Latest / A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators / We KNOW A LOT More About Gators Football After Jon Sumrall Put Out FIRST Depth Chart...

Transcript

We KNOW A LOT More About Gators Football After Jon Sumrall Put Out FIRST Depth Chart... · A Peek Inside Gators Football: A Show About the Florida Gators

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to A Peak Inside Gator Football. Allie Peak here.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: This video is brought to you by PrizePix. Don't forget,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: new users can download the app. They can use our
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: code HMA, play a $ 5 lineup, and if you win,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you'll get $ 150 in lineups instantly. All right, so I
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: don't know if you guys noticed on Monday, but Florida's
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: first official depth chart of the John Summerall era is here.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And while there are plenty of names on this thing
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: that we expected to see, I think there are a
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: few decisions that caught my attention. And I think this
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: step chart tells us quite a bit about how this
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: coaching staff is going to operate. One thing John Summerall
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: has made very clear since he got to Gainesville is
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: that he really doesn't care where you're supposed to be
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: or what you are supposed to be. He doesn't care
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: where you were ranked. He doesn't care how many games
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: you started last year. He doesn't care whether somebody on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the outside assumed you had a job locked up. You
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: have to earn it. And when Summerall was asked about
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: the depth chart on Monday, he basically said there shouldn't
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: be a single player inside that locker room surprised by
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: where his name ended up. He said the staff has
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: been very direct with players about where they stand and
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: more importantly, why they stand there. And I love that.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: But now we finally have gotten a look at this
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: thing and let's go through some of the biggest takeaways
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: from Florida's first depth chart of 2026. think there are
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: definitely a few places worth talking about. So let's start
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: on the offense. Obviously at quarterback, no surprise whatsoever. Aaron
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Filo is QB one and Tramell Jones is QB two.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: We have already spent a ton of time talking about
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that competition and somehow announced last week that Filo had
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: earned the opportunity to start the opener. That does not
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: mean that the quarterback conversation is completely finished. However, Semrel
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: has indicated Jones could still get an opportunity on Saturday,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and competition is obviously going to continue. But for now,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: this is Aaron Filo's offense. And when you look at
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the players around him, I actually think Florida has given
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: this new quarterback a pretty good collection of skill players.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Dallas Wilson is your starter at X. Eric Singleton is
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: your starter at Z. And Vernell Brown is your starter.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: At the F position. That's about as expected as probably
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: anything at all on this depth chart.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Behind them, you've got Micah Mays or Khalil Jackson behind Wilson.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: You've got TJ Abrams behind Singleton, and you've got Bailey
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Stockton behind Vernell Brown. And I keep coming back to
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: this when I look at Florida offensively. We have spent
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: so much time talking about the quarterback. But if Dallas
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Wilson is healthy and V3 takes that next step that
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: we all expect him to take and Eric Singleton becomes
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the kind of weapon that Florida brought him here to be,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Aaron Filo is not being asked to do this alone.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: And Dallas Wilson being healthy has worked and he's worked
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: as hard as anybody in this program this offseason to
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: get himself there. And after dealing with a lot of
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: injuries last year, I think that's a pretty big deal.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I am excited to finally see what those three guys
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: look like together in a real game. And now running
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: backs where things get interesting. Obviously, Jaden Baugh is RB1.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Zero surprise there. But behind him, Florida essentially said everybody.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: Evan Pryor, Duke Clark, London Montgomery, Brian Lewis, Byron Lewis
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: are all listed behind Baugh. All five scholarship running backs
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: made the depth chart. I don't think that that is meaningless.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I think that tells you Florida genuinely likes this running
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: back room. Evan Pryor gives you something different from Jaden Bob.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: He's a little more of that home run style runner,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and he can help you in the passing game. Running
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: backs coach Chris Foster specifically talked about Florida wanting somebody
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: who could provide that home run element. And somehow has
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: praised Pryor's ability as a receiver out of the backfield
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: as well. Duke Clark, another guy that had a good offseason.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: London Montgomery gives you another experienced option. Byron Lewis is
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: still sitting there too. Obviously, Jaden Boss the guy. But
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I would not be surprised whatsoever if Saturday night we
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: see Florida make a point of getting several backs involved,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: especially in these first two games.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I think they should.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: You want to find out what you have before you
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: go to Auburn week three. Now let's get to tight
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: end because this was one of the more interesting portions
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: of the depth chart. Bakata Dupree is your starting Y
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: tight end. Behind him, we've talked a lot about this
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: guy on this channel, true freshman Hezzy Kent. And then
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: at the H position, Amir Jackson or Lou Parpering are
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: listed as co-starters. We're going to take a quick break
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: from this video to give some love to alumni hall.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: We have a game this weekend. If you are going
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: to be in Gainesville, get yourself over to alumni hall
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: on Archer road and use the code that they are
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: giving all of our viewers.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: It's peak 15. That's P E E K.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: It's going to give you 15% off your entire order.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Alumni Hall has all the best brands. I'm talking Jordan, Nike,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Peter Millar, Cutter & Buck, everything that you're looking for.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: They're going to have it in store on Archer Road
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: in Gainesville, or you can order online, alumnihall.com. The code
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: is going to work both places. It's PEAK15. That's P-E-E-K-1-5.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: If you go and visit them, make sure you tell
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: them Allie sent you. We appreciate Alumni Hall for all
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: their support. The Hezzy Kent thing is one of my
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: favorite stories on this death chart.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: We have done a video on him.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: This is a kid who came into the offseason weighing
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: over 300 pounds. And back in the spring, it really
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: wasn't even clear if he was going to be physically
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: ready to contribute this year or if it was going
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: to be a tight end if he was.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: He's now listed at 288.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: And Summerall said Monday that Kent has made as much
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: an improvement as basically any freshman on the team since January.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: He has lost roughly 30 pounds and played his way
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: into the two deep. That is what you want to see.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: That is player development. That is a kid being challenged,
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: responding to it, and making himself impossible to ignore. Now,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: does that mean Hezzy Kent is suddenly going to catch
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: eight balls Saturday?
