![Florida head coach Jon Sumrall keeps on eye drills during UF spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_36,w_2730,h_1535/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01kkdc1cynk6dq7k6j61.jpg "Florida head coach Jon Sumrall keeps on eye drills during UF spring practice at Sanders Practice Fields in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, March 10, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
Jon Sumrall is coming to Florida from a program that won three straight conference titles and made an appearance in the College Football Playoffs. Now, just four days into spring practices he is realizing that in order to earn his fifth conference title there’s going to be a lot of work that has to be done with a young Florida Gator roster that lost many of its starters to either graduating, declaring for the NFL draft, or entering the transfer portal after Florida went just 4-8 (2-6 in SEC play).
“Inconsistent” is how Coach Sumrall described day four or spring practices and the second day with pads on during his post-practice press conference. “I’ve watched this practice four times now and we’re green,” he said. “It’s 50 something new players and not a ton of returning starters. I think We lost seven or eight (starters) on each side of the ball. So it’s a very young, and unproven team in so many areas,” said Sumrall.”
Sumrall understands the Gator standard and how much winning means to the school and all of Gator Nation around the world. He said the way you grow and become a team that doesn’t beat yourself and has a chance to win in the league is to be consistent.
“Consistency would probably be my biggest concern in every part of the game.” He stated that the Gators must be consistent in lining up right, doing the right thing, playing with physicality, and executing your job at a high level. In order to grow as a team Sumrall said that the players and staff must be consistent in that and right now, Sumrall is nowhere near comfortable with how much consistency the team is showing on each side of the ball.
It's no secret, as mentioned that this is a new team. But Sumrall described his desire to win as something he won’t stay “patient” about.
While Tuesday’s press conference might create some concerns among Gator fans regarding how consistent this team can become before August, this is where trusting the process comes into play becomes for Sumrall, he doesn’t intent to wait to win. And based on his track record, he’s the kind of coach who can get the Gators back to bowl eligibility and into the playoffs.