![Florida head football coach Jon Sumrall reacts during spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_212,w_2649,h_1490/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01knnc944cefp9bpqrhm.jpg "Florida head football coach Jon Sumrall reacts during spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
On Saturday the 2026 Florida Gators roster puts on uniform and celebrates “playing tackle American football” inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for the first time this spring for the annual Orange and Blue Game. It’s a game that, though it doesn’t count toward SEC or college football playoff rankings, is special to Florida fans and that’s something Jon Sumrall recognizes.
As such, Sumrall said Florida fans can expect to see the team play “fast and physical.” He admitted that it won’t be perfect football and that mistakes might get made, and that could even be by the coaching staff, but he wants fans to feel the excitement.
Florida plans to be be physical this Saturday
“I want them to feel that our guys enjoy playing the game and that they’re going to play with an edge and with a chip on their shoulder,” said Sumrall. He did reiterate that because it is just the spring game and a game in which everyone “plays for Florida,” he will be protecting the quarterbacks in making them ineligible to be tackled. They will be good ole fashion “two-hand touched,” either tag off or two below, so they will be able to be contacted, just not with a whole lot of physicality.
“I want them (the fans) to feel our guys’ intent,” said Sumrall. While it’s not a full-out 100 percent force game, there will be urgency and he wants the fans to feel that and that the team “has some physicality about us,” he said. Sumrall wants fans to be able to tell that the game matters to the players and that playing in a place like Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, The Swamp means something.
“When you go into that stadium it’s sacred,” he stated proudly. “We don’t go over there very often, once a week right now on Saturdays and there has to be a different vibe when you go into the stadium,” he stated.
The Swamp is known for being the place where “only Gators get out alive.” And though this weekend all of the Gators will get out alive, Sumrall still wants the 2026 Orange and Blue Game to mean something, and for fans to tell that the team cares and wants to win in 2026.