Jon Sumrall’s message screams Florida, but his Tulane work adds quiet questions

Jon Sumrall had about as perfect a press conference as one could have had on Monday as he was introduced as the new head coach of the Florida Gators. Despite fears that Gator fans have that Sumrall is just Sunbelt Billy 2.0, he took a ton of topics head-on and had even the most skeptical of fans wanting to run through a brick wall by the end.

However, there was one comment he made that sounds fantastic as a press quote, but his time at Tulane hasn't backed it up in reality.

Jon Sumrall struggles in the second half

Sumrall has been trying to hit on the desires of Gator fans who want an explosive offense, and during his press conference on Monday, he talked about wanting to keep his foot on the gas:

"I may be a defensive guy, but I wanna be a defensive guy like Bob Stoops. I want to light up the scoreboard."

During his time at Troy, his offenses didn't exactly do that, and he was outside the top 50 in points per game both years. But his teams at Troy were also much better in the second half than in the first.

Sumrall was only outscored in the second half four times over his two seasons at Troy. On average, he outscored teams by 3.8 points in the first half, and then poured it on in the second half to outscore teams by an average of 7.2 points.

He also came from behind at halftime to win five times while only blowing a halftime lead once.

Tulane tells a different story

His offenses at Tulane have been better than what he had at Troy. The Green Wave were 16th in points per game in 2024, but have dropped to 61st this season.

The deeper concern is that over his two years at Tulane, the Green Wave have not been a good second-half team that continues to "light up the scoreboard."

In 19 of his 26 games at Tulane, Sumrall's team outscored the opponent in the first half. The issue is that he has only outscored the opponent in the second half in 13 of those 26 games.

He also has zero come-from-behind wins at Tulane when he has trailed at halftime, and has lost all six games he has been behind at halftime.

He has outscored opponents by an average of 7.8 points in the first half, while his second-half margin is just 2.8 points. And when one considers that he beat SE Louisiana 52-0 in his 2024 opener, his second-half margin drops to about 1.5 points if you take that game out of the equation.

For a team that has been 19-7 over the past two years, one would hope that the second-half margin would be way higher.

It all paints a picture of a coach who is comfortable taking a first-half lead and then grinding things out in the second half.

In Sumrall's defense, he seems aware of these flaws and seems determined to address them once in Gainesville. 

Whether or not he will won't be determined until September.