GAINESVILLE — The cell phone rang with a musical tone, but Jon Sumrall was feeling the beat.
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Florida’s new coach stopped mid-sentence and fixed his bulging eyes on the offender.
“You would have been kicked out of our team meeting, I swear,” he said. “You’re lucky I’m not going to throw this freaking podium right now. That drives me crazy.”
Tanned and rested, Sumrall was on edge and ready to roll as he returned to the spotlight Wednesday at SEC Media Days.
The straight-shooting 44-year-old didn’t take long to steal it.
True to form, Sumrall wore his emotions on the sleeve of his blue blazer featuring an orange “F” pin on the lapel.
Soon after calling out the cell phone offender, Sumrall summed up a pair of losses to Ole Miss by a combined score of 86-20 in 2025 while at Tulane, his previous stop.
“They beat the s— out of us,” he said. “We played them the second time, different head coach, still beat the s— out of us.”
Cursing is nothing new on football fields or in meeting rooms, but it’s a rarity at the annual gathering of the conference’s 16 head coaches.
Sumrall hasn’t sugarcoated his message since he arrived in December to rebuild a once-proud program that has fallen into the lower-tier of the SEC.
“I’m excited about the direction of our program,” he said. “We have nowhere near arrived. I’m very hungry for our team to improve because if we don’t improve, we’re going to get our ass beat.”
The Gators open preseason camp Aug. 5 having endured their share of beatings. Florida lost twice in November by at least 20 points and three times in September when Florida scored a single touchdown in each to set the tone for a 4-8 season.
Gator Nation is starved and eager to support a winner.
“We’ve got 18 straight sellouts, though maybe not ideal on-the-field results,” Sumrall said. “We need to win more games. Like 4-8 last year is not okay at the University of Florida.
“We got to fix that.”
After four seasons of Billy Napier’s guarded, understated demeanor, Sumrall’s candor and energy have been a jolt for fans and the media alike.
“Napier was a dud in front of the media, and this guy is extraordinary,” ESPN’s Paul Finebaum told the Orlando Sentinel.
The longtime SEC observer said Sumrall’s ability to sell his vision and energize the fan base has eased the despair felt after the Gators lost out on Lane Kiffin, who is now at LSU. After four failed hires from Will Muschamp to Jim McElwain to Dan Mullen to Napier, Finebaum thinks Florida might just have the right man for the job.
“You can’t have a great program just because you’re good in front of the media,” Finebaum said. “But I know he’s a great coach. When you consider the buildup, the whole Kiffin thing, Florida did incredibly well.
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“It’s about time Florida got serious about football again.”
Sumrall brings a proven track record while boasting the fifth-highest winning percentage (78%, 41-12 record) among FBS coaches. He is the only FBS coach to have led two different programs to their conference championship game the past four seasons, while at Troy (2022-23) and Tulane (2024-25).
But Sumrall, a former Kentucky linebacker and Huntsville, Alabama, native, is keenly aware he’s made a step up in competition.
“As a kid growing up there were three conferences in football in my mind: There was the NFC, AFC and the SEC,” he said. “That’s all I knew. To be an SEC head coach right now for me is very surreal.”
Sumrall has embraced the challenge, while leaning on what he learned during previous rebuilds.
“I do feel fortunate to maybe have only been a head coach since 2022,” he said. The transfer portal and NIL and all the chaos that has ensued is all I know. Every time you walk into a place that’s different. The most important thing you do as a new head coach is you listen to maybe what’s gone right and you listen to what’s gone wrong.”
The lack of strength and experience on the offensive line immediately jumped out at Sumrall, who aims to instill a physical brand of football at Florida.
The Gators’ big uglies have blossomed under new strength coach Rusty Whitt, a former Green Beret, and his staff.
“I was very underwhelmed with our strength when I got to Gainesville with our offensive line,” Sumrall said. “The weight being moved wasn’t up to the standard of what I’m comfortable with. The guys in that room, they’ve gotten real comfortable with pushing heavy weight.
“They’ve improved; their bodies look different.”
Sumrall said Georgia Tech transfer Harrison Moore and Penn State transfer guard TJ Shanahan have set the tone.
The two linemen are among 50 newcomers, but all eyes are on potential starting quarterback Aaron Philo after he joined offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech. Philo and redshirt freshman Tramel Jones Jr. will enter camp locked in a pivotal competition that could last until the Sept. 5 opener against Florida Atlantic.
“I don’t have a timeline,” Sumrall said. “It may be five minutes before the game before anybody finds out.”
Not everything at Florida is unsettled.
The Gators’ three representatives at SEC Media Days — leading rusher Jadan Baugh, leading receiver Vernell Brown III and leading tackler Earnest Graham — have become believers in Sumrall’s demanding, no-nonsense approach.
The players weren’t surprised by the coach’s fiery reaction to a ringing cell phone. Around Florida’s football complex, they know exactly where the line is — and no one is eager to be the first to cross it.
“He’s very blunt, to the point,” Graham said. “He doesn’t beat around the bush at all, which I love about him. He’s just a real dude.”
Told of the cell phone mishap, Graham smiled.
“It ain’t happened yet,” he said. “But I don’t want to see what will happen. I will feel bad for that guy.”
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Edgar Thompson can be reached at [email protected]