Florida football's Jon Sumrall participated in the first SEC media teleconference of his nascent tenure as the Gators' head coach on Wednesday to discuss his team's season-opening matchup with the FAU Owls.
The new skipper was brief in his opening statement. “Our team, we had practice this morning," he noted. "We play Saturday at 7:55 against FAU and we’re excited about it."
Sumrall went on to discuss topics such as his SEC head coaching debut, the quarterback room, offensive line coach Phil Trautwein, JACK Jayden Woods, the special teams and more.
Take a look below at everything Sumrall had to offer at the Week 1 SEC teleconference.
On Sumrall's non-negotiables for Florida in his first game
You gotta play with enthusiasm and passion, effort, and you wanna see them strain. You only get 12 regular season
opportunities and you don’t want to take any of them for granted, ever. And I’d like for us to play like we’ve practiced, you know? Look like we’ve done some things before and operate efficiently.
You see so many common mistakes that happen in Week 1 or Week 0 games like last week, and just for us to do what we’ve prepared in a crisp, clean manner is sort of the way you want to see it happen. But there will be guys making mistakes; when they do, I want to see them make them full speed. I want to see them go as hard as they can from the snap through the echo of the whistle.
On the offensive line’s growth under Phil Trautwein
Phil is really detailed. He’s a great teacher. He’s very consistent. Phil’s a guy who doesn’t get too high or too low, he shows up the same way every day. Like I said, consistency is a key there, I think. And I think just finding ways to help guys maximize who they are. Different guys receive things in different ways from a coaching standpoint, and so, how we reach each player is a little bit unique.
But he’s very thorough with his preparation for his guys and I think he’s done a great job. I did not shy away from — when we got here, I felt that the offensive line was an area that needed massive improvement. I think we’ve made improvements. Is it high enough for us to play the game at a level that we desire to? We’re gonna find out real soon.
On how Sumrall will feel when he runs out of the tunnel
I’m gonna be pretty excited about it. I’ve said this a lot: I think back to when I was on the opposite sideline a couple times here as a player and as a coach, and how unique and special I’ve always felt like the Swamp is. And the fanbase here is so electric and charged up that I’ll be very similarly wired. That gameday opportunity here is unlike many out there. And so, I’ll be amped up.
But at the end of the day too, it’s really about focusing on us doing our job to the best of our ability and playing really good football. And so, you have to make sure that while you’re emotionally charged up and you’re hyped, that you don’t forget that the main things that go on within the game aren’t in the stands; it’s in between the white lines, and how do we help put our guys in situations to be successful.
On appreciating being an SEC head coach after growing up in the South
I appreciate the shout-out to Ronny Massey. What a great man. You know, I feel appreciation every day I walk into our building. We’ve got the Gator head logo above our main entrance, and every time I walk in our building, I get excited about being here. And I don’t take any day at the office for granted.
But, you know, to your point, growing up, I really idolized SEC football. I would watch every SEC game that was on TV or listen to a bunch of them on the radio as a kid, and to be able to have the privilege of leading an SEC team as a head coach is something I’ve dreamed about my entire coaching career. And, for me, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and I will never take it for granted and will always have great appreciation for the situation I’m in.
On how much more competitive the QB room was from spring to fall
I’d say, if you asked me early April who was going to start for us, really wasn’t much of a conversation, just because of the difference of how well Philo operated at the line of scrimmage and ran the offense. The beautiful thing is Philo’s continued to grow and get better, but so has the room. Tramell has stepped up and made strides. Aidan Warner has been really consistent and steady when he’s had opportunities present. Will Griffin is uber talented, the freshman we got from Tampa. And then, Aaron Williams is also in that room, does a great job adding value to our football team.
But the whole room is elevated, which has made it more competitive, which is good for everybody. You know, you don’t want anybody to become the starter because there’s not great depth in the room. You want one guy just to elevate a little bit above the others, and I’ve got a lot of confidence in everybody in that quarterback room, though, that when they have opportunities, they’re going to be ready to go.
On his team’s urgency going into the season
I think it is, but you never know until you play. I think in preparation our urgency has improved. I think what you find out on Saturday is what your level of detail and doing your job at an elite level against another team, and it’s not maybe in a practice environment against maybe people you play against every day. There’s going to be some adversity hit in every game at every point all year. That’s the biggest thing you can’t really fully prepare for.
We simulate a lot of things to try and create what that looks like around our building and practices all the time. But there’s nothing like it happening in a live game. We’ll see what our urgency looks like against another opponent here shortly. I look forward to seeing how we respond to a lot of different situations that come up within games.
On Florida’s specialists
We’ve got Patrick Durkin as our starting field goal kicker. He was 25 of 28 last year and had a handful of them, I think four over 50 yards. So he’s steady. He’s got real ability. Yesterday on kickoffs, he was hitting most of them, eight, nine deep in the end zone, so he’s got high touchback capability.
Alec Clark is our punter who’s been starting punter in college football now for a couple of years. He’s really efficient, catch-to-kick. He’s usually fast getting the ball off and really is a consistent punter in regards to distance and hang. I like how he does things. The other thing that Alec does at an elite level is he handles the short snaps really well on field goal and extra points. He’s as good of a holder as I’ve ever been around, which probably doesn’t get talked about enough.
Snapping-wise, Carter Milliron will handle our long snaps on punt. He’s played a lot of college football as a fifth-year senior. Then Lincoln Anderson is going to handle our short snaps, who is a true freshman from Hoover, Alabama, but has done a really good job this entire training camp and really shown that he is ready for this moment. Look forward to watching him perform, so those are our main specialists that will start and go on Saturday.
On his first impressions of Jayden Woods
My first impression was positive, and it’s only become more positive after that. He’s a guy; when we got here, he was a high priority for us to retain. Then he made the decision to enter the transfer portal to just test the waters and see what was out there. We were able to hold on and get him to stay at the University of Florida, and I was pretty excited when that happened.
I’m even more excited about the fact that he made the decision to stay each and every day that I get to work with him. He’s really, really talented. But more so than just being talented, he’s as good of a human you could ever want to be around. He works at a really high level. He’s very detailed. He’s got great pride in his craft, and he’s a high-character guy. I think the sky is the limit for what Jayden can achieve on the field.
But what makes it fun working with him day in, day out is just — holistically, he’s a fantastic person. He has high standards for himself in every area of his life and not just football. He’s going to be successful in any endeavor he takes on just because of the way he’s wired. So very grateful he’s on our football team. Like I said, I was excited off my first impression that we got to keep him. I’m even more excited now.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: What Florida football's Jon Sumrall said at Week 1 SEC teleconference
