Florida’s 4-8 season and Billy Napier’s firing might make the Gators look like an afterthought on paper. Greg McElroy isn’t buying that for a second.
On his Always College Football podcast, the ESPN analyst put Florida in his group of SEC spoilers - the kind of team with enough juice to blow up a contender’s playoff path even if the bigger picture still looks messy.
McElroy started by revisiting just how rough Florida’s 2025 season was. The Gators lost 18-16 to USF, DJ Lagway threw five interceptions against LSU the next week, and Miami held Florida without a third-down conversion in 13 tries while limiting the Gators to their lowest yardage total since 1999.
But for McElroy, the point wasn’t the collapse. It was the one result that still hangs on the wall.
"Do not forget the one thing this roster did," McElroy said. "They did beat Texas, the preseason No. 1 team in America.
Those Gators beat them. So the talent to ruin a big season is already on tape."
That’s the heart of the argument: Florida already showed it can land a punch nobody saw coming, and new coach Jon Sumrall has spent months trying to build a roster that can do it again.
Sumrall arrives with a strong track record, going 23-4 at Troy and 20-8 at Tulane while reaching the conference title game at both stops. He also brought in Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech to run the offense, and Faulkner brought quarterback Aaron Philo with him.
Even so, McElroy doesn’t see the position as settled. He expects Tramell Jones to push Philo in fall camp.
There’s real talent around the quarterback battle. Jadan Baugh is back after an 1,100-yard season, and the receiver room has plenty of firepower with five-stars Vernell Brown and Dallas Wilson joining Eric Singleton, who had success in Faulkner’s offense at Georgia Tech.
The biggest question marks sit up front. McElroy pointed to the trenches, where both lines lost starters, as the area that could hold Florida back. Still, his larger point was simple: nobody wants Florida when the Gators are carrying a chip on their shoulder.
Sumrall hasn’t been trying to sugarcoat anything. At SEC Media Days in Tampa, he said his goal in year one is to "win every time we play," then immediately added that the team has "a freakin' long way to go," he said. He was just as direct about the offensive line, saying, "The strength of our O-line was underwhelming for me," and Florida has answered by adding four offensive linemen through the portal along with two returning starters.
The rebuild has been huge. Florida added 24 freshmen and 34 transfers, meaning more than half of its scholarship players are new to the program.
Even with all that turnover, there are pieces to build on. Baugh became the first Gators running back to top 1,000 rushing yards since Kelvin Taylor in 2015, and he passed on portal interest to come back. That gives Faulkner a real foundation in the backfield.
The skill group could be dangerous if it all clicks. Singleton, Wilson and Brown give Florida one of the stronger receiver rooms in the country, and the linebacker group of Myles Graham and Aaron Chiles is the deepest unit on the defense.
The quarterback spot still looms as the swing factor. Sumrall said at Media Days that "Philo's comfort level or confidence within what we're doing schematically is more advanced early on," but he has not put a timeline on naming a starter.
And the schedule leaves little room for easing in. Ole Miss comes to town in September, Florida heads to Texas in October, and the Georgia game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta while the Jacksonville stadium is being renovated.
Sumrall called that matchup "a phenomenal environment" and said Florida has to play better in it. If the quarterback play is even average, McElroy believes the rest of the roster is good enough to drag somebody’s playoff hopes down with it.
In Other News...
Florida Linebackers Face Early Pressure In Jon Sumralls Defensive Reset
Floridas linebacker room is suddenly one of the most important parts of Jon Sumralls defensive reset, with the Gators leaning into a 3-4 look that puts extra weight on that position group. Under Sumrall and defensive coordinator Brad White, the goal is to build a defense that gets its best play from the middle of the field, and that means the next wave of Florida linebackers has to develop fast with the 2026 season in mind.
Myles Graham, Jaden Robinson and Aaron Chiles are expected to be at the center of that push, but the depth chart also has names worth watching behind them. Ty Jackson, Myles Johnson and incoming freshman Malik Morris give Florida some options, yet the bigger question is how quickly that entire group can adapt to a scheme that asks linebackers to do plenty of the heavy lifting. The Gators are clearly treating this as a position that can shape the defenses ceiling, not just fill it. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Gets An Early Reality Check In Jon Sumrall Era
Florida opens a new chapter this fall under Jon Sumrall after the program moved on from Billy Napier, and the preseason picture around the Gators has been a reminder that a reset does not automatically come with instant respect. Florida checked in at No. 17 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Top 25, while the preseason All-SEC media poll pegged the Gators to finish ninth in the league, a spot that reflects both the skepticism outside Gainesville and the work still ahead in a rugged conference.
There is still enough talent here to make the conversation interesting. Florida returns five starters on each side of the ball, and a handful of players picked up preseason All-SEC recognition, which gives Sumrall a base to build from even in a year that begins with tempered expectations. The challenge now is turning that mix of returning pieces and preseason praise into something more convincing once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
5 Games Florida Fans Can Watch While Waiting On Gators Kickoff
Fall camp is getting underway this week in Gainesville, which means the long wait for Floridas season opener against FAU on Sept. 5 is finally starting to shrink. Until then, there are a handful of games worth keeping an eye on for Gators fans looking to scratch the football itch, from the Hall of Fame Game to early preseason action and even a high school matchup tied to a Florida recruit.
Among the most interesting is the NFL preseason game involving Anthony Richardson, along with a high school game featuring recruit Braxton Rein and a college game that puts former Florida coach Dan Mullen back in the spotlight. They are all different in setting, but each gives Gators fans a reason to stay plugged in while the real countdown to kickoff continues. [Read more 🡒]