When Jon Sumrall picked up the phone and heard Urban Meyer on the other end, he probably didn’t expect to be compared to the man who helped define Florida football’s modern era. But that’s exactly what happened - and for a first-year head coach stepping into one of the most pressure-packed jobs in college football, it was a moment that hit home.
“We talked a lot about the weight room. The offseason program,” Sumrall recalled during a recent interview.
“He said, ‘Man, I kind of feel like I’m talking to myself like 20 years ago.’ I was like, ‘Can you say that again?’
That was like one of the coolest sideways compliments I’ve ever gotten.”
That kind of endorsement carries weight, especially coming from Meyer - the architect of two national championships and two SEC titles during his six seasons in Gainesville. Since his departure, Florida has struggled to find consistency, cycling through coaches and chasing the kind of dominance Meyer delivered in the mid-2000s. Now, the Gators are turning to Sumrall, fresh off leading Tulane to its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance in 2025, to bring that edge back.
Sumrall isn’t wasting time trying to reshape the program’s identity. He’s diving headfirst into the grind - long hours, little sleep, and a relentless focus on culture. And part of that culture shift includes pulling a page straight from Meyer’s old playbook: no Gator logos until they’re earned.
“Gotta earn it. Gotta earn the logo,” Sumrall said.
“We ain't earned it yet. We haven't earned a damn thing.
All we've got is our name. ... To wear the Florida Gator logo, to wear the Gators across your helmet, to wear the Gator head, you got to earn that.”
It’s a message that echoes what Meyer did when he first arrived in 2005. Back then, he stripped the Gators logo from players’ workout gear until they proved they were worthy of wearing it.
It wasn’t just about discipline - it was about building a standard. Now, Sumrall is trying to do the same in a program that went 4-8 last season and is desperate for a reset.
Meyer, for his part, seems to see something familiar in Sumrall - a shared intensity, an obsession with detail, and a deep belief in the power of competition. “The ultimate competitor, ridiculously detailed, super intense,” Sumrall said of Meyer.
“He’s speaking at our coaches clinic here in a month and a half. … Man, very, very just blown away with how much he’s been open and willing to maybe give me some feedback as I’ve been at Florida.”
That kind of support could prove invaluable as Sumrall tries to navigate the high expectations and deep tradition that come with leading the Gators. Whether the players buy in the way Tulane’s did last year remains to be seen, but the blueprint is clear: build from the ground up, demand accountability, and make the logo mean something again.
For Florida fans, it’s a familiar formula - and one that, if executed right, could bring the Gators back to the national stage.