Florida fans see a revealing contrast in Jon Sumrall and Lane Kiffin

As the offseason has moved along, Jon Sumrall has done everything he can to endear himself to Florida Gator fans. He’s been visible getting into it at multiple basketball games and has appeared on multiple podcasts that are popular among Gator fans. The biggest thing for Sumrall is that his effort to immerse himself in Gator culture feels genuine, and it doesn’t feel like he is putting on an act.

That is in stark contrast to the man Florida fans originally wanted, as a new viral video makes it look like Lane Kiffin is hating life as the new LSU coach.

Lane Kiffin doesn’t enjoy a parade

Kiffin took part in Mardi Gras over the weekend and even got a “Key to New Orleans” as part of the festivities. LSU fans naturally went up to Kiffin throughout the parade to say hi and take some pictures, and while we here at Hail Florida Hail may not be body language experts, we’ll just state that Kiffin looked like he wanted to be anywhere in the world besides Mardi Gras.

Now, one might argue that the enjoyment of Mardi Gras has nothing to do with whether one will be a successful football coach, and for the most part, that statement is correct. But one of the very real reasons Brian Kelly failed at LSU is that he never felt comfortable in Baton Rouge, and he struggled to meet actual expectations. Kiffin jumped ship from Ole Miss to LSU because he wanted a bigger stage and a bigger spotlight on him, enabling him to be the main character of college football rather than a side character. But it does seem every time a genuine spotlight does get put on Kiffin, he looks extremely uncomfortable, and as much as he craves attention on social media, he doesn’t want that attention as a real-life human.

We juxtapose that with Sumrall, who has been fluid in his transition and hasn’t shown an ounce of fear or doubt as he has taken the job in Gainesville with the shadow of Kiffin looming over him.

We are not going to pretend that Sumrall was our first choice over Kiffin if we rewind back to November. That would be lying and disingenuous. But since Kiffin is not a Gator and Sumrall is, we’re just going to plant a tiny seed of doubt in LSU fans head, since it is talking season, to make them wonder if getting what they wanted wasn’t actually what they wanted.