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Jon Sumrall ADMITS Something That has Me EXCITED Before Gators Football vs UGA (FIXED) · A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome back to A Peek Inside Gator Football. I'm Allie Peek.
0:03
Speaker 1: This video is brought to you by PrizePix. New users
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Speaker 1: can download the app, play a $ 5 lineup, and use
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Speaker 1: our code. It's HMA. If you win, you'll get $ 150
0:11
Speaker 1: in lineups instantly. All right, guys. It is officially Florida
0:15
Speaker 1: Georgia week, and Coach Summerall had plenty to say during
0:19
Speaker 1: his Monday morning press conference. We got an update on
0:21
Speaker 1: the quarterback situation, some encouraging news about VB3, and a
0:25
Speaker 1: really interesting look at what Summerall learned during Florida's bye week.
0:28
Speaker 1: And perhaps most importantly, some insight into how he views
0:32
Speaker 1: Georgia's program and what he's trying to build in Gainesville.
0:35
Speaker 1: And I thought one of the more interesting things about
0:37
Speaker 1: this press conference was how Summerall balanced the present and
0:41
Speaker 1: the future. Because on one hand, he knows Florida's about
0:44
Speaker 1: to face a Georgia team that he admits he can't
0:47
Speaker 1: really find a weakness in. But on the other hand,
0:49
Speaker 1: he's looking at Georgia as an example of what he
0:52
Speaker 1: wants Florida to become. We're going to break down all
0:55
Speaker 1: of that, plus what he said about Jaden Baugh, the
0:57
Speaker 1: SEC playoff conversation, and why he made it very clear
1:01
Speaker 1: that Florida-Georgia is absolutely not just another game. So let's
1:05
Speaker 1: get into it. Let's start with what I think is
1:07
Speaker 1: the biggest news coming out of the press conference, and
1:10
Speaker 1: that is that Florida does not have a publicly named quarterback,
1:15
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, for Georgia. Both Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr.
1:19
Speaker 1: practiced Monday, and Summerall expects both to be available this week.
1:23
Speaker 1: But he would not name a starter. And he made
1:25
Speaker 1: it pretty clear that he doesn't intend to make some
1:28
Speaker 1: big public announcement at any point either. Now here's what's interesting.
1:32
Speaker 1: We know Philo was dealing with that shoulder injury heading
1:34
Speaker 1: into the Texas game. Summerall said he was technically available
1:39
Speaker 1: in an emergency capacity, but he wasn't comfortable putting him
1:42
Speaker 1: on the field. Tramell Jones got his first career start
1:45
Speaker 1: and helped Florida to that 27-24 comeback victory over 7th-ranked Texas.
1:50
Speaker 1: And while his numbers weren't necessarily spectacular, 155 yards passing
1:54
Speaker 1: and two touchdowns, the way he managed the game and
1:58
Speaker 1: grew into the moment really impressed Summerall. He specifically pointed
2:03
Speaker 1: to that 4th and 12 conversion to Dallas Wilson as
2:06
Speaker 1: the turning point for Jones. Summerall compared him to a
2:09
Speaker 1: basketball player who misses his first few shots and then
2:13
Speaker 1: finally sees one go through the basket. And suddenly, he's
2:16
Speaker 1: playing with confidence. And that's exactly what he saw from Jones.
2:20
Speaker 1: But that doesn't necessarily mean Jones has taken the starting job.
2:24
Speaker 1: Samra said he believes Florida can win with either quarterback,
2:27
Speaker 1: and he emphasized that both have played winning football and
2:30
Speaker 1: both have had moments where they weren't good enough. He
2:33
Speaker 1: also revealed that Jones is dealing with some bumps and
2:35
Speaker 1: bruises of his own after that really physical Texas game.
2:39
Speaker 1: So what determines who starts? First, health and availability. After that,
2:44
Speaker 1: how each quarterback practices throughout the week, including their ability
2:48
Speaker 1: to operate the offense and communicate, make the necessary throws,
2:51
Speaker 1: and get the team into the right situation. All of
2:53
Speaker 1: those are going to be factors. Semerle expects to have
2:56
Speaker 1: a pretty good idea of who the starter is going
2:57
Speaker 1: to be by Wednesday, but he also said he wasn't
3:00
Speaker 1: going to make any final decisions at that point. And
3:03
Speaker 1: here's another interesting piece. He said Florida could potentially play
3:06
Speaker 1: both quarterbacks, but he doesn't anticipate regularly rotating them once
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Speaker 1: the game begins. More importantly, he doesn't believe Georgia has
3:14
Speaker 1: to prepare for the two drastically different because Philo and
3:18
Speaker 1: Jones have more similarities between the two than they do differences.
