Florida’s trip to Auburn may not be the marquee game of Week 3, but Jon Sumrall isn’t treating it like anything close to routine.
For Sumrall, Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium is the kind of early SEC test that can set the tone for Florida’s conference slate. The teams haven’t played since 2019, when the Gators beat Auburn 24-13 at the Swamp, and now Florida heads into one of the tougher road settings in the league.
“They’ve got really good players. It’s going to be a challenging environment as well,” Sumrall told Kevin Neghandi on Thursday’s “SportsCenter”.
“That’s always a hard place to play. SEC road games are a lot to handle, and that place is a special place.
It’s a challenging home field for them.”
Sumrall also has recent history with Auburn’s coaching staff. His last meeting with Alex Golesh came in 2024, when Sumrall was at Tulane and Golesh was at South Florida. Tulane rolled to a 45-10 win in New Orleans, and USF quarterback Byrum Brown - now with Auburn after following Golesh in the offseason - suffered a fractured fibula in that game and didn’t return until the Bulls’ bowl game later that year.
Brown’s production in 2025 made him a major piece of Auburn’s offense. He threw for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns, and added 1,008 rushing yards with 14 more scores on the ground.
“He’s a really talented player, and he’s got a lot of time on task in their system,” Sumrall said. “They do a great job coaching him and preparing him.
You can tell he’s really comfortable with what they’re doing. And they’ve got a lot of good players around him, too.
“And so it’s a challenging offense to stop. It always has been.”
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Back in Gainesville, Florida turned the page at kicker and went with Patrick Durkin, who has been steady through the first two weeks of the 2026 college season. Durkin has not missed on field goals or extra points so far, which has already made the comparison with Smack a little more interesting for a fan base that knows how quickly special teams can swing from concern to confidence. [Read more 🡒]