It’s okay if one was cautious about the Gators heading into the 2026 season. Even though we here at Hail Florida Hail kept saying all offseason that this roster was talented enough to make some noise, there were still enough holes on the team, combined with having a brand new coach, that had people unsure what to make of Florida.
As such, most predictions had Florida at eight wins at most. A good chunk of predictions envisioned a seven- or six-win season.
So we’ll just state that whatever your preseason projection for Florida was, it’s okay to reevaluate it one-third of the way through the season. But consider this the last chance to jump on the train before it leaves the station for good.
Jon Sumrall knows Florida is close to being awakened
Jon Sumrall has talked all offseason about the need to wake up The Swamp. Even with the product on the field for the past five seasons, The Swamp was sold out week in and week out. It just needed a team of substance to actually cheer for.
Sumrall was asked after the game whether Florida has woken back up. Not yet, but Sumrall thinks it’s close:
“It's not asleep. But it ain't fully awake yet. It's being kind of stirred up a little bit. So we're gonna get there. But yeah, it's coming. Like, I promise you, I didn't come here for us to be average. We're gonna work tirelessly. Coaches, players, everybody, to put a product on the field that we can be proud of.
I will say this. We had some recruits here this weekend. I mean, a recruiting list that we get a lot of those guys to say yes, we're going to wake the beast up real fast.”
And this is something that Sumrall seems to understand that almost all of his predecessors, between himself and Urban Meyer, have not. And while we were very resistant to Sumrall at first, he understands that Florida is one of the handful of places where if you are the right guy, you can win a national title. Not every place can claim that.
He understands that at its peak, Florida is a premier program in this country. The last five years have caused some people to forget about that.
Which is why this is your chance to hop back on the train, because it’s about to leave the station for good in 2026.
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