3:23
Speaker 1: I think this is a fascinating decision. Philo has more
3:26
Speaker 1: starting experience this season, but Jones led Florida to arguably
3:30
Speaker 1: its biggest one of the year. I don't think you
3:32
Speaker 1: can completely dismiss what happened in that Texas performance and
3:38
Speaker 1: what that game might have done for the confidence of
3:41
Speaker 1: Jones and the rest of the offense. One thing I
3:44
Speaker 1: did appreciate Summerall saying was that the two quarterbacks, really
3:48
Speaker 1: explained how they have handled the situation. And he said
3:51
Speaker 1: that they are just so incredibly supportive of each other.
3:53
Speaker 1: And he pointed out that Philo was the very first
3:56
Speaker 1: person to congratulate Jones after Florida sealed the victory in Austin.
4:00
Speaker 1: And I think that tells you something about the culture
4:02
Speaker 1: inside that quarterback room. But ultimately, this isn't a popularity contest.
4:06
Speaker 1: Summerall has to decide who gives Florida the better chance
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Speaker 1: to beat Georgia. And that's a pretty significant decision. There
4:13
Speaker 1: was also some encouraging news regarding BB3. Brown practiced last
4:17
Speaker 1: week and again Monday, and Summerall said he looked normal.
4:20
Speaker 1: In fact, he gave a pretty interesting explanation. He said
4:23
Speaker 1: over the last couple of weeks, there were times when
4:25
Speaker 1: Brown was running, and Summerall felt the need to ask him, like, hey,
4:29
Speaker 1: how are you feeling? Because he didn't look quite right.
4:32
Speaker 1: But he said Monday was different. Brown looked good enough
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Speaker 1: that Summerall didn't even need to ask him how he
4:37
Speaker 1: was feeling. Now, that is not an absolute guarantee that
4:41
Speaker 1: he's back against Georgia. But it does sound encouraging. And
4:45
Speaker 1: Florida could desperately use him. Because when you look back
4:48
Speaker 1: at Florida's offensive struggles against Missouri and South Carolina, the
4:52
Speaker 1: Gators really missed having another explosive weapon available. And that
4:56
Speaker 1: brings me to one of the biggest things Summerall said
4:58
Speaker 1: about the bye week. He identified a pretty simple difference
5:01
Speaker 1: between when Florida's offense has been successful and when it hasn't.
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Speaker 1: And we've talked about it on this show a lot.
5:07
Speaker 1: But it was still interesting to hear him say it.
5:09
Speaker 1: And it's staying ahead of the chains. When Florida avoids
5:12
Speaker 1: negative plays and staying out of third and long situations,
5:15
Speaker 1: it can move the football. When it doesn't, the offense struggles.
5:18
Speaker 1: And we saw both versions of that over the last
5:20
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Against Missouri and South Carolina, Florida's running
5:23
Speaker 1: game struggled to get going, and the offense repeatedly found
5:26
Speaker 1: itself in difficult situations. Against Texas, the Gators weren't necessarily explosive,
5:32
Speaker 1: but they found ways to stay on schedule. And that
5:34
Speaker 1: is going to be incredibly important against Georgia. defensively, Sarmel
5:39
Speaker 1: acknowledged that Florida has shown flashes of being a really
5:41
Speaker 1: good team, but it hasn't been there consistently. He specifically
5:45
Speaker 1: pointed to detailed execution as an issue. And I thought
5:49
Speaker 1: that was important because we have seen Florida's defense look
5:52
Speaker 1: completely different from one week to the next. Against South Carolina,
5:55
Speaker 1: the Gators struggled to get off the field. Against Texas,
5:58
Speaker 1: they recorded five sacks. They held the Longhorns to 272
6:02
Speaker 1: total yards, and they came up with the critical plays
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Speaker 1: when they needed to. so which Florida defense is going
6:08
Speaker 1: to show up against Georgia? That's probably one of the
6:10
Speaker 1: biggest questions headed into Saturday. Summerall was generally pleased with
6:13
Speaker 1: special teams too, outside of the punt return for a
6:16
Speaker 1: touchdown that Florida surrendered. He acknowledged that there were issues
6:19
Speaker 1: with both the coverage and the punt itself. And if
6:22
Speaker 1: you're wondering what the problem with the punt itself was,
6:24
Speaker 1: it was very much down the middle and you really
6:26
Speaker 1: needed it much more to the corners. But overall, he
6:30
Speaker 1: felt like special teams has played clean and I agree
6:32
Speaker 1: with that. Now let's talk a little bit about Georgia.