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Probably not.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: He still has development ahead of him, particularly as a blocker.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: But if you're asking me to identify one player on
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: this depth chart whose stock has clearly gone way up
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: since January, Hezzy Kent is absolutely one of them. And
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Lakata Dupree getting the starting wide job is also significant.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: He transferred in from James Madison after starting 13 games
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: there last season. He got 17 passes for 192 yards
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: and three touchdowns. And by the way, successfully converted four
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: fake punts.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: You know, my special teams heart loves to hear that.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: So keep that little nugget though, filed away somewhere when
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: we start talking about Summerall and special teams.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: And as the season goes on now, offensive line.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: We already had a pretty good idea about what this
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: was going to look like because Summerall essentially gave us
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: the starting five last week. Left tackle is Bryce Lovett.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Left guard is Najee Harris. Center is Harrison Moore. Right
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: guard is TJ Shanahan. And right tackle is Emeka Ngori.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: I think Bryce Lovett at left tackle remains one of
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: the bigger developments of camp because remember where we were
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: with this offensive line earlier in the offseason? Summerall was
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: not particularly happy. He publicly challenged this group after the
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: spring game. He continued to push them through the summer.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: And then after the second scrimmage, his tone kind of changed.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: He said the offensive line had had its best football
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: day since he arrived. And he specifically singled out Bryce
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Lovett as somebody the staff challenged who responded positively. Summerall
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: said Lovett was arguably one of the best two players
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: on the opening drive of that scrimmage.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: That's what I'm watching for Saturday.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I don't think anybody questioned whether Florida had bodies on
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: offensive line.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: I think the question has been, do they have a group?
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: Do they have five guys who can play together? Do
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: they have tackles? They trust. Can those five protect Aaron Philo?
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Can they create enough space for Jaden Bob that the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: offense doesn't constantly live in third and long Saturday is
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: our first chance to see whether the improvement summer all
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: saw in that second scrimmage actually translates to game day
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: behind those five. there are still some really interesting names.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Egan Borear is behind Lovett. Roderick Kearney is behind Harris.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: Jason D'Amelda is behind Harrison Moore. TJ Dice is behind Shanahan.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: And Caden Jones is behind Emeka. I would expect Florida
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: to rotate some of these guys, especially against Florida Atlantic.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: So I'm always made it pretty clear that there is
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: still competition within that room. Now let's flip over to
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the defensive side of the ball. And this is where
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: the death chart is the most interesting to me.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: We're going to start up front.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah McLeod is officially your starting D tackle. That's a
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: really nice development for a young player. McLeod played in
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: 11 games as a freshman last year and finished with
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: 13 tackles. Now going into year two, he has gone
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: from like a young rotational player to a starter. Brendan
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Bett starts at nose. Jaden Wood starts at Jack. And
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: then at defensive end, Florida basically looked at the death
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: chart and said, Yes. Cameron James or LJ McCray. Emmanuel Bodejo,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: he's an option too. Three-way option. Three-way or. And I
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: think that tells you exactly what Summerall has been telling
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: us about the defensive line.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: They are going to rotate.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: Summerall said last week that the defensive line competition was
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: ridiculously competitive.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: That is a quote.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: And that a bunch of these guys are going to play.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: The question isn't necessarily who gets labeled starter. It's going
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: to be who plays in which packages and which situations.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: So Saturday night, don't just watch who runs. onto the
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: field first. Watch the snap counts. Watch third down. Watch
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: obvious passing situations. Watch where LJ McCray lines up. Watch
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: how they use Emmanuel Obadejo. Watch whether somebody separates themselves
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: at all. Because by Auburn week, This depth chart could
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: look very different. And another name I absolutely want to
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: mention is true freshman KJ Ford. Jaden Woods is your
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: starter at Jack, but behind him, you've got Kofi Asari
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: or KJ Ford.
