RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThough the first fall practices of fall camp, Florida football coach Jon Sumrall has been pleased with the effort and intensity on both sides of the ball.
"The intent of our guys has been good," Sumrall said. "There's been a lot of improvement, you know, certain guys are elevating. It's been fun to see some guys take steps forward."
The Florida Gators will practice in full pads for the first time on Tuesday, August 11 and hold their first intra-squad scrimmage on Saturday, August 15.
"We still need more out of certain guys as well. but like where we're at in a lot of ways," Sumrall said.
Sumrall, hired from Tulane last Nov. 30, is conducting his first fall camp in preparation for UF's season opener against Florida Atlantic on Sept. 5 at The Swamp (7:45 p.m.). He said he intends to play "a lot of guys" in the opener to get a feel for how they handle game situations.
"You can look at the teams I’ve had, game one where it’s been non conference we’ve played more people then we’ll play all year regardless of what the matchup is," Sumrall said. "We played Northwestern last year, game one, which is a Big Ten school, when I was at Tulane, and we played a ton of people in game one. I’m trying to figure out who our team is. I’ve got a decent idea in practice, but you don’t really know who you got and who you are until you go play somebody else."
Here's what else Sumrall said following the first weekend in fall camp:
Florida football taking load management approach with WR Dallas Wilson
Sumrall said wide receiver Dallas Wilson working out on the JUGS machines on Friday, August 7, and not taking part in live drills was the result of a load management issue. Wilson dealt with a broken foot that limited him to four games last season and sidelined him for parts of spring practices
"We had a yardage for Wednesday's practice we wanted, a yardage for Thursday's practice we wanted, and then a de-load day for Friday's practice." Sumrall said. "He still went about 4,000 yards on Friday, he practiced, we cut back a lot of the individual reps and scaled back certain things he did to make sure he still got the right number of team reps. And then Saturday he was full-go, didn't miss anything."
When healthy, the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Wilson displayed star potential as a true freshman last season, catching 12 passes for 174 yards and 3 TDs in four games.
"Dallas is a unique case because return to play for him," Sumrall said. "I want to see him play on Saturdays against other people. He's obviously a known player in some regards, but does not have a lot of time on task. So while we all know how talented he is, there's still a ton of development left with Dallas as a player to be a polished route-runner and be refined."
Florida football DE Kamran James dealing with soft tissue injury
Sumrall said senior defensive end Kamran James, a returning starter who tied a team-high with 3.5 sacks last season, is dealing with a "soft tissue" injury that he doesn't anticipate being serious.
As for other health updates, Sumrall said safety Kaiden Hall, tight end Jaylen Jordon, running back Duke Clark, wide receiver Marquez Daniel and cornerback CJ Bronaugh also have been limited in camp with soft tissue injuries. Running back Kelvin Jimenez is out for the "foreseeable future" with a contact injury, while tight end Evan Chieca is out for at least a week. Freshman defensive lineman Kendall Guervil re-aggravated a knee issue and is out.
Florida football coach Jon Sumrall shares thoughts on QBs, O-line
Sumrall was asked his thoughts on how Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. have developed a bond off the field despite competing for the starting quarterback job. He compared it to a recent video Tim Tebow posted about wanting to beat out Chris Leak as a freshman, while building Leak up at the same time.
"I want our quarterback room to be motivated by other people’s success, not intimidated," Sumrall said. "Somebody will go out and take the ball in game one, and I expect the guy who does to still be humble about his approach and work his tail off, and the guy who doesn’t, I expect him to know, ‘Hey I’m a play away from being put in the game’, and prepare like a starter because you never know when your opportunity is coming.' "
Sumrall said that decision could stretch beyond the start of the 2026 sason.
"Are we ready to go name a starter today? No," Sumrall said. "We may not name one. You guys may go into the game, and you’ll probably do your due diligence and find out who’s taking reps with the ones the week of the first game, but I might not come out and make some formal announcement of who QB1 is. We’re just probably not doing that. We’re going figure out who to win a game with each week. That’s our goal.”
As for the offensive line, Sumrall said he's noticed "growth" through the first four practices of fall camp.
“The competition has been good," Sumrall said. "Still a lot of movement in nature in regard to like, Bryce Lovett may play some guard and some tackle, and then you might see one guy go with the ones in a rack and with the twos, so it’s still not settled to where it’s like a cohesive group."
As for the tackles, Sumrall mentioned Emeka Ugorji and Eagan Boyer as candidates to start on the left side and Lovett and Caden Jones as candidates to start on the right side. Fletcher Westphal, coming off offseason wrist surgery, could also work his way back to competing for either starting tackle spot.
"I’m not trying to project what’s going to happen game one or game two, but I would say you will probably see us try to play several guys to see who they are, and whoever rolls out first is going to be who we felt has earned to go out first," Sumrall said. "We need to get...
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