6:35
Speaker 1: But before we do that, I want to tell you
6:37
Speaker 1: guys about something really exciting. We are now available on
6:40
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast and Spotify. You guys have sent messages, talked
6:44
Speaker 1: to me on social media, and even in person asking
6:46
Speaker 1: for an audio only option. So we're trying to deliver
6:49
Speaker 1: that for you. I have been dropping my instant game
6:52
Speaker 1: reactions post-game right over there on audio so I can
6:56
Speaker 1: just very quickly pick up my phone, give you guys
6:58
Speaker 1: my thoughts. So if you want to check that out,
7:00
Speaker 1: make sure you're subscribed either on Apple Podcasts or Spotify
7:04
Speaker 1: before the game on Saturday. I appreciate you guys supporting
7:07
Speaker 1: me any way that you choose to listen. So let's
7:11
Speaker 1: talk about Georgia. Summer Hall didn't exactly try to downplay
7:13
Speaker 1: what Florida was facing. He said when he turns on
7:16
Speaker 1: Georgia's film, he sees a whole lot of strengths and
7:18
Speaker 1: very few, if any, weaknesses. And what stood out to
7:21
Speaker 1: me wasn't just how highly he spoke of Georgia's talent.
7:25
Speaker 1: It was how much he emphasized the program's development. Kirby
7:28
Speaker 1: Smart's in year 11. Summerall's in year one. And he
7:31
Speaker 1: believes you can see the difference on the field. Georgia's
7:34
Speaker 1: recruited elite players year after year. But they've also developed
7:37
Speaker 1: those players. They've kept them in the program. And they've
7:39
Speaker 1: built the kind of physicality that really just can't happen overnight.
7:44
Speaker 1: He pointed to their weight room, how they practice, how
7:46
Speaker 1: they prepare, and then the way they play. And he
7:49
Speaker 1: clearly has a tremendous amount of respect for what Smart
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Speaker 1: has built. Offensively, Semmel said that Georgia's quarterback, Gunnar Stockton,
7:57
Speaker 1: is tough. He's a competitive winner whose personality reflects the
8:01
Speaker 1: entire football team. He also complimented Georgia's offensive line, their
8:05
Speaker 1: tight ends, and their extremely deep running back room, and
8:08
Speaker 1: the way that Mike Bobo calls and sets up plays. Defensively,
8:12
Speaker 1: he singled out linebacker Chris Cole as a player that
8:14
Speaker 1: jumps off the film. And here's something else I found
8:17
Speaker 1: really interesting. Summerall actually studied Georgia's roster construction during Florida's
8:22
Speaker 1: bye week. Not just because the Gators are playing Georgia,
8:25
Speaker 1: but because he wants to understand how they've created so
8:28
Speaker 1: much consistency. And that led to one of the most
8:30
Speaker 1: revealing portions of the entire press conference. Summerall said that
8:34
Speaker 1: roughly half of Florida's current roster was here last year.
8:37
Speaker 1: The other half is new. And he explained that when
8:39
Speaker 1: he looks at Georgia's roster, what stands out is how
8:42
Speaker 1: many players have been developed within the Georgia program. You
8:46
Speaker 1: look at their previous school, and it's Georgia. You look
8:49
Speaker 1: at Florida's, and a whole lot of those players came
8:52
Speaker 1: from somewhere else. Now, that doesn't mean that transfers are bad,
8:56
Speaker 1: but Summerall clearly doesn't want Florida to be a program
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Speaker 1: that has to rebuild half of its roster every single year.
9:02
Speaker 1: In fact, he laid out a pretty specific vision for
9:04
Speaker 1: how he wants to use the transfer portal moving forward.
9:07
Speaker 1: In an ideal situation, Florida would add roughly 6 to
9:10
Speaker 1: 10 difference makers each year. Some years it might be 5.
9:14
Speaker 1: Other years it might be 12 or 13. But he
9:16
Speaker 1: said if Florida ever gets back to needing 20-something or
9:19
Speaker 1: 30 transfers in a year, that that's a serious problem.
9:23
Speaker 1: And that was one of the more telling comments of
9:25
Speaker 1: the day. He acknowledged that when he arrived in Gainesville,
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Speaker 1: Florida was in such a state of transition that they
9:30
Speaker 1: needed portal players just to have enough bodies to practice.
