CBS Sports' post-spring rankings prove that Jon Sumrall is meeting early expectations

Jon Sumrall has already accomplished a few important goals months before the Florida Gators play their first game under his leadership. The new coach has an honesty about him that has quickly won over players, recruits and fans to buy in to what he's done over the past few months.

That buy-in has also extended to the college football media and CBS Sports thinks high enough of the Gators to have them ranked No. 23 in their post-spring Top 25. 

Brandon Marcello's belief in the Gators comes largely from Sumrall's amazing record as a head coach (43-12) and he's already got a 12-win season and two 11-win seasons to his name. His worst year was his first one at Tulane (2024) when the Green Wave went 9-5. 

Marcello continues by saying that Sumrall will "mold the offense and defense around strengths, and the Gators will finally back up a top-25 roster with a top-25 ranking."

CBS Sports tabs Florida as a surprise top-25 team

There are plenty of questions about the Gators coming out of spring camp and Sumrall was more than happy to share nearly all of his concerns with the media. But, the fact that he isn't blowing smoke about what needs to improve and what needs to be fixed gives a lot of people the belief that he's actually working on fixing them instead of just saying how great everyone looks.

Much of the spring was simply about Sumrall gauging the roster and seeing if he could field a team of players willing to compete at a high level and make it tough on their opponents. There are some other important things to address — like the quarterback competition between Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr., but Sumrall understands how challenging the SEC is going to be in Year 1 and every year that follows. He wants to know that he has a team ready to meet that challenge and there is a lot of belief that the Gators will be ready to perform at a higher level this fall.

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