As the old saying goes, if a team has two QBs, that means in reality they have none. The theory is that a team should have one clear QB to set themselves apart from the pack, and if two QBs are mirror images of each other, there is a good chance that neither is very good.
Unfortunately for Florida, that has played out in 2026, as neither Aaron Philo nor Tramell Jones has staked their claim as the unquestioned starting QB. And now, for the 4th straight game, Florida is set to have a different starting QB than the previous game.
Aaron Philo to get the start against Kentucky
Multiple outlets have reported that Philo is set to get the start this Saturday against Kentucky. It comes on the heels of Jones getting the start against Oklahoma, which came on the heels of Philo starting against Georgia but getting pulled after two interceptions.
For what it’s worth, we don’t fault Jon Sumrall and Florida for going with Jones against Oklahoma. He had a solid enough of an outing against Texas, which was Florida's only win over the past five games, and we go back to something we kept saying with Philo:
Philo wasn’t the problem against Missouri and South Carolina, but he wasn’t the solution.
Part of why we stumped for Jones was because his ceiling felt higher than the ceiling for Philo. What’s been ironic with Jones is when we look back at when we first profiled Jones coming out of high school. Back in November of 2024, when we first profiled him after he decommitted from FSU, we stated the following:
“What we would say holds him back from us declaring he's a bona fide top 100 player is that he tends to float his passes rather than drive through them. Also, fair or unfair, being 6'0" is a knock against trying to project him at the next level.”
The irony is that the narrative this offseason was that Jones had the better arm strength compared to Philo, which was showcased in the spring game and in various clips floating around from fall camp. But once in the game for real, our initial evaluation from 2024 felt closer to the truth. This year, on passes over 20 yards, Jones is 2 for 10, and on passes between 11 and 20 yards, he is 13 for 29 (44.8%).
So Florida is stuck between a rock and a hard place: they feel like they have given both QBs a fair shake, and neither has wowed. Some would point to having a QB battle between two backups from 2025 as part of the problem, and there is certainly a time and place to wonder why that was Plan A for Sumrall.
For now, Florida hopes it can recapture the magic it had in its first four games.
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