![Florida head football coach Jon Sumrall reacts during spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_2644,h_1487/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01kr3smx6jkr93q5x46m.jpg "Florida head football coach Jon Sumrall reacts during spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
For the most part, commentary on Florida’s offseason has been mostly positive. Despite initial resistance to Jon Sumrall, most Gator fans have come around to at least give him a shot heading into 2026, and outside of the offensive line, there are not too many glaring red flags.
But ESPN ranked everyone’s offseason this week, and they don’t seem too impressed with the moves the Gators have made this offseason.
Florida ranked 11th in SEC for its offseason
ESPN ranked everyone’s offseason, and within the SEC, the Gators came in 11th for their offseason. According to ESPN, only South Carolina, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Arkansas had a worse offseason than Florida.
One could make an argument that losing out on the Lane Kiffin Sweepstakes alone is enough to claim Florida had a bad offseason, but if that’s the case, then how is Ole Miss in 3rd in these rankings?
You know, the team that litteraly had Lane Kiffin walk out the door?
There are also some other really weird inconsistencies with this list. Kentucky is also dealing with a major QB transition, a new coaching staff, a rebuilt offensive line, and injury concerns with newcomers, and yet they were somehow put two spots ahead of Florida.
The piece also treats the loss of DJ Lagway, Hayden Hansen, Jordan Castell, Sharif Denson, Caleb Banks, and Jake Slaughter as major losses. If we are keeping it real, almost no Florida fans were sad to see Hansen or Castell walk out the door. Lagway was certainly the headliner, but his 'woe-is-me' act he's been painting has also done him no favors with Florida fans.
The piece tries to paint Florida’s QB battle as a negative since neither Aaron Philo nor Tramell Jones has much experience, but those same concerns don’t seem to torpedo Tennessee, Missouri, or Alabama.
Most “way too early” top 25 rankings that are coming out have Florida around 20-25 in the country and somewhere between 6-8 in the SEC.
Is that where Gator fans want to be long term?
No, not even close.
But that by itself is a massive improvement from anything the Billy Napier Era delivered, and it’s hard to say it was a “bad” offseason for Florida.
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