Florida football coach Jon Sumrall talks portal class, QB Aaron Philo, retaining key players

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Florida football coach Jon Sumrall and his family attended UF basketball's game against Auburn on Saturday, Jan. 24, at the O'Connell Center.

Sumrall was hired on Nov. 30, 2025 to replace Billy Napier after the Florida Gators endured their fourth losing season in five years, going 4-8. The former Tulane coach has been on the job for 55 days, navigating through the transfer portal window from Jan. 2-16, recruiting juniors throughout the state and preparing for spring practices, which will start in early March.

"It's been a little bit of a whirlwind," Sumrall said. "Not a whole lot of slow motion. Sleepless nights, good ones and some bad ones. Mainly good ones."

Sumrall addressed the sellout crowd at the O'Dome during the final TV timeout of the first half.

"We're going do everything within our power, we're going to work tirelessly to bring championship level football back to Florida," he told the crowd.

Here's some of what Sumrall had to say about his first seven weeks as UF's coach:

Florida football coach Jon Sumrall on retaining key players, including RB Jadan Baugh

Sumrall said retaining five key players from UF's 2025 roster − running back Jadan Baugh, linebacker Myles Graham III, wide receiver Dallas Wilson, wide receiver Vernell Brown III and edge rusher Jayden Woods −took on different sales pitches.

"Myles Graham was probably the quickest to be back, right, it helps when you are a legacy," Sumrall said. "VBIII similar-ish. Dallas a little trickier, I felt like everyone was trying to get him. The in-home visit with Jadan Baugh on Christmas Eve with the whole family, that was unique, I don't think I've ever one an in-home visit with a current player that's on your team and I've never done a visit on Christmas Eve."

Sumrall also flew out to Shawnee, Kan., to conduct an in-home visit with Woods earlier this month to convince him to return for his sophomore season.

"For me being new those visits, while maybe being a little bit anxiety-filled, because you don't know what's going to happen on the other side, I really felt fortunate being able to sit in their houses," Sumrall said. "Because a lot of these guys I didn't get a chance to recruit out of high school so for me to be able to get in their homes and eat a dinner with them, or eat a breakfast with them or do whatever kind of felt like recruiting a high school guy over again.

"I'm grateful those guys stayed and I'm grateful a lot of guys stayed. There's a lot of guys that stayed that I think give us a great shot for success."

Florida football coach Jon Sumrall on transfer portal class

Florida signed 26 players so far to its 2026 portal class, including Auburn wide receiver Eric Singleton, Georgia Tech quarterback Aaron Philo and Kentucky safety Cam Dooley, The class is ranked 13th nationally by On3 and 26th nationally by 247Sports.

"You never really fully know until you go through spring practice and get in season," Sumrall said. "I think we had some areas of need that we maybe fulfilled. I think we had some areas of need where we have to figure out what we have.

"You never really know. I think they unsure part is … when I was at Tulane first year, the spring I realized hey we need to go get a couple of more corners, well we were able to get Johnathan Edwards from Indiana State and Michael Robinson from Furman and they are both in the NFL right now, they were guys we added in April and May. We don't have the luxury of that second transfer portal window now so it's a little more daunting."

Florida football coach Jon Sumrall on QB Aaron Philo

Sumrall said Florida signed Philo as a transfer from Georgia Tech based on his relationship with new UF offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who coached Philo at Georgia Tech for two seasons.

"The place he was at didn't want him to leave," Sumrall said. "And I trust our offensive coordinator to make the call. I watched him in high school as well. He carries himself the right way and I go back to past experiences. When I started Darian Mensah my first year at Tulane, he didn't take a collegiate snap."

Philo made just one career start in two seasons at Georgia Tech while backing up starter Haynes King. He's passed for 938 career yards in two seasons at UF with 2 TDs and 3 interceptions.

"If you get the right guy, I think experience can be oversold," Sumrall said. "There lot of guys are experienced and they aren't very good. I believe in what he's about because Buster feels very comfortable with him and has confidence in what he's going to be, and I think (quarterback) Tramell (Jones Jr.), I'm excited about. I like our quarterback room. Is there maybe a known, proven starter in that room> No. Is there's guys I'm thinking we can win football games with? Yeah."

Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football coach Jon Sumrall discusses first months on job

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