybody in the building like, "Hey, being really strong and tough and this weight room matters."
And so our players follow that lead, and the coaches have done a good job, and it's made a huge change within our team.
Can you take us through some of the additions you made to the roster?
So Stive (Bentley Keumajou) was a commit for the 2027 class, was able to reclassify and be ready, and we're going through the spring, and we'd love to have had a D-lineman. And then Jaylen (Jordon) worked out at a pro day and did some good things. I felt like, "Why not take a shot on a guy? To see what he could become. Who knows?"
We'll see what happens there, but I'm excited about him being here because he had enough — the way our policy on guys working on a pro day for us is, if you're at another school, we will not allow it unless the NFL requests it, and their school doesn't have a pro day. So Jacksonville University no longer has football. This guy was playing basketball there. And we had a couple NFL scouts request him to work out a pro day. Which is very unique. And so we're like, yeah, sure.
Then he worked out a pro day. (He then) had a little injury. So nobody followed up with him in the NFL free agency process, and we were able to figure out he had eligibility in football, and why not? See if we could bring him in and see what he could make of the situation, an opportunity?
(Javier) Jones, the corner. I just think we needed depth and wanted to see, could he come in and compete? The two places you never feel deep enough are the offensive line and the secondary. I don't care how many good ones you got. You're always like, "I would take another one." So I just want to add another guy that could come in and compete and see what he can do.
Some of the challenges I had for Stive, because he's a relatively new football player, right? And he just moved to the States. You watch him, his athletic ability shows — he's punted, he's done a lot of different things on his high school tape, (he's) got great athletic ability.
The game is newer to him, so he's still got a lot of development left out in front of him, but he's got the right size. He's really hard-working, passionate about the game. You could follow him on social media. He's always posting another weight room video or him doing something out on the field. And so, I think the guy likes to work. I think he's wired the right way. So I look forward to seeing what he does.
How long have you known Greg McMahon and how do you see that relationship with Coach Galante working out during camp?
I have known Greg McMahon for a long time as a young coach. When I was at Tulane, he was a special teams coordinator for the New Orleans Saints for Sean Payton. I used to sit in the back of those meetings at the Saints facility and watch Coach McMahon run special teams meetings and just be in awe of how he commanded the room and the level of detail and energy he brought.
I took the job at Tulane. He was on staff for a year before I got there, when I took the job. He said, "Sammy, I think I'm retiring. I'm not going to go to Houston with Willie. I am not staying with you. I think I'm done." I said, "Mac, pump the brakes. Let's think about it. You know, I won't make you go on the road to recruit. You just coach special teams."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, January 2nd of 2024, he and I came to the agreement that he would stay for one year and be my special teams coordinator my first year at Tulane. And then we had a fun year together. I had a blast getting a coach with him because I have such a great deal of respect for him. Then on January 2nd, 2025, he walked off, said, "All right, I'm out. Like, I told you I was giving you a year, it's been a year. See you later, bud."
And so he retired again. He's retired a couple times, then come back to football. And then last year, he would just do like some consulting on the side for me. He'd watch tape, give Galante some notes and some thoughts because he would watch things a week ahead for us. And just kind of was like an independent contractor almost. So he would come around once a week last year and spend time with us.
And then this past spring, he came to visit. He had done something similar at another SEC school he's doing with us. Came to visit. We were hanging out one day, and he's like, "Hey, would you be open to maybe me coming to hang around some? You know, in the fall." I'm like, "Yeah, I'm always open to that, Mac. You know how much I respect you. Yeah, you're always welcome to come to practice. Like, what are you thinking?" He was like, "I don't know. I was thinking maybe show up at the start of training camp."
I'm like, "It sounds great. How long do you want to stay?" He was like, "I don't know, maybe the last game." And I was like, "That sounds freaking awesome." And so, as we kind of hashed it out, it worked out for him to be with us for the season. He'll be an analyst.
Galante is running the special teams; nothing's changed. There's not some like big restructuring of what we're doing on special teams. You know, I'm a former special teams coordinator. I have a great deal of respect for that job. It is a demanding, hard job. Jonathan's really good at it. But to have another person like Greg McMahon on your staff, it can be another set of eyes to help you do some things as good. And then Jonathan and he have a great relationship and history together as well. So we're on the same team. We got each other's back. And there's a lot of camaraderie there.
So Greg's a really good football coach, but also an unbelievable person.
Preseason bowls and predictions — how do you digest that? Do you vote?
Don't even look at them. Like, I don't even know, are they out? Yeah, I don't know, I don't care.
Yeah, I vote. I have somebody help me make sure that we know how to fill out the form the right way. But no, I look at it and talk through it with, you know, who helps me. Scott Burns and Byron Ellis over there, they make sure it's typed up each week to send in, but they don't get to break it how they want to rank it, and then me just hope it works out. I want to know what we're putting down.
