
Jon Sumrall plans to focus on strength training and instilling a blue-collar mindset to improve the team's performance and restore its competitive edge.
The Florida Gators have had losing seasons in four of the last five years, with a record of 29-37 over their last 66 games.
Under Billy Napier, the Gators struggled with a lack of strength training and poor performance, ranking last in the Southeastern Conference in scoring last season.
Jon Sumrall has signed three offensive line transfers and recently received a commitment from five-star offensive lineman Maxwell Hiller for the 2027 class.
Florida's new coach Jon Sumrall aims to revitalize the struggling Gators football program, which has not achieved double-digit wins in seven years. He emphasizes the need for strength training and a blue-collar mindset to restore the team's competitive edge.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) â Itâs been seven years since Florida notched double-digit wins and 17 years since the Gators were legitimate national championship contenders. Calling Florida overdue would be an understatement in Gainesville, and new coach Jon Sumrall knows it as well as any diehard who watched the teamâs annual spring game unfold at the Swamp on Saturday. âChampionships are the standard and expectation,â Sumrall said following the Orange and Blue game. âWeâve got to get it back there. Weâve got to wake this beast up. âLike, itâs time we wake this thing up. This is a sleeping giant. Iâm telling you right now: it ainât a matter of if weâre going to win here. Itâs how fast weâre going to win. Itâs coming. This winning thing, itâs coming.â Florida is a paltry 29-37 over its last 66 games, including losing seasons in four of the last five years. It would be unacceptable at just about any Power Four program. Itâs downright embarrassing for one that has three national titles and eight Southeastern Conference championships since 1990. But the Gators have spent much of the last two decades chasing Alabama, Georgia, LSU and others. Sumrall was hired to fix it, essentially tasked with cleaning up the mess created and left behind by fired coach Billy Napier. Sumrall, who led Troy and Tulane to a combined four conference title games in four seasons, could start his rebuild just about anywhere. Florida ranked last in the Southeastern Conference in scoring last season, averaging 21.6 points a game, and allowed 34.3 points a game in its last three losses. Sumrall, though, is focusing on the weight room. And anyone needing proof of Floridaâs most glaring weakness should look at the teamâs pro day last month, where long-snapper Rocco Underwood put up better bench numbers (14 reps at 225 pounds) than three-year starting guard Damieon George (12 reps). âThat shouldnât happen,â Sumrall said. âHell, our coaches need to be hitting 12. ⊠Thatâs not something that changes overnight.â Floridaâs strength program left a lot to be desired during Napierâs tenure. He brought buddy Mark Hocke with him from Louisiana-Lafayette in December 2021 and then demoted Hocke two years later, essentially putting him in charge of messaging and motivation while continuing to pay him $750,000 annually. Napier then hired Craig Fitzgerald in hopes of overhauling the strength and nutrition programs in 2024, but Fitzgerald was on campus less than two months before leaving to join longtime friend Bill OâBrien at Boston College. Napier ended up promoting Tyler Miles who came under fire last year as soft-tissue and season-ending injuries mounted. Sumrall has made it clear his guys need to get stronger and learn to play through bumps and bruises. And it starts with Floridaâs offensive line, which seems to be the most unsettled unit on the team. The Gators signed three O-line transfers who might start this fall and landed a 2027 commitment last week from five-star offensive lineman Maxwell Hiller from Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Sumrall challenged the line âto live in the weight roomâ and embrace a âblue-collar mindset.â He believes creating âmore movementâ at the line of scrimmage is the easiest path to the top in arguably college football's most physical league. âNow, Iâm not patient. I want it to happen every day,â Sumrall said. âBut we are going to land some pieces in recruiting. Weâre about to do some things and build a roster here that is going to bring it back to where we all want it to be.â \\\_ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: and
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