Following a lost 2025 season under former head coach Billy Napier and interim head coach Billy Gonzales, where the Gators dropped to a 4-8 record, Florida football is ready to turn over a new leaf. Hype has been building and major buzz surrounds the program, but the time for building narratives pales in importance to tangible results as the season looms.
Just over a month out from UF’s Sept. 5 opener against Florida Atlantic, head coach Jon Sumrall made it clear. The time for talking is over.
“I was at my house late last night, and I looked at my wife, I’m like, man, here it is, it’s go time. I feel very privileged to be where I’m at,” Sumrall said. “Could not be more fired up about watching this team grow.”
Fellow Florida coaches and players echoed the sentiment during the first media availability of Fall camp, which truly kicked off the preseason.
Just one day out from their first Fall practice, here are the major takeaways from Tuesday’s talk.
Player management
Managing players’ workload over the next month is key to ensuring players are healthy and prepared for a grueling season.
Though there is plenty of work to be done, Sumrall said yardage distance covered each practice will be monitored, and the team will alternate light and heavy training days, especially because skilled position players’ muscle tissue is worn down with a heavy workload.
“This practice model is very player friendly, but you have to do some of the tough, gritty things to play the game the right way,” Sumrall said. “The second scrimmage will be at night because we play the first game at night.”
Redshirt freshman receiver Dallas Wilson is one player who has been monitored closely through the entirety of the offseason. Though Sumrall noted he and his staff will be cautious of how they manage Wilson’s workload through Fall practices, the standout receiver is fully cleared to participate. Following a season-ending injury to his right foot in 2025, Wilson has remained a vocal leader, always spending time with his teammates.
He also began wearing a custom pair of shoes to help manage his health and prevent further injury.
“When I put on these shoes, it feels amazing,” Wilson said. “My foot hasn’t hurt since I put them on, so I just wear them every day.”
With Fall camp beginning tomorrow and the season just over a month away, Wilson is excited to spring back into action, expand his leadership role and improve his consistency breaking off the line in 2026. He also said he’s taken thousands of reps on a JUGS machine he has at his house.
“Being in the training room more, being more consistent at my breaks and really just being more attentive, being more of a leader to the guys that’s in the room,” Wilson said. “I’ve been competing with [graduate wide receiver] Kahleil Jackson, so every time we’re in there, whatever weight he put on the bar, I’m right behind him. I’m really just trying to get after it.”
Sumrall also provided injury updates prior to the first practice. Senior tight end Jaylen Jordon and freshman safety Kaiden Hall are both day-to-day heading into camp, while redshirt junior defensive back Dijon Johnson is set to practice on a pitch count. Additionally, redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Fletcher Westphal is a full-go for Florida’s first Fall practice.
Getting stronger
Since director of football performance Rusty Whitt arrived in Gainesville, he’s remained steadfast in his message: The team, as a whole, needs to attack the weight room and get stronger. The Gators have done just that.
As a team, Florida’s power clean, bench, squat and deadlift metrics have increased by nearly 14,000 pounds in total since January.
“It’s really, really impressive,” Sumrall said. “It’s as impressive as what I’ve seen any group do over the length of period we’ve just had.”
Eating clean and paying attention to dieting has also played a major role in the muscle gain and fat loss of many UF players.
“You cannot outtrain your diet,” Sumrall said. “If you want to make significant gains, it can’t just be the work you do in the weight room, it’s got to be the things you do with your nutrition.”
While it’s crucial to be physical at line of scrimmage, it’s just as important to be athletic and efficient. On Florida’s offensive line, freshman offensive lineman Desmond Green and redshirt junior offensive tackle Caden Jones dropped 30 and 29 pounds, respectively.
Redshirt junior offensive lineman Bryce Lovett dropped significant weight as well. Sumrall said he saw Lovett working out on the practice field without a shirt — something he said he wouldn’t have seen before the summer.
“Lovett seven months ago wouldn’t have taken his shirt off … Now he’s feeling pretty good about himself,” Sumrall said. “But you don’t win games just by looking good or your physique being better … But I think it gives them an opportunity to improve their style of play and be more productive as players.”
Strengthening the defense has also been a point of emphasis. Defensive coordinator Brad White made it clear an explosive defensive front helps give different looks to an opposing quarterback, especially in a conference where physicality is key.
“When your defensive line can be physical, they can be strong, they can dominate the point of attack, you don’t have to commit as many to whether it’s pressuring or loading the box,” he said. “Rusty and his crew down there have done unbelievable things.”
