One of the constant defenses for The Man in the Black Polo was this idea that Florida players were “playing hard” for him, even when things were going south. Even as the ship was going down, we actually agreed with that assessment, though there are notable examples of when we would push back against that narrative.
And now that we have seen Jon Sumrall in action, combined with some comments he made during his teleconference on Wednesday, we do wonder whether the “playing hard” narrative ever had any reality to it.
Jon Sumrall highlights Florida’s renewed attitude to win
Sumrall was asked during his press conference about Florida’s identity and the level of week-to-week competitiveness he has seen from his team:
"I think our mindset has changed. I think we're playing with a different level of resiliency and toughness than what I felt like was going on here when I got here. And I think our guys expect to win. So that's one component, I think, that I'm pleased with.”
This isn’t the first time Sumrall has referenced Florida’s level of competitiveness when he first arrived in Gainesville. Without saying the previous coach by name, Sumrall mused all offseason about the state of the weight room and the lack of drive he saw when he first arrived.
And if you followed our content during the previous era, we mused about a ton of problems with the program. The core thing we railed on was a lack of attention to detail and a lack of any imagination. For the most part, we didn't highlight effort level at length.
But Sumrall’s comments had us thinking, and Florida’s players didn’t “play hard” as often as maybe we thought.
In 2022, it was a lifeless effort in the bowl game against Oregon State. One could write that off as a bowl game that didn’t matter and had some weird circumstances behind it. But then in 2023, alarm bells started going off after the loss to Kentucky, where it looked like the Gators genuinely didn’t want to be on the field. At one point that same year against Georgia, the Gators were down by 30.
Then there was the loss to Miami in 2024, when the Gators looked like they had disconnected their controller. They showed great fight that year against Georgia, only to turn around with a wasted afternoon against Texas. And then there was last year, when it felt like everyone had genuinely given up after the Georgia game.
Meanwhile, in the present day, we have Sumrall telling his players to work the cut of opposing teams, we have tight ends and wide receivers blocking like madmen, we have defensive ends pancaking opposing left tackles, and we have an overall team that just looks like they have a level of competitiveness to them that hasn’t existed in years in Gainesville.
As Mike Tyson once said, whom Sumrall featured last week in his build up to the team, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. And to be fair, Florida has yet to be genuinely punched in the mouth.
But based on everything we have seen so far, we trust their ability to respond when it does happen.
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