“This isn’t a freaking dog!” Jon Sumrall comes up close with a live Florida Gator

“This isn’t a freaking dog!” Those were the words Florida head coach Jon Sumrall used to describe his reaction when he learned that he would be coming face-to-face with a real-life Florida Gator in the Swamp earlier this week.

But what better way to truly embody the aggression, the intensity, the heartbeat of the Florida mascot and the meaning behind the name than to come face-to-face in an up-close encounter with one on the gridiron at the University of Florida.

That’s exactly what Jon Sumrall did, and the way he found out might just be that much more intriguing. Sumrall said in an interview with On3 that he found out he would be facing a Gator from none other than his wife.

“She somehow found out from either my administrative team or my operations team before I did,” he said. She told him he was going to see an alligator, and he had no clue.

“I’ve been on a river boat cruise where they bring out small alligators that have their mouths taped shut or something, I’m talking small like a foot, like babies,” he explained. However, that was not the size of the gator he would be up close and personal with.

On his way over to the stadium on a cool Florida morning, the staff at UF told Sumrall this was a seven-foot Gator named “Helena.” Starting to have some hesitations, Sumrall begins to process what he just heard, all while getting told that alligator trainers would be on the field the whole time. However, as the quote of the encounter was phrased, “This isn’t a freaking dog!” Explain Sumrall.

“You train a dog to sit, go, fetch, come,” he said, wondering how much an alligator would really respond to commands.

It was a cold, sunny day in Gainesville, and the gator was just chilling on the field. Sumrall said he started getting more comfortable when the gator showed its nature, hissing and snapping to show its dominance.

“It was a very humbling experience to see an animal like that, it was pretty powerful and neat to be in that environment,” he said. “And what’s cool is we’re the only collegiate sports team that I’m aware of is the Gators,” he stated. “I think we have a unique mascot and seeing it up close, live, in-animal, WHOA! Impressive!” he exclaimed.

Coach Sumrall now knows what opponents face (on a much smaller scale) when they come into the swamp to face a fierce competitor. And it adds to his “win now” mentality and the aggression and fierceness he wants his team to compete with.