Florida Football's Jon Sumrall Hype Has Come Crashing Back to Earth

Jon Sumrall has experienced the full gamut of success in his first six games leading the Florida football program.

The Gators scored a combined 214 points over their first four games, all wins, capping off that stretch with a 52-28 throttling of then-No. 4 Ole Miss which appeared to be an announcement of sorts that Florida was back after the better part of two decades wandering in the wilderness of college football mediocrity.

Florida running back Jadan Baugh was a Heisman contender behind his 600 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner was getting hyped up for the upcoming coaching carousel and Sumrall was being touted as the best hire from last year’s loaded carousel, which also included the likes of Lane Kiffin and James Franklin, among others.

But as quickly as the hype built, it collapsed in even shorter time.

The two games since that Ole Miss win, consecutive losses to Missouri and South Carolina by a combined 47 points, were a splash of cold water to wake up the Florida fanbase from its exceptional dream.

The talk is no longer if the Gators are College Football Playoff contenders. It’s that they should hopefully be able to make a bowl game this season.

Baugh has just 72 yards and one score in the last two games. The offense has managed 36 total points, while the defense turned into the sieve which opposing defenses were against the Gators’ offense early this season.

At this rate, it would be a surprise if Florida doesn’t follow its season-opening four-game winning streak with a four-game losing streak, with matchups against No. 7 Texas and No. 1 Georgia looming in the next three weeks with a bye in between.

This fall-off isn’t necessarily a condemnation of Sumrall’s future in Gainesville. If anything, some regression was probably to be expected after he wildly overachieved to start his tenure at a school which had just one winning season in the last five before his arrival.

And even if the on-field things have trended down of late, the future still looks bright. Just days ago, five-star receiver Easton Royal (the No. 2 receiver in the 2027 class, per 247Sports) flipped his commitment from Texas to Florida, adding to the Gators’ now eighth-ranked 2027 recruiting class which also has a pledge from five-star offensive lineman Maxwell Hiller.

In the interim, though, Sumrall may need to win the supporters back to his side. The believers likely aren’t gone forever. But they’ve understandably halted the hype after getting ahead of their skis just four games in.

After the Ole Miss upset drew comparisons to Urban Meyer and a top-10 ranking for the team, Florida is now unranked and likely will remain so for the rest of the season.

A win in one of the next two games would go a long way towards validation for Sumrall, especially if it came against Georgia, which has won the last five games and eight of the last nine in that rivalry.