![Florida quarterback J. Tramell Jones Jr. (9) and Florida quarterback Aaron Philo (12) throw during Florida Football Fall camp practice availability at Heavener Football Training Center in Gainesville, FL on Friday, August 7, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_377,w_5000,h_2812/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/213/01m5wf20wwn7wa2ng0nt.jpg "Florida quarterback J. Tramell Jones Jr. (9) and Florida quarterback Aaron Philo (12) throw during Florida Football Fall camp practice availability at Heavener Football Training Center in Gainesville, FL on Friday, August 7, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Jon Sumrall is arguably the most direct, straightforward coach in college football, but even he couldn't avoid playing the "will he, won't he" games when it comes to naming a starting quarterback against No. 3 Georgia.
The Florida Gators coach danced around the question of who will start against the Bulldogs, saying that he has faith in both players and is more focused on playing winning football in Atlanta this weekend.
Florida HC Jon Sumrall said that both Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. will be available this week, but is not going to name a starter. #Gators pic.twitter.com/i2z9dzhx83
— Andrew Abadie (@AndrewAbadie) October 26, 2026
"They both practiced today. Both of them are available, I think, this week," Sumrall said on Monday. "I'm not going to name a starter today. We need both of those guys to be ready to play."
Sumrall added that Aaron Philo was available in an emergency capacity for Texas, but he didn't feel comfortable playing him in a game. Tramell Jones went the whole way against Texas and threw for 155 yards and two touchdown passes in the road upset of the Longhorns.
Jon Sumrall backs away from naming Florida's starting QB
After pleading for Sumrall not to go down this ridiculous path of "mind games" that rarely work and just speak more to a coach's inability to stand on business, here we are. Now, I'm going to give the first-year coach a little grace by saying that he isn't announcing a starter today, but it doesn't mean he won't announce one Tuesday or Wednesday.
It could very simply be that he wanted to see both players in full practice situations during a game week, and once he and the staff reviewed the film from the session, they would know which direction to go. There could also be legitimate questions about how much Philo's shoulder has healed. So, the reasons might be less about trying to be slick and more about real questions concerning availability.
Let's watch this space for the next 24–48 hours and see how Sumrall handles this. For as much as he claims to be transparent, this is the first real test in that approach. It's one thing to talk about how much the offensive line needs to improve or how much tougher the defense has to get. This is a lot more specific and the type of real details that college football coaches like to avoid.
Florida will still need to rely on the running game
The quarterback position is the most important on the field, obviously. But the Gators' most important player remains running back Jadan Baugh. Even though Baugh's stat line against Texas (25 carries, 91 yards, TD) wasn't eye-popping, it was good that he was able to grind out tough yards against a talented defense that was focused on shutting him down.
As long as Baugh can just get positive yards and help the Gators' offense stay in manageable situations, they will have a chance to be successful against Georgia. We're probably not going to see Baugh have numbers similar to what he did against Ole Miss or Auburn, but if he can take 25–30 carries and get close to 100 yards, Florida is going to be in this game when the fourth quarter rolls around.
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