Why Florida players ditching the Gator logo this offseason is actually great news

Former Gator defensive back Chauncey Garden-Johnson once spoke on the players who first laid the foundation in Gainesville:

“They’ve done it. All these championships on the walls – they set the standard, so we have to step up and bring another one here,” he stated.

In an address to that same group of players, Danny Wuerffel described Gator football as being “Bigger than any one individual.”

That season dubbed the term, “Gator Standard.” It is the standard that players and staff who are a part of the program are expected to live and play up to. It’s what expected from “those who came before you and what the foundation of those who are going to come in the future of what it is to put on and represent the Gator uniform and represent the University of Florida,” said former coach Dan Mullens. It’s pride. It’s passion. It’s effort, commitment, dedication, and holding yourself to a higher standard on and off the field.

Many might argue that the “Gator Standard” has been lost over the years, but especially last year with the final season of the Billy Napier ending with a 4-8 record.

But as of November 30, 2025 when the Gators hired Jon Sumrall as their newest head coach, the standard is back; the expectation of developing a winning football team is back; and the expectation that players will know what it truly means to be a Florida Gator is back, and it’s back more than ever. Jon Sumrall said in an interview with Gators Online that in 2026, players will earn their right to wear the Gators on their chest.

Florida players not wearing the logo this offseason

This offseason, fans will see something they haven’t seen before; no players will dawn the Gator head until they’ve “earned it.”

“You gotta earn the logo, man,” said Sumrall. “We ain’t earned it yet. We haven’t earned a damn thing,” stated Sumrall dawning an orange T-shirt with the “Florida” logo on it. 

For the 2026 roster of players, not only will they be fighting this spring for a spot on the playing field, but they must meet and/or exceed the Gator Standard if they want to earn their right to dawn the official Florida Gator logo and wear that Gator head on their chest. It’s a logo that means something. It goes all the way back to the players he mentioned before that set that standard and having respect for the Gators being expectant of making the college football playoffs and brining championship football back to the University of Florida.

While many were skeptical of Sumrall’s hiring, if you’re a Florida fan, this should excite you. Like the military, police, and fire academies, you have to earn the right to call yourself a member of the military and graduate bootcamp; you have to make it through police academy to call yourself a deputy; you must graduate fire academy to call yourself a firefighter. There are standards that must be met in those programs. And now that philosophy is being installed within the Florida Gators football program.