Florida is making the freshman call in Austin.
With Aaron Philo dealing with an injury and listed as a game-time decision, the Gators will start Tramell Jones Jr. against No. 7 Texas on Saturday, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel. Jones, a freshman, had been getting the bulk of the first-team reps, and now he gets the assignment for a Florida team trying to stop a two-game slide.
The quarterback switch comes at a rough moment for the Gators, who have dropped their last two games by wide margins. The 38-19 loss to South Carolina was especially jarring for first-year head coach Jon Sumrall.
Florida also has to sort through its receiving corps. Bailey Stockton is set to play, giving the offense a needed lift, while Vernell Brown III remains uncertain.
Brown has been working through a knee injury and missed the last two weeks, though he practiced Wednesday and posted his best workout since getting hurt. Florida is 4-0 when Brown is on the field, and through his first four games he has 17 catches for 271 yards and two touchdowns.
Stockton brings production of his own. The senior has 22 receptions for 258 yards and two touchdowns this season.
How much those targets matter depends in part on Jones, who has completed 23 of 29 passes for 252 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions through six games.
Philo had already shown what he could do earlier this season. In Florida’s Sept. 26 win over Ole Miss, he threw for 196 yards and a touchdown and also ran for 14 yards and a score. But over the last two weeks, his play dipped as the Gators’ running game was bottled up.
That ground game sits at the center of Florida’s offense, with Jadan Baugh carrying a huge load. If the Gators are going to hang around with Texas, Baugh’s performance will matter just as much as the freshman quarterback’s.
At 4-2, Florida still has plenty on the line in the bigger picture. Its College Football Playoff hopes hinge on what happens over the next two games, and a win over Texas - or Georgia - would give the Gators another major boost on the resume alongside Ole Miss.
Still, the path to an upset in Austin is clear: the offense has to survive with a shorthanded cast, and the defense has to do more than it has all season. Florida’s secondary, in particular, has to be far better than it has been to give the Gators a real shot.
In Other News...
Tramell Jones Jr. Just Gave Florida A Reason To Believe
A freshman making his first career start is rarely asked to steady a program against a top-10 opponent, but Tramell Jones Jr. walked into that kind of assignment and gave Florida exactly the kind of calm it needed. The Gators rallied from a 17-3 deficit to beat seventh-ranked Texas 27-24, and Jones played a central role in getting them back into it, completing 22 of 35 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns.
For Florida, the win was about more than surviving an early hole. It was about seeing a young quarterback handle pressure, keep the offense moving and give the Gators a chance when the game tightened late. The defense finished the job with a late fumble by Texas quarterback Arch Manning, but the bigger takeaway in Gainesville is hard to miss: there is at least a reason to believe Florida has found something it can build on. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Suddenly Has A Bigger Opportunity Than Anyone Expected
Floridas win over Texas came at exactly the right time, giving Billy Napiers team a needed jolt after a season that has already swung from a 4-0 start to back-to-back losses. The bigger picture around college football has been just as unpredictable, with results across several conferences reshuffling expectations almost every week, and Florida has managed to keep itself in the conversation despite the early turbulence.
With the bye week now in hand, the Gators are in a better spot than many projected before the season, both in the SEC race and in the overall record chase. The Texas victory did more than settle things down for a day, too, because it left Floridas preseason goals still within reach as the schedule moves into its next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Just Turned The Big 12 Race Into Something Much Bigger
A wild Saturday across college football sent shockwaves through the AP poll, and BYU was one of the biggest beneficiaries after upsetting Notre Dame to climb to No. 2. The chaos was unprecedented, with five of the top seven teams losing on the same day for the first time in AP history, and Miami surged to No. 1 after its double-overtime win against Florida State.
For Florida fans, the broader picture is just as striking because the Gators were part of a day that helped redraw the national conversation in a hurry. Ohio State held off Indiana, Tennessee beat Alabama, Florida knocked off Texas, and Auburn beat Georgia, turning what could have been a routine Saturday into a rankings reset that left the Big 12 race and the rest of the playoff picture looking far more volatile than before. [Read more 🡒]