Areas of improvement
With just over a month until kickoff at The Swamp, Sumrall touched on a flurry of attributes his team needs to improve before the season.
“We have to get into a space where we bring it every day; you cannot calculate your effort you give by how you feel,” Sumrall said. “Being tough is being at your best no matter what the circumstances are around you.”
That includes not only the aforementioned individual physical improvements, but skill improvements as well. That means those who aren’t playing their best ball right now have to step up before they fall behind.
“We’ve got to have certain guys elevate at certain spots in order to play winning level football,” Sumrall said.
General focus, despite improvements from where it began in January, remains at the top of the list of to-dos in order for the Gators to reach their full potential.
For offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, that means playing as and smart as you can on every single snap. White put a different definition on the term.
”You’ve got to do what makes you special, what got you into the University of Florida,” White said. “Trust your gut, trust your instincts.”
No matter which way Sumrall, Faulkner and White say it, its clear that consistency, focus and physicality remain the key points of emphasis for the 2026 Gators.
Leading the pack
In the eight months since Sumrall took the reins in Gainesville, leadership has been at the forefront of many conversations. From very early on, the new head coach said that in order for Florida to be successful, it had to be a “player-led team.” That leadership hierarchy is beginning to take shape.
At the forefront of player leadership are UF’s QBs, redshirt sophomores Aaron Philo and Trammell Jones Jr. While the two are competing to see who will start the season under center, both have grown dramatically in terms of becoming leaders of men, according to Faulkner.
That’s exactly what the offensive coordinator hoped to see happen.
“The leadership qualities of all those guys started to take off. They ran the Summer,” Faulkner said.
Junior Running back Jadan Baugh and sophomore wide receiver Vernell Brown III, Florida’s leading returning rusher and receiver, both took leadership positions last season and have carried on those reigns. On the offensive line, junior center Harrison Moore has emerged as a major presence both on and off the field, according to Faulkner.
Defensively, White listed a handful of players who have emerged as team leaders.
On the defensive line, redshirt junior tackle Brenden Bett and senior end Kamran James command the room, with the latter remaining a vocal leader despite being sidelined with an off-season surgery throughout the Spring.
Junior linebacker Myles Graham and senior safeties Bryce Thornton and DJ Coleman, all of whom serve as some of the most experienced players on the defensive side of the ball, have also filled leadership roles and have held the team accountable.
That word, accountability, is at the center of what White wants from his leaders, as well as the rest of his players.
“We’re going to need guys that hold each other accountable,” White said. “We need to have guys that have thick skin … What we can't be is frontrunners”
Focusing on the controllables
With the season nearing, prediction and poll season is in full swing. On Tuesday, the preseason NCAA coaches poll was released, and Florida was not in the top 25. The Gators received the second-most votes of teams outside the rankings, but no one in the building, especially Sumrall, is focused on that.
"I don't even look at that. I don't know. I don't care,” Sumrall said.
White echoed that sentiment.
“As soon as you start weaving into that lane, you lose track of what you’re actually trying to do,” White said. “As soon as you catch the first pop to the face, all of that goes away.”
Sophomore JACK Jayden Woods, who earned preseason media third-team All-SEC honors, said while it was “cool to see” that recognition, it didn’t matter since it was just a preseason watch list. He also made it clear he wasn’t worried about what other people expect for the program.
“Not at all,” Woods said. “I’m about to be blocked out of everything.”
It’s pretty clear that the only expectations that matter for Florida are the ones they have for themselves.
The time for talking is almost over. While Sumrall and Co. made it clear Florida has its eye on the prize heading into a much-anticipated 2026 season, there is still much to prove for a revamped coaching staff and a group of hungry players. What difference a year makes remains to be seen until the Gators finally take the field Sept. 5.
“If we could start today, I would,” White said.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @maxbernstein23.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @CuranAhern.
Max Bernstein is a fourth-year sports and media journalism major and sports management minor, and is the Summer 2026 Digital Managing Editor at The Alligator. Now in his eighth semester with The Alligator, Max previously served in roles including Sports Editor, Assistant Sports Editor and Football Reporter. He has also made appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. In the rare moments Max isn't working, he's usually with his girlfriend Reese, watching sports with his fraternity brothers or missing his family and his two cats.
Curan is a senior sports journalism student in his fifth semester at The Alligator. He is currently the sports editor, and previously served as a reporter for men's tennis, sports enterprise and football. He is currently pursuing a public relations minor and is an avid Duval sports fan. (#DTWD)
