Familiar Foes: Jon Sumrall and Alex Golesh meet again as Florida visits Auburn

Saturday’s game presents the beginning of what could be a lengthy SEC coaching rivalry between the Auburn Tigers’ Alex Golesh and Florida coach Jon Sumrall.

The two share an extensive history with one another; both having served as coaching assistants at the same time with different programs. They climbed the coaching ladder in a similar path albeit on different sides of the ball.

Sumrall stayed primarily on the defensive side, knowing his way around the trenches, coaching defensive lines from San Diego to Tulane, then up to the second level as the linebacker coach at Ole Miss and Kentucky before landing head coaching jobs at Troy and Tulane. Now he's ushering in a new era at Florida, leading the charge as the head coach.

With a third on Saturday, the Gators would opening the season 3-0 for the first time since 2019.

Jon Sumrall and Alex Golesh are all too familiar with each other

Golesh started at as a position coach, working mostly with tight ends until he landed the offensive coordinator job at Tennessee, where his offense made Hendon Hooker look like a Heisman Trophy contender and earned him 2022 SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors. From there brought South Florida back to relevance as its head coach before taking his first SEC head coaching job with Auburn.

The last time the two met, Sumrall’s 2024 Tulane squad made a point of airing it out against Golesh’s USF defense, stomping on the Bulls 45-10 behind the arm of now-Miami quarterback Darian Mensah, who threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Brown was shut down as USF's starting quarterback, throwing for 134 yards and 0 touchdowns while rushing for 1 touchdown. Brown recorded negative rushing yards.

Now, Brown is Auburn’s quarterback after following Golesh via the transfer portal and, just like Florida quarterback Aaron Philo, is making his first SEC game start on Saturday.

Sumrall is aware of Brown’s strengths, noting Brown’s improvement as a quarterback.

 “You know, I think he sees the field a little bit better and cleaner,” Sumrall said. “That comes with experience.”

That experience playing with Golesh’s system since 2023 should prove a worthy challenge for Florida defensive coordinator Brad White, whose defense has struggled so far even against mid-major competition.

Whether it’s a quarterback in a familiar system or the rowdy Jordan-Hare crowd that haunts even the likes of legendary college football coach Nick Saban, Sumrall will come prepared in the second installment of Sumrall versus Golesh.

“They've had a great home-field advantage there for a long time,” Sumrall said. “It'll be loud on Saturday night.”

Despite the history the two may share, Golesh made a point to tell everyone tuning in that at least for this week, he and Sumrall are not friends.

“I got a lot of respect for him,” Golesh said. “This week, don’t care.”

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