'No starter yet' Florida football coach Jon Sumrall declares QB position open

With spring drills less than a month away, Florida football coach Jon Sumrall isn't tipping his hand on a starting quarterback.

Sumrall said it will be an open competition with the five quarterbacks on the Florida Gators roster, which includes Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo, returning sophomore Tramell Jones Jr., incoming freshman Will Griffin, returning junior Aidan Warner and walk-on Aaron Williams.

"Everybody is going to get what they earn," Sumrall said. "There is no starting quarterback yet."

Philo transferred in from Georgia Tech, where he played under new Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner. A redshirt sophomore, Philo passed for 938 yards and 2 TDs in six games over the last two seasons as Haynes King's backup. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound King also rushed for 95 yards and 1 TD.

"Buster is very confident in Philo and his readiness to be a high-level player," Sumrall said. "So that made me more confident because he saw him every day for the last couple years, so that was a huge part of that. If Buster hadn't been with him, I probably would have had more questions. But when a guy has been around somebody that long and seen him since a younger age, you feel better about it."

Faulkner recruited Philo out of Prince Avenue Christian School in Bogart, Georgia, where he broke Trevor Lawrence's Georgia prep state record by throwing for 13,922 yards. As a true freshman in 2024, Philo split time with King in two ACC games and helped lead the Yellow Jackets to wins over Miami and North Carolina State.

"When you are judging a quarterback it's a lot of things you are looking for obviously when you recruit him," Faulkner said. "If you're good on third downs and you are good in two-minute situations, that's what you've got to be to be able to play at an elite level."

The 6-0, 203-pound Jones appeared in two games as DJ Lagway's backup as a true freshman last season, completing 21 of 35 passes for 191 yards and 2 TDs.

"I think it also is probably an endorsement of how I feel about Tramell." Sumrall said. "I think Tramell has got a really high ceiling, too, so I'm excited about — it's not just down to those two guys yet. My first year at Tulane, Darian Mensah was the third quarterback until two weeks before the first game. We're going to compete."

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: Florid football coach Jon Sumrall declares open QB competition