![Florida head coach Jon Sumrall celebrates a score during the first half an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 5, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_3000,h_1687/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ReutersImages/mmsport/213/01m1yeeqp6ed71bgbt6m.jpg "Florida head coach Jon Sumrall celebrates a score during the first half an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 5, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
One of the things that Florida fans were gaslit with during the previous era of Gator football is that we were constantly lectured by the powers that be that what we were seeing on the field wasn’t really what we were seeing. This was only compounded with some nonsensical follow-up explanation that didn’t give anyone the feeling that the people in charge knew what they were doing.
So it’s refreshing that Jon Sumrall immediately addressed, in his press conference on Monday, one of the very real critiques we had about the defense during Florida’s win over FAU.
Jon Sumrall doesn’t beat around the bush about one of Florida’s glaring errors
We stated yesterday that one of our concerns with how Florida approached things on defense against FAU was how far back off the line of scrimmage the secondary was playing at times. We stated yesterday that:
“Florida seemed content giving up seven-yard passes underneath all night. What was confounding is that when Florida's secondary was given the chance to play press coverage, they did a good job of locking up FAU. “
Now, if you think we are just a bunch of shadowy outsiders who have no clue what we are talking about, then take it from Sumrall when he was asked what stood out to him when he watched the film back of the game:
“The biggest is situational awareness and football IQ. And, like, if it's third and one, we can't play nine yards off a corner. And that just comes with teaching. I thought we were maybe past that, but we can't forget that all those little details matter.”
And this is what separates Sumrall from the previous guy. It feels like every concern gets addressed immediately in an articulate way that doesn’t come across as elitist. We may not know all the exact lingo that goes into setting up a defense, but we know enough to know that Florida’s corners are far too talented on paper to be backing off and playing scared against FAU.
The real test for Sumrall and defensive coordinator Brad White is going to be whether or not things actually get fixed. It’s one thing to identify the problem, but if the same mistake keeps happening, then that is a concern.
But for now, we will take solace that Florida is at least aware of one of their issues from Saturday, and we will see if things look sharper when they take the field against Campbell.
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