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Ford is already 6'4.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: 250 pounds, and was a four-star prospect coming out of Duncanville.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: A true freshman already forcing his way into the two
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: deep at that position.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Guys, I'm watching. I'm paying attention.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Now, linebackers are pretty straightforward. Miles Graham, Jaden Robinson, Aaron Childs.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: And the fact that Florida actually lists three linebackers in
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: addition to the star position is really interesting schematically because
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Kanye Clark is listed as the starter at star. Miles Johnson,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: TJ Bullard, and Ty Jackson are the second team linebackers.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: There are so many options there.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: And then that brings us to the secondary and probably
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: the thing on the depth chart that generated the most conversation.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: Ben Hanks is a starter. Dijon Johnson is behind him.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: On the other side, it's Cormani McLean or Javari Flowers. Now,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Ben Hanks starting shouldn't completely shock anybody if you've followed
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: camp because this staff has been extremely high on him.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: But Dijon Johnson not being listed as the starter and
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: not even getting an or is noteworthy.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Now, there's context there, though.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Johnson dealt with health limitations during portions of the offseason,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: which affected his ability to compete for that spot.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: But I think it also says something about Ben Hanks.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: This is not a coaching staff just automatically handing the
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: veteran his old job back.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Hanks earned this.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: And on the other side, Cormani McLean and Javari Flowers
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: apparently made this decision too difficult to settle before week one.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: McLean had interceptions in both of Florida's fall scrimmages, and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Flowers has continued to push for playing time too. I
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: think that's a really good problem for Florida to have.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: If Florida has Hanks and Johnson, McLean and Flowers all
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: capable of playing meaningful snaps at corner, that is legitimate depth.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: And especially considering the style of offense that they're about
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: to face on Saturday, I think it's a good thing.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: FAU is going to throw the football. They play fast.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: Caden Veltkamp threw for more than 3,600 yards last season.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: So we're not going to have to wait very long
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to find out whether this secondary is as deep as
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: it looks on paper. At safety, Bryce Thornton and Baylor
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: transfer DJ Coleman are your starters. Already mentioned, Kanye Clark
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: starts at star. It's going to be interesting to watch. Finally,
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: let's go to special teams. And you guys, you know
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: I'm paying attention to this. Even if you are not
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: at home, I am. Vernell Brown is your first team
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: punt returner with Bailey Stockton behind him. London Montgomery and
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Javari Flowers will handle kickoff returns. Patrick Durkin, no surprise,
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: your starting kicker. Alec Clark, again, no.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Surprise, your punter.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Add Carter Milron as the starting long snapper and, you know,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: looks pretty good.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: I just have one request. 11 guys. That's it.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: Just get 11 guys on the field. I am setting
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: the bar right there for week one. Semrel actually joked
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Monday about showing his team week zero mistakes, including a
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: game where a team had 12 men on the field
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: for a field goal block three separate times. And Semrel
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: basically said, look, we're going to make mistakes too. But
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: he's going to do everything he can to make sure
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Florida has 11 men on the field. Gator fans heard that,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and we all collectively said, thank you. So overall, what
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: did I learn from this first step chart? Number one,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the staff really does appear willing to play guys that
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: earned it. Ben Hanks over Dijon Johnson tells you that.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Jeremiah McLeod earning a starting role tells you that. Hesi
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Kent forcing his way onto the two deep, I think
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: tells you that. Number two, there are several positions where
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: this competition is not finished yet. Defensive end, the second
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: corner spot, running back behind Jaden Baugh.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Some of the offensive line depth.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Those are going to continue to evolve once we actually
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: have game film.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Number three. I think Florida is.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Deeper than it's been in a few really important places.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Running back, corner, D-line, maybe even tight end. Now, obviously,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the question is whether that depth is good enough. And
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Saturday night, we finally start finding out. The offseason is over.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: Projections are over. The practice reports are over. The depth
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: chart is finally here. And now we get to see
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: whether the guys John Summerall decided earned these jobs can
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: go out and prove him right. I want to hear
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: from you guys down in the comments. What was the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: biggest surprise for you on Florida's first depth chart? Was
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: it Ben Hanks over Dijon Johnson? Or Hesi Kent making
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: the two deep? Jeremiah McLeod starting? That three-way or at
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: defensive end? Or somebody else that you expected to see
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: maybe a little bit higher up? Guys, we finally get
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Florida football on Saturday night. We have made it. I
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: appreciate PrizePix for all their support. Don't forget, download the app.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: play a $ 5 lineup using our code HMA. And if
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: you win, you'll get $ 150 in lineups instantly. I appreciate
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: you guys for all your support.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Go Gators.