9:33
Speaker 1: He said there was tremendous uncertainty surrounding who would stay
9:37
Speaker 1: and who would leave. And he doesn't want that to
9:39
Speaker 1: become the normal. Instead, he wants Florida to recruit high
9:42
Speaker 1: school players, retain them, develop them, and use the portal
9:46
Speaker 1: to fill specific needs with impact players. Essentially, he wants
9:50
Speaker 1: to build a program, not just assemble a new team
9:53
Speaker 1: every offseason. And I think there's an important distinction there.
9:57
Speaker 1: Everybody wants immediate success in college football. And Summerall made
10:00
Speaker 1: it clear he does, too. But he also said he
10:02
Speaker 1: wants to win consistently. He wants that one-year turnaround. He
10:07
Speaker 1: wants to win every game. But he understands that sustaining
10:10
Speaker 1: success in the SEC requires something more than a one-year
10:13
Speaker 1: roster makeover. And that's what Georgia's done. And that's what
10:16
Speaker 1: he's trying to establish at Florida. Now, this might have
10:19
Speaker 1: been my favorite part of the press conference coming up.
10:22
Speaker 1: Semrel was asked about his approach in his first Florida-Georgia
10:26
Speaker 1: game as Florida's head coach. And he didn't give us
10:29
Speaker 1: the typical coach speak about treating every opponent the same
10:32
Speaker 1: and we just want to go 1-0. He said, Florida-Georgia's different.
10:36
Speaker 1: Anybody that says otherwise is insane. And I love that
10:40
Speaker 1: response because he's right. This is not just another football game.
10:43
Speaker 1: This is a rivalry that matters tremendously to both fan bases.
10:47
Speaker 1: And Florida hasn't experienced the kind of recent success in
10:50
Speaker 1: this rivalry that Gator fans have come to expect, and
10:52
Speaker 1: Summerall acknowledged that. He also pointed out that roughly half
10:55
Speaker 1: of Florida's roster has never played in this game. Meanwhile,
10:59
Speaker 1: Georgia has a much larger collection of players who have
11:01
Speaker 1: actually experienced this rivalry. And Summerall believes it's his responsibility
11:06
Speaker 1: to educate Florida's newer players about what this game means.
11:10
Speaker 1: But here's where he drew an important distinction. This game
11:13
Speaker 1: means more emotionally, but the things required to win it
11:17
Speaker 1: do not change. He said hype videos, excitement, and talking
11:21
Speaker 1: about the history of the rivalry aren't going to win
11:23
Speaker 1: them the football game. Blocking, tackling, executing, and protecting the
11:28
Speaker 1: football will. And that's the balance he's trying to strike.
11:32
Speaker 1: He wants his players to understand the significance of Florida
11:35
Speaker 1: Georgia without becoming so caught up in the moment that
11:38
Speaker 1: they forget how to play winning football. And considering the
11:41
Speaker 1: emotional swings we've seen from this Florida team, but really
11:44
Speaker 1: everyone in the conference this year, I think that's a
11:47
Speaker 1: really important message. One other thing from this press conference
11:51
Speaker 1: really stood out to me, and that was Summerall's discussion
11:53
Speaker 1: of Jaden Baugh, because he believes Baugh's performance against Texas
11:56
Speaker 1: represented something Florida needed to learn how to do, and
12:00
Speaker 1: that's win without being spectacular. Early in the season, we
12:04
Speaker 1: got accustomed to watching Florida rip off explosive runs, put
12:07
Speaker 1: up big numbers, and overwhelm opponents. Then Missouri and South
12:10
Speaker 1: Carolina happened. And suddenly the Gators were struggling to run
12:13
Speaker 1: the football. Against Texas, Florida didn't magically rediscover all those
12:17
Speaker 1: explosive plays. In fact, the longest completion of the game
12:20
Speaker 1: was just 17 yards to Dallas Wilson on that fourth down.
12:23
Speaker 1: But they found a way to win, a different way.
12:26
Speaker 1: Three yards here, four yards there, keeping the offense in
12:29
Speaker 1: manageable situations. And Sumrall said Ba embodied that mentality. He
12:34
Speaker 1: wasn't constantly trying to hit a home run. He was
12:36
Speaker 1: fighting for every yard and helping the offense stay ahead
12:39
Speaker 1: of the chains. Sarmal even joked about a fourth and
12:41
Speaker 1: run run where Baugh initially gave up ground, trying to
12:44
Speaker 1: create something bigger. He told him, hey, we needed one yard,
12:47
Speaker 1: not 11. And I think that's an important lesson there.
