Florida football's head coach Jon Sumrall spoke on the SEC teleconference on Wednesday about the Gators' upcoming rivalry game against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Among the topics the first-year skipper touched on were the wave of upsets and varying consistency seen across college football, as well as his relationship with Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, how the SEC seems to be beating up on itself this year, wide receiver Bailey Stockton, the Dawgs' defense without KJ Bolden, how his offense is preparing for the daunting challenge, and more.
Below is a look at everything that Sumrall said on Wednesday's SEC teleconference.
Jon Sumrall's opening statement
Thank you for having me. Coming off a bye week, trying to get as many guys healthy as possible while still working on getting better
as a football team last week. And then have a really good football team we have to get ready for this week in Georgia. So, tremendous challenge and obviously a historic rivalry game. So with that, we'll open it up.
On upsets across college football and the obstacles to consistency
I think each team is different, Nick. Our inconsistencies, I feel like have maybe been most directed towards just maturity and focus and being a team that's been calloused over team and been put through the wringer. We kind of are young in a lot of ways and trying to find who we are.
But I do think the talent is spread across college football, maybe more than ever, because, you know, there have been some traditional powers that maybe had an unbelievably talented backup that wasn't playing a bunch of snaps, and he sees an opportunity to go somewhere else and be a starter.
So, therefore, it's become more challenging, I think, to probably stockpile depth like teams maybe have in the past. Maybe in this conference in particular, to be quite honest. You know, Georgia, our opponent this week, they're one of those teams that I think still has been able to do that.
That's what makes them so impressive: you look at so many of their position groups; running back and tight end jump out to me. It's like, the depth of those rooms, you don't see fall-off. Like the next guy comes in the game and you're like, "Alright, that guy's a starter." Then the third guy comes in the game and you're like, "Alright, that guy still looks like a starter; he doesn't look like a backup."
But there's less teams that have been capable of building and accumulating that kind of depth.
On getting roasted by Kirby Smart at the Steve Spurrier banquet, how far their relationship has come
Yeah, Mike, I knew I was going to get a question from you today.
I didn't know what the question was going to be, but not surprised this is the question. That was an awesome event, first off. Coach Spurrier, what he means to Florida football; he is Florida football. And then I knew I was in for probably a fun night, but I didn't know I was in for a comedy hour roast.
But no, it was enjoyable to hear the jabs go back and forth, really a lot between Mario (Cristobal) and Kirby. We took some shrapnel there at one point, which, you know, but it was all good-natured. And then this rivalry, as you walk into it, I have a lot of respect for what Georgia football has accomplished historically. And then even when you look most recently over Kirby's time there since 2016, what they've been from a consistency standpoint is so impressive.
He's been nothing but great to me personally; I've got a lot of respect for him as a person and a head football coach. And obviously it is a tremendous rivalry. We need to do our part in making it a rivalry right now. We've been on the wrong side of it for a while, but it's not easy because right now they're clearly a very talented, well-coached football team. But I have a lot of respect for Kirby and Georgia football.
On attrition across the SEC this season
That's a good question, Mike. I don't know. Our team early in the year was pretty healthy, but I think as you go into SEC play, it's black and blue each week. You know, every team, it's a gauntlet every week and I think it's almost become a war of attrition.
I mean, you go into each week wondering who on your roster is going to be available, and then kind of to the question I think Nick asked a minute ago, the biggest challenge now is maybe the drop-off in some spots of your program from maybe a starter to the next guy in at times is more significant than you'd like for it to be. In particular, for us.
Like, I look at ourselves more than anybody, and we're in the infancy stages of trying to build a program that can last. And I just think the depth makes it even harder because you lack maybe the quality depth you had become accustomed to at certain points in your career.
Like I said earlier, I think Georgia is one of the few teams in the country that still — you look at their depth pieces, like I said, at running back and tight end. And it's like, well, the starter leaves the game, the backup comes in, the third-string guy comes in and you're like, "The third-string guy still looks like a starter."
And so, that's so rare these days in college football, and so when you get beat up, you look like a drastically different football team a lot of times. The challenge is real in this league because week in, week out, man, you're in a freaking fight. Like, the physical fight weekly in this league is unlike any other I've ever experienced.
On Bailey Stockton
That's a great question. When Buster (Faulkner) came and a handful of Georgia Tech guys went in the portal and showed interest in coming, there were some questions I had with each guy that were different. We didn't take every Georgia Tech player that went into the portal, but we tried to get the guys that fit us, got some of them, didn't get some of them.
Really glad we got Bailey. Bailey, probably more talented than given credit for. I think he's, a lot of times, we sell guys like him as just blue-collar, work ethic, try-hard guys. He's really talented. He's got great short-area quickness, catches the ball well with his hands, he's a feisty blocker, has great awareness.
But the other things he is, the intangibles he brings to our football team, really reinforce what I want our program to look like. That's tough, consistent, great teammate, loves working hard. Man, he's just a fun guy to be around. Loves playing, like, brings positive energy every day. He's just a guy that when he's involved, it seems like good things happen, and that could be on the field or off the field.
It just seems like good things happen around Bailey Stockton because he's a winner.
On how different Georgia's defense looks without KJ Bolden
I think KJ is a really phenomenal player. He has a lot of experience. He's a headsy guy that you can tell has a lot of time on task in their defensive structure. But I would say, too, it wasn't like they don't have another good player or players around that secondary group that come into the game.
Like I said earlier in the call, I think what makes Georgia unique is the depth of their roster is probably greater than most other people in college football right now. So when he leaves, yeah, maybe they lose a catalyst or a cornerstone of their defense, but they got other good players that come in, and they got a lot of great players around that defense.
Given Georgia's run defense, how much pressure does that put on whoever starts at quarterback?
I think the quarterback decision first starts around health and availability. Are both guys capable of being close to their best health-wise? That's kind of the first question. And the second is, yeah, Jadan getting productive yards in the run game helps the quarterback's job be easier.
The biggest challenge for us is when we've gotten in negative plays and been in longer yardage situations. Even if you look at just the Texas game, early in the game, we didn't stay ahead of the chains enough, and that's why we had a hard time offensively with staying on the field.
That's when we've had, throughout the year, when we've had struggles; it's been first-down inefficiencies. It led to third-and-longs, which makes playing every position on the field harder. Offensive line, quarterback, receiver, because now you get into more predictable situations.
What helps us as an offense is not getting in the third-and-longs but playing in third-and-short, third-and-medium, or staying out of third down altogether. I think that makes the quarterback's job easier, but everybody's job easier. What makes Jadan's job easier is us blocking the things that give him an opportunity to get back to the line of scrimmage and then go be himself.
His ability to make plays, I think, changes less with the quarterback than it does with the offensive line, tight ends, and the people blocking for him. It's not like we have a drastically different skill set depending upon who the quarterback is.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida's Jon Sumrall talks Georgia matchup at SEC teleconference
