Jon Sumrall sees a real challenger emerging in the quarterback competition

Maybe the Gators quarterback competition is turning out to be more of a competition than some might have anticipated.

Coming into spring, the general belief is that Aaron Philo was the guy to beat. He was the hand-picked transfer from Georgia Tech to join offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. Philo has been in the offense for two years and performed well in the few opportunities he had to see the field behind the Yellow Jackets starter Haynes King.

But if Philo was supposed to be the guy, no one told Tramell Jones Jr. because the redshirt freshman didn't decide to come back to Gainesville and sit. 

"Philo obviously has familiarity within the system, which gives him maybe a little bit of a jump start on where you are in the progression of operating within the offense," Jon Sumrall said. "And then Tramell has just sort of a natural moxie. He just has a naturalness about him. You know, he's got a quiet confidence about him. He's very easy to relate to and sort of gravitate to."

Tramell Jones Jr. and Aaron Philo are battling to be Gators' QB1

What makes this competition interesting is that neither player has a ton of experience. Both have made spot starts here and there, but nothing consistent. That's why Sumrall wants to take it slow and see where it goes, because regardless of which way the competition ends up, both guys will be in that position for the first time in their respective careers. 

And as we've seen many times over the years in many situations, the guy that starts the season might not be the one that finishes it. That's why Sumrall is adamant that both players keep the same battling mindset as the Gators finish out spring and head into more of the offseason player-led workouts.

"They're taking roughly the same amount of reps with the ones and roughly the same amount of reps with the twos, if you want to call it that," Sumrall added. "Right now the depth chart's very fluid. There has to be a depth chart for who goes out with which group. But they're both sharing reps, if you will, with the same number of pitch count with each group. Both guys are doing some things that excite you and feel like we could play winning football with either."