Somewhat lost in all the headlines of Jon Sumrall announcing the starting QB for 2026, there was also a potentially equitable announcement Sumrall made about the offensive line. All throughout fall camp, it was believed that Emeka Ugorji was going to be Florida’s right tackle and Eagan Boyer was going to hold down the left tackle spot.
But during his press conference on Monday, Sumrall shared that as it stands right now, Bryce Lovett is in line to be Florida’s starting left tackle for 2026.
Florida is leaning towards Bryce Lovett as left tackle
Sumrall talked about the scrimmage from Saturday and highlighted Lovett’s performance at the scrimmage while revealing his spot in the lineup:
“Bryce Lovett, man. Y'all asked about him a week ago. I've challenged him. Our staff's challenged him. He's responded. I think he has really elevated at tackle. You know, he's played a lot at guard. He's played some tackle. But the first play of the scrimmage the other night, I'm not going to give every detail, but the first drive, the best player on the first drive of the scrimmage the other night was either Jadan Ball or Bryce Lovett, one of the two. The first drive, I was like, okay, let's go. So he's elevated. I think you can probably expect to see him at left tackle as of right now.”
For Lovett, it is essentially a second shot to entrench himself within Florida’s offensive line. Last year he started out as Florida’s right tackle, but one game in we had some huge question marks.
We said last year after the opener against LIU that:
“But for a unit that is supposed to be one of the units in the country in 2025, they left some question marks in pass protection. Notably was the play of Bryce Lovett, the new face along the offensive line, who otherwise returned all other starters from last year.
Lovett gave up four hurries on the night and earned a PFF grade of 38.8. He ended last year with a solid outing in the Gasparilla Bowl, but that came on the heels of a subpar outing against FSU.”
Sure enough, Lovett got shuffled out as a rotational guy after the USF game. He ended the year with 251 snaps and a PFF grade of 59.5.
Lovett first came to Florida as a lower-grade three-star in the class of 2023. After redshirting in 2023, he saw significant snaps in 2024 as a guard before moving to tackle in 2025.
So the question mark Gator fans are going to have is if he is ready for the jump to left tackle. And the reality is that until we see it for real, we just won’t know. But if Phil Trautwein is who we think he is, we might see a new version of Lovett in 2026.
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