Jon Sumrall has made it a point how much he wants to emphasize a culture of winning with Florida. As he has done his podcast tour this offseason, he has made the constant point of wanting to raise the level of competition the Gators have and how much he himself hates losing.
But for the most part, Sumrall has tried to shy away from commenting on the state of affairs that Billy Napier left behind. That was until his latest interview, where Sumrall did not mince words about what needed to be fixed the most in Gainesville.
Jon Sumrall highlights what he has had to fix the most from the Billy Napier Era
Appearing on The Triple Option Podcast, Sumrall was asked what needed fixing the most for the Gators once he got inside the building. His answer only confirmed a fear many fans had during the Billy Napier Era:
“You know, where I feel like we've had to really push the envelope here and developing this team is in the weight room, doing some of the dirty work, maybe to Coach (Urban) Meyer's comment earlier, becoming a little bit more calloused. I think it may have become a little too casual or a little too complacent, a little too comfortable.
I think those things are probably where we've needed the most attention. That starts at the line of scrimmage. We got a long way to go, man. The first workout we had here, when we deadlifted, I went in and deadlifted with the O-line. I did the workout they were doing, and I'm sitting here going, this is not where we need to be as an SEC O-line yet.
We're going to get there. It's coming. And there's been a ton of growth just in the last two months. But the weight room, the strength, the physicality, the toughness, that's where I probably feel like we've needed attention.”
Nice guys finish last
One of the very common complaints of the Billy Napier Era was about the weight room. Florida players just never seemed stronger, faster, or bigger than any of the SEC opponents they went against. As injuries piled up for Florida over the years and fans started to question what was going on in the weight room, the retort was always along the lines of “The weight room is just fine.”
But it wasn’t just fine. There is a reason why Mark Hocke got demoted and why Tyler Miles wasn’t the first pick to become the strength coach, and only got the job because Craig Fitzgerald bailed after a month.
And if we are being frank, this idea that things were “too comfortable” is in line with the team as a whole outside the weight room. When a player didn’t do something correctly on the field, they got a siliolquy rather than any kind of consequence.
We will have to withhold final judgment on Sumrall until Florida takes the field for real this fall, but for him to call out the previous regime says a ton about why Florida went 4-8 in 2025.