Over the past year, Urban Meyer has had a far more notable presence in Gainesville. Since stepping away from coaching and focusing just on the TV side of things, the previous frostiness between Meyer and Florida has softened. It will culminate with his induction into the Florida Ring of Honor this November.
One notable thing in recent months has been Meyer’s all-in endorsement of Jon Sumrall, and on Monday he pointed out one of the reasons he has been willing to throw his endorsement behind Sumrall.
Urban Meyer was sold on what Jon Sumrall wanted to talk about
Appearing on Hightop Sports, Meyer touched upon his role in the hiring process that led Florida to getting Sumrall. Meyer pointed out that one of the things that impressed him the most was that Sumrall is willing to embrace the modern landscape of college football:
“You know, he was the first coach I've talked to in several years who didn't ***** about NIL and Transfer Portal. And all he talked about was the offseason program. He talked about his straight coaching. He talked about Tuesday practices. And (Stephen Harris) will tell you, you want a great team? Practice really well on Tuesday. You know, he talked about training camp. He talked about all the things that, you know, that I know that's how you win.”
This tracks and is in line with what Sumrall has stated previously regarding the Transfer Portal. During his opening media rounds, Sumrall had talked about being willing to embrace the portal and didn’t shy away from the fact he would need to use it to stay competitive in the modern era. And he stated back in February:
“Our first conversation talked nothing about NIL, rev share, transfer portal.”
Compare that to what Billy Napier stated this offseason when reflecting upon his failures at Florida:
“I think that we really struggled to manage the workload that came with NIL, that came with the portal.”
Urban Meyer getting back in the good graces at Florida
It’s been interesting to see Meyer give his full-hearted endorsement of Sumrall and essentially stake a bit of his reputation with Gator fans on Sumrall. After being away from the spotlight of Gainesville for over a decade, Meyer has gone all in on Sumrall.
And the more we have learned about Sumrall from a personality standpoint, the more it makes sense why he would click well with Meyer. Both are hard-nosed, no-nonsense coaches who both seem to have the approach that they aren’t interested in excuses; they are interested in results.
Now, as we have stated throughout the past couple of months, Sumrall has said all the right things and has endorsements from all the right people; he ultimately will need to win for it to matter.
But getting the endorsement of Meyer, who otherwise would have no reason to do so, certainly can’t hurt as September gets closer and closer.
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