ATLANTA (AP) — The Florida Gators made a first-half quarterback change Saturday, swapping Aaron Philo for Tramell Jones Jr. in the second quarter against Georgia.
After a 27-8 loss to the Bulldogs with a combined four turnovers between the two quarterbacks, Florida coach Jon Sumrall isn’t ready to name the team's Week 10 starter.
“We’ll assess it as we move forward,” Sumrall said. “It’s hard to fully fairly assess either of them because I think the performance
around them was not good enough by any position group on offense. I thought they both did some good things. I thought Aaron did some good things before we put Tramell in. I just wanted to see Tramell play some extended football.”
The change on Saturday came after Philo's second interception of the game, which set Georgia up for a 28-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead with 8:55 to go before halftime. Philo was 5 of 7 for 26 yards and two interceptions through 1 1/2 quarters.
Georgia defensive back Demello Jones notched his second pick of the season on a pass to Eric Singleton Jr. that went high. Philo's first interception was more puzzling, as the quarterback tossed the ball upward mid-fall while under pressure from Bulldogs inside linebacker Raylen Wilson.
“Philo’s first interception, clearly on him. Bad decision with the football. The second one hit the receiver in the hands, so we got to catch that football. But I just felt like ‘Hey, let’s give Tramell a shot,'" Sumrall said. “He got probably almost 50-50 reps total in the week ... just maybe not as many with the 1s, so they got about the same number of reps if you did a pitch count.”
Philo started after missing the previous game and a quarter with a shoulder injury sustained in Florida's loss to South Carolina. Jones played in place of the junior transfer quarterback and led the Gators to a 27-24 upset over then-No. 7 Texas with a 155-yard, two-touchdown performance.
Both quarterbacks were upgraded from questionable to probable on Friday's injury report after splitting repetitions for much of the week.
The Florida coach said after the game that Philo clearly had the better week of preparation while Jones fought through an injury that could require surgery in the offseason.
“Early in the week, Tramell still wasn't right ... When he's limping in practice, I'm not going to be able to go ‘That’s our starter' because he's limping,” Sumrall said. “So the guy that wasn't limping, I felt better about starting him, and Philo, early in the week, was executing the shifts and motions and play-calls better.”
Sumrall said there's nothing he won't consider when it comes to the success of the team.
“I got one objective: help our team win. That’s the most important one. And we’re going to start whoever positions our football team to win,” he said. "So I’m married to starting nobody. I’m married to starting whoever gets Florida the best chance of being successful.”
___
Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here
