Florida football coach wants players to 'earn' right to wear logo
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Florida football coach Jon Sumrall and has staff are attacking entitlement during preseason workouts.
Sumrall said players from the Florida Gators aren’t wearing the logos on their gear while in the weight room at the Heavener Center.
The reason?
“Gotta earn it,” Sumrall said. “Gotta earn the logo. We ain’t earned it yet. We haven’t earned a damn thing.”
Florida is coming off a 4-8 season, its worst since going 4-8 in 2013.
“All we’ve got is our name,” Sumrall said. “Where are you gonna put our freaking name on every day? So, to wear the Florida Gator logo, to wear the Gators across your helmet and to wear the Gator head. You got to earn that.
“How soon can they earn it back? I haven’t thought about that yet. I just want to see them work their (expletive) off.”
Part of Sumrall’s charge is to bring more toughness and accountability to a UF program that’s endured four losing seasons in the last five years. Sumrall has brought strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt with him from Tulane. Whitt was a former Senior Special Forces Communication Sergeant for the U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003-10 before going on to a successful strength and conditioning coaching career at Louisiana, Texas Tech, Army, Troy and Tulane.
“We’re never going to back down anything we ever do,” Sumrall said. “We’re going to put them through some things that they have not experienced. They already have seen some of that. It’s going to be real. It’s going to be live.”
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: Jon Sumrall wants Florida football players to earn right to wear logo
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