The Florida Gators appear to be one of the more intriguing programs in the SEC this upcoming season. One of the biggest factors is their new head coach, Jon Sumrall, who shook everyone with his vibrant speech at SEC Media Days in July. According to veteran coach and former Gators HC Urban Meyer, things will be a lot different this upcoming season.
For the last four years, the Gators have been struggling with consistency. Former coach Billy Napier went 22-23 across four seasons and was fired at 3-4 on Oct. 19, one day after a sloppy home win over Mississippi State that drew boos inside the Swamp. With Sumrall, who has sufficient title game experience under his belt, the Gators could be ushering in a new era.
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Urban Meyer Praises Jon Sumrall and Florida Heading Into 2026
Speaking on The Triple Option podcast alongside co-hosts Rob Stone and Mark Ingram II, Meyer ranked the 10 programs he believes are best built to win and slotted Florida ninth, admitting up front that the pick was a homer choice. Then he explained why he thinks Sumrall’s arrival changes the math.
“I think they poked the tiger finally. I think Jon Sumrall’s going to turn it,” Meyer said.
“Might take a year, but how in the world, once again, recruiting, elite. Administration, I think that’s to be determined. I like Scott Stricklin, the AD. They just won it in basketball. How do you not win there in football? The best stadium in college football when it’s rolling,” he added.
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Not just Sumrall, the Gators’ program underwent significant coaching changes this offseason. They now have a new offensive and defensive coordinator in Buster Faulkner (previously at Georgia Tech) and Brad White (previously at Kentucky), respectively.
The roster underneath the staff turned over almost entirely. More than 30 players from the 2025 team entered the portal, quarterback DJ Lagway among them, and Florida enters the season with roughly 50 new faces and 30 transfer additions. What Sumrall won were the fights that mattered most, keeping running back Jadan Baugh and wide receiver Dallas Wilson in Gainesville and talking edge rusher Jayden Woods out of the portal after Woods had already entered it and visited Texas.
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The 44-year-old coach is coming off two years at Tulane, where he reached the league title game in both seasons, losing to Army in 2024 before winning the American Conference championship in 2025 and taking the Green Wave to their first College Football Playoff appearance.
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He won back-to-back Sun Belt titles at Troy before that, going 23-4 in two seasons. Florida still got to him second. The search ran through Lane Kiffin first, and only after Kiffin chose LSU did Stricklin turn to the coach who had reached four straight conference title games in four years as a head coach.
SEC media picked Florida ninth out of 16, and four of the Gators’ nine conference opponents were slotted ahead of them, including Ole Miss, Texas and Georgia. Meyer said it might take a year. The more useful question for 2026 is not whether Florida reaches the playoff, but whether the Swamp starts sounding like it did the last time this program mattered.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.