Is Jaden Woods the kind of player that can develop into someone who opposing offenses have to scheme around?
Jayden Woods has a really, really high ceiling of how good he can become. I think he's talented. Physically, he's very, very mature — works as hard as anybody I've ever been around my life. Great teammate. High output, low ego, the type of guy that, just being around him, you feel like a guy that wants to be great. And so, yeah, I think he can be as good as he wants to be.
I'm excited about watching him continue to grow and develop. He's hungry, he's eager. When you coach guys like that, man, it's fun. And so I'm excited to see what he does this year. He would be the first one to tell you that he's not arrived. He's got a long way to go, a lot of development left. But really fantastic player, unbelievable person. The type of guy you love having on your team.
When he went in the portal in December, January, I thought I knew what he was. Having him back the last seven months and being around him day in, day out, I can't imagine life without him. He is a freaking blast to coach, just unbelievable.
How does he fit with what you guys want to do with Brad's game?
So he plays JACK. You know, obviously, every scheme needs great pass rushers, and people go, "Well, how, how do, how do pass rushers fit in your scheme? You need them, and how do corners fit? You need them." He's a guy that I think can play the run and the pass equally well.
Some guys are DPR guys that are just get up the field, jet, contain — DPR means designated pass rusher — jet, get up the field, and just harass the quarterback, but don't have any desire to play physical in the run game. Some guys are really good at setting edges and playing with power and strength and taking blocks on, but don't have pass rush ability.
He's one of those guys that he can do both. You see him up the field and rush the passer, and you're like, "Whoa, he's got it," and then you see him strike a block and try to set the edge and anchor, and you're like, "You can do that too." He's really good at a lot of things. And so he's just a guy that, I think, has great versatility and is an every-down player. I think, like I said, the sky is the limit for how good it can be.
[unintelligible question]
So the tight end from Jacksonville (Jordon) will be out for a couple of days, nothing significant. Kaiden Hall may be out, not final — he's going to run today. He's got just a little soft tissue thing, nothing significant. He'll practice tomorrow. It'll be on a pitch count. Certain drills will be up and then certain drills will be down, but he's available. He's practicing tomorrow. He ran 22.5, I think, last week, so he's rolling. He should be good — he's full go.
How anxious are you to get started tomorrow?
I'm excited. Look, I mean, we're at the University of Florida. Like, holy cow. We get to play the greatest game of the world at one of the greatest universities in the world, and just so many things about it. I was at my house late last night, and I looked at my wife, and I'm like, "Man, here it is, let's go." Like it's time.
So I feel very privileged to be where I'm at and could not be more fired up about watching this team grow. We have a lot of growth that's needed. But we're going to bring it every day and get better. And to your point, I thought about it. I saw some tweet or something come out a couple of days ago about single-game, season tickets. And we've sold out 18 straight games here, 19 straight games here. And the outcomes haven't been what we desire, but the support here is unequaled and unrivaled. And so I'm just excited about leading this team and watching them grow and each guy getting a little bit better every day and then watching us grow together as a group and go from there.
What is Dallas Wilson's potential?
Dallas has great energy every day. Really, the body type — he's physically imposing, can win the 50-50 ball in the air, has good long speed, possesses good ball skills. Like I said, he's smart; he's really competitive-natured; likes to compete. I think the biggest thing is giving him a full year of health and availability to maximize the player he can become. What I would say is he has worked as hard as anybody in our program to be ready to go. He's had a great summer. He's looked awesome in all our OTAs. He's full go; he's fully cleared. He will be a guy that we need to be smart with by how he's practicing to make sure he gets to the dance each Saturday, but he's ready to roll. And I'm excited to watch it.
I think, you know, when you go through the adversity he went through injury-wise last year, the frustration came out because you just want to play the game. Really grateful for the people at Nike and Jordan Brand and all his folks that gave him the opportunity to go out there and make sure we had him in the exact right cleats that were going to be best for him to be healthy. And so excited about him. Look forward to watching him cut it loose.
(He's) another guy that has — kind of like I talked about Jayden Woods — another guy that you just like being around. Like you're watching practice. He's got infectious energy. Um, a guy that can be as good as he wants to be; bright future.
So, the last thing I wrap up with, when we go to injury stuff, I'll handle it. So y'all ask Buster about how many points we're going to score; ask Brad about how many other teams are not going to score. I'm available, I think, once a week during training camp. I think y'all know me well enough by now. I'm not going to like act like nothing's going on with the guy if something is. I'll be very transparent with you. But run that always through me.
So appreciate y'all asking about it. I'm great with you asking when you see me. All right, appreciate you. Thank y'all.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Everything Jon Sumrall said ahead of Florida football's fall camp
