![Florida 2026-2027 quarterback Aaron Philo (12) throws during Florida football practice at Heavener Football Complex in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5000,h_2812/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/213/01m0tas4swsjyfwd3pxs.jpg "Florida 2026-2027 quarterback Aaron Philo (12) throws during Florida football practice at Heavener Football Complex in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Florida’s QB battle has finally concluded, and the Gators are going to roll out Aaron Philo as the starter for the 2026 season. It brings to a close a winding battle that was also one of the more obvious battles for anyone paying attention. Tramell Jones gained a good chunk of fan support online from spring until now, but it was clear from day one that Philo was the choice for Jon Sumrall and Buster Faulkner.
It may not be what we would have done, but as we have said throughout, we want a QB who will deliver Florida wins. And even if a segment of Gator fans wanted Jones to win the job, Gator fans have no choice but to rally around Philo to start the 2026 season.
Aaron Philo wins the starting QB job for Florida
To be honest, we were a bit surprised that Sumrall opted to name a starter today rather than keep dragging things out, but it's better to name a QB and be done with it. Given the nature of this battle and how drawn out it was, Sumrall was asked at his press conference what the team's reaction was and whether there would be any animosity.
Sumrall doesn’t believe there will be:
“I think the team's going to rally around both of them. Yesterday when I called them in to meet with them, I met them together. It wasn't like, meet with one, meet with the other. They both came in. We sat down and had a talk like we do all the time. I've talked with both of them in my office numerous times. And so I think the guys are going to be there for both of them.”
No place to go but up
Are there concerns with Philo as QB?
Sure.
If you think Philo is going to flop, does that make you a bad fan?
No, because it would be similar to what we said at length about Billy Napier. We said at length Napier needed to go long before many others and were at times accused of being “bad fans” even though in the end we were right.
To be fair, there would have been concerns with Jones too, given his own relative lack of experience. And Sumrall stuck to a line he has stated all offseason and made it clear that Philo still has to play well to keep his spot.
Which is key because it’s not like Florida fans should be rooting for Philo to play poorly so that Jones can play. Florida fans should want Philo to play well enough that we don’t have to revisit this debate.
All we know is the regular season can’t start soon enough so we can start talking about the real thing and stop talking about hypotheticals.
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