The first expected offensive transfer portal addition in the Jon Sumrall era at Florida is the Gators' potential 2026 starting quarterback.
Former Georgia Tech quarterback Aaron Philo will reportedly follow his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Buster Faulkner, to Gainesville, according to a report by Matt Zenitz.
The rising redshirt sophomore has three years of eligibility remaining.
Philo was reportedly set to enter the transfer portal Dec. 16 after serving as Haynes King's backup for two seasons with the Yellow Jackets. The evening prior, On3's Kelly Quinlan reported that Philo was not in a team meeting and that Florida was "pushing hard" for his services.
Georgia Tech was reportedly willing to match the offer for Philo, but he opted to enter the portal and to reunite with Faulkner, who recruited and coached him over the past few years.
From Bogart, Georgia, Philo was a three-star recruit in the 2024 class, per the Rivals Industry Ranking. He smashed Georgia high school state records, recording 13,922 passing yards in his career, a total that surpassed Trevor Lawrence's previous state-best mark.
Philo also led Prince Avenue High School to back-to-back state championships in his junior and senior seasons.
Thus far in his career, Philo has appeared in eight games for the Yellow Jackets, completing 57.8% of his passes for 938 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. He has also recorded 95 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries.
While Philo's stats don't pop out on paper, under the hood, his analytical profile shows plenty of promise for his future.
Philo recorded Pro Football Focus overall grades of 91.3 and 80.0 in 2024 and 2025, respectively. In 2024, he made seven big time throws, good for a 9.5% BTT percentage, per the site. He also only made one turnover worthy play, accounting for 1.3% of his throws.
Furthermore, seven of his passes were dropped by receivers in 2024, a staggering 15.6% drop rate on his throws. That brought down his completion percentage from an adjusted 64.3% to 51.4%.
The 6-foot-2 quarterback's play extention ability also stands out. Philo was pressured 29 total times in his eight appearances and was only sacked once, good for a 3.4% pressure to sack ratio.
Philo's addition bolsters a Florida quarterback room that is now without DJ Lagway. Florida's starter for a better part of the last two seasons entered the portal Dec. 15.
Now, Philo enters a quarterback group led by redshirt freshman Tramell Jones Jr., who made two appearances for the Gators in 2025. UF also landed four-star recruit Will Griffin on early signing day.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his sixth semester at The Alligator and now serves as The Alligator's Football Reporter and is a junior sports journalism student. He previously served as The Alligator's Sports Editor, and served as reporter for women's tennis, volleyball and lacrosse. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. He wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Tomas Kopecky).