12:51
Speaker 1: Against Georgia, Florida probably isn't going to be able to
12:53
Speaker 1: rely on explosive plays every time it needs to move
12:55
Speaker 1: the football. There are going to be situations where the
12:58
Speaker 1: Gators have to earn three yards against a really physical defense.
13:02
Speaker 1: And Sarmal believes beating Texas showed his players, you can
13:05
Speaker 1: win that way. They can get bloodied, stay in the fight,
13:09
Speaker 1: and still come out on top. And that's something Florida
13:11
Speaker 1: really hadn't proven earlier in the season. Finally, Summerall had
13:16
Speaker 1: some interesting comments about the bigger picture in the SEC.
13:19
Speaker 1: He described the conference as almost NFL-lite because of how
13:22
Speaker 1: competitive the games are from week to week. And with
13:25
Speaker 1: the SEC moving to nine conference games, he believes that
13:28
Speaker 1: you're going to see some really good football teams finish 9-3.
13:30
Speaker 1: Teams that might have gone 11-1 under a different schedule.
13:33
Speaker 1: And he said it's not just about the additional loss opportunities.
13:36
Speaker 1: It's about the physical toll that playing another SEC opponent
13:40
Speaker 1: takes on a roster. He talked about how Florida's injury
13:43
Speaker 1: report seems to grow after every conference game. And that's
13:46
Speaker 1: why he believes depth, player development, and roster retention are
13:49
Speaker 1: so important. He also indicated that SEC coaches who supported
13:53
Speaker 1: the nine-game schedule expected playoff expansion to accompany it rather
13:57
Speaker 1: than potentially arriving later. but he wasn't interested in complaining
14:01
Speaker 1: about the schedule. His message was that Florida has to
14:03
Speaker 1: prepare for the challenges of playing in this league. So
14:07
Speaker 1: here's what I'm taking away from Summerall's press conference. I
14:09
Speaker 1: don't think he has any illusions about what Florida is
14:12
Speaker 1: facing this weekend. He respects Georgia. He recognizes how far
14:15
Speaker 1: ahead the Bulldogs are in terms of a program with
14:19
Speaker 1: continuity and long-term development. And he knows Florida's gonna have
14:22
Speaker 1: to play its best football to have a chance. But
14:25
Speaker 1: I also didn't hear a coach making excuses. I heard
14:27
Speaker 1: somebody who believes his team can win who has identified
14:30
Speaker 1: some of the things holding Florida back, and who understands
14:34
Speaker 1: that the process of building a championship program has to
14:36
Speaker 1: continue regardless of what happens on Saturday. And the Texas
14:40
Speaker 1: victory gave him something he didn't have before, proof that
14:43
Speaker 1: this Florida team can win ugly, can win a physical
14:46
Speaker 1: football game against a really good opponent. And now the
14:50
Speaker 1: challenge is doing it again and doing it against a
14:52
Speaker 1: program that has made that kind of football its identity.
14:56
Speaker 1: The quarterback decision is still ahead of us. VB3 looks
14:59
Speaker 1: closer to returning. And Florida has an opportunity to turn
15:02
Speaker 1: one huge road upset into something much bigger. If Summerall
15:06
Speaker 1: can find a way to beat Georgia in his first season,
15:09
Speaker 1: it won't just change the narrative surrounding this year's Florida team.
15:13
Speaker 1: It could change the tone of this rivalry moving forward.
15:16
Speaker 1: But first, the Gators have to go out and earn it.
15:21
Speaker 1: So let me know down in the comments, who would
15:23
Speaker 1: you start against Texas? Would you start Aaron Philo? Would
15:26
Speaker 1: you start Jones? Does it matter? And what was your
15:31
Speaker 1: biggest takeaway from Summeroff's press conference? Make sure that you
15:34
Speaker 1: like this video, you subscribe to the channel. I appreciate
15:38
Speaker 1: you guys for tuning in. A big thank you to
15:39
Speaker 1: PrizePix as well. Don't forget, download the app. If you're
15:42
Speaker 1: a new user, play a $ 5 lineup and use our code.
15:45
Speaker 1: It's HMA. If you win, you'll get $ 150 in lineups instantly.
15:49
Speaker 1: We appreciate PrizePix. And as always, guys, go Gators.