GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Aaron Philo didn’t have to carry Florida in its season opener against Florida Atlantic. He looked like he wanted the job anyway.
In his first start after transferring from Georgia Tech, and only two weeks after Jon Sumrall settled the quarterback battle by naming him the winner over Tramell Jones Jr., Philo turned in one of the cleanest performances of Florida’s 66-21 win over the Owls. He threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns while completing 76 percent of his passes, added 20 rushing yards and another score, and helped the Gators reach the end zone on eight of nine possessions.
The debut gave Florida something it has not had consistently at quarterback: control. It also gave Philo a 1-0 record as the starter, which mattered plenty to the quarterback who spent two seasons backing up Haynes King at Georgia Tech before choosing to follow offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner to Florida and enter a competition rather than stay put.
“Honestly, I don't know if it's hit me yet to be honest. I try not to make the game bigger than it is,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it's just football. You just got to go out there and play the game.
But I will say it is pretty cool.”
Philo’s path to the starting role wasn’t a shock to anyone who had followed him. He arrived with familiarity in the system and a little more experience than Jones Jr., but Sumrall still waited until the end of fall camp to make the call. The coach said Philo’s command of the offense and his work before the snap separated him, and that showed immediately in front of more than 90,000 fans inside the Swamp.
He opened by completing his first seven passes. One of them was a screen to Vernell Brown III, who absorbed a hit as Philo released the ball and then turned it into a 49-yard touchdown, Florida’s first score of the season. Philo accounted for the Gators’ first three touchdowns overall, connecting with Bailey Stockton for one and adding a rushing score himself.
“He done had ups and downs, going through just being here, I was just more proud of him being able to control huddle and get the offensive operation like just flow as smoothly as it did,” running back Jadan Baugh said.
There was more to the performance than simply knowing where to go with the football. Philo also showed he could push it downfield, finishing with seven completions of more than 15 yards and three of more than 30. A 63-yard strike to TJ Abrams Jr. down the Florida sideline set up a three-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and a 33-yard completion to Brown III later in the game helped set up one of Baugh’s scores.
“I’m proud of him,” Sumrall said. “He’s prepared.
He’s worked really, really hard. He’s an unbelievable teammate.
Great leader. The game means a lot to him.
I think he showed his comfortability by the way he operated. He made good decisions for the most part with the football.
He was accurate. He distributed it well.”
The poise held up even when the play broke down. After taking a roughing-the-passer hit, Philo still found Luke Harpring for 19 yards over the middle. Later, on a scramble drill, he dropped a 10-yard touchdown to Duke Clark.
“I came into today feeling really confident,” Philo said. “... Felt like I prepared really well and prepared a lot for these guys, and that allows you to come out here and play with confidence.”
His only interception came in the second quarter, and even that wasn’t really on him, since Micah Mays Jr. dropped the pass downfield. Philo answered by completing his next six throws, including the touchdown to Clark and completions of 33 and 18 yards to Brown III.
It was just one game, and tougher tests are coming with Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia and Texas on the schedule. Still, Florida could hardly have asked for a better start from its new quarterback to open the 2026 season.
“I think Philo’s a dog,” linebacker Myles Graham said. “Honestly, I think Philo is just a competitor at the end of the day.
He's just a guy that goes out there, and he wants the best for his team. Like he's gonna put the team first, and that's what we saw today.”
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