GAINESVILLE - The yard sign by Sanders Outdoor Practice Field says what a lot of Florida fans are thinking heading into Saturday’s SEC matchup with Ole Miss: “Run The Damn Baugh.”
That message has taken on a life of its own around Gator Nation, and it fits the moment. No.
21 Florida is set to host No. 4 Ole Miss and Trinidad Chambliss in the Swamp, and the Gators’ path to staying hot runs straight through Jadan Baugh and the ground game.
Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner isn’t arguing with the sentiment.
“I still believe you’ve got to be able to run the football to win in really all the levels of the game,” Faulkner said Tuesday. “That’s part of who we are and hopefully our identity is starting to be established.”
Through three games, the Gators have looked like a team with an offense built to stress defenses in every direction. They’re averaging 54 points, and after last weekend’s 44-39 win at Auburn, the pieces are starting to fit together fast under first-year coach Jon Sumrall.
Baugh has been the headline act. Aaron Philo has been sharp at quarterback.
Sophomore receivers Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson have given Florida speed and burst on the outside. The result is an attack that has plenty of answers, and plenty of ways to keep its best players fresh.
Florida is tied for the national lead with an average of 7.7 plays of 20 yards or longer, and it ranks third nationally with 544.3 yards per game, just a tenth of a yard behind Mississippi State.
Baugh sits second nationally in rushing with 458 yards, trailing Duke’s Nate Sheppard’s 528, but he has done it on only 54 carries, compared with Sheppard’s 82. Brown has averaged 17.6 yards on 14 catches, while Wilson is at 18.8 yards on 12 receptions, both good enough to place among the SEC’s top 10 in yards per catch.
Philo has been just as efficient. In Florida’s three wins, he has thrown 21, 21 and 22 passes, completing 73.4% of them while averaging 11.3 yards per attempt. Among SEC quarterbacks, only Georgia’s Gunnar Stockton ranks ahead of him in both categories.
Faulkner said the Georgia high-school passing yardage leader has embraced the job of distributing the ball.
“He wants to throw it every down, that’s what he’s used to,” Faulkner said. “We’ve got a lot of good players. We’ve got to distribute the football, and he’s done a great job doing that.”
The continuity around Philo has mattered, too. He followed Faulkner to Gainesville after their two seasons together at Georgia Tech, and Florida added more familiar faces along the way: center Harrison Moore, tight end Luke Harpring and receiver Bailey Stockton. Auburn transfer Eric Singleton also spent 2023-24 at Georgia Tech.
When spring practice began March 3, Faulkner was putting the whole offense in place and figuring out what would stick. The installation covered everything - formations, shifts, motions, the run game and the pass game - before the staff started shaping it to the roster.
“Formations, shifts, motions, all the run game, all the pass game, that was installed,” he recalled. “We just kept doing it, doing it, doing it. Then you kind of see, okay, you’re a little bit better at this, a little bit better at that - and you start tailoring it to those things.
“Then each week we add a little nuance to it. You’re always evolving and it takes time to find the identity.”
By the time Florida opened Sept. 5 against Florida Atlantic, the Gators had already banked more than 10,000 offensive snaps, all charted by analyst Ryland Goede, a former Georgia Tech tight end who worked with Faulkner last season. The payoff was immediate: a 66-point outburst, Florida’s highest-scoring opener since 1994.
But the offense kept expanding from there.
At Auburn, Florida posted 495 yards and won at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time since 1999. One of the more memorable moments came on a trick play, when seventh-year receiver Kahleil Jackson, who was a high school quarterback, connected with tight end Amir Jackson for a 48-yard gain that set up a field goal.
“I’m not known for calling many trick plays, but that one was sound,” Faulkner said Tuesday. “It’s hard for me to want to call them, because sometimes I feel like they’re wasted plays.”
Faulkner said he’s “conservative by nature,” but Florida’s early success has shown why Sumrall wanted him in the first place. The coach said he valued Faulkner’s track record, but even more his flexibility.
“You have to go into it with an open mind,” Sumrall said. “You can’t ever go into it with a thought process of knowing what you have until you have it. You got to figure it out.
“He does a great job.”
That’s where Florida stands now: 3-0, balanced, and still not done evolving. Faulkner said he isn’t satisfied, but with Ole Miss and Chambliss coming in, the formula is obvious.
Run the damn Baugh.
In Other News...
Jon Sumrall Just Turned Up The Pressure On The Swamp
Jon Sumralls latest comments have added a little extra edge to Floridas next home date, and not just because of what he said about the Gators crowd against FAU. Sumrall drew a sharp comparison between that atmosphere and the one he recently saw at Auburns Jordan-Hare Stadium, and he made it clear he is expecting even more from The Swamp when Florida hosts Ole Miss. For a program that treats home-field energy as part of its identity, that kind of outside praise can land as both a compliment and a challenge.
The timing also gives the remarks more bite, since Sumrall has already been a familiar name in Auburn conversation and his coaching choices have been tracked closely. Even without a direct Florida-Auburn angle on the field, comments like these tend to travel quickly around the SEC, especially when they touch on stadium environment and fan impact. The next Ole Miss game now carries an added layer: not just a conference matchup, but a chance for Floridas crowd to answer a pointed comparison. [Read more 🡒]
Floridas Breakout RB Gives Ole Miss A Much Bigger Problem
Jadan Baugh has become the kind of early-season force that changes how an offense is defended, and Florida has been leaning on it from the start. The breakout back leads the nation in rushing touchdowns and sits second in rushing yards, a surge built on three straight 100-yard games and a steady role in an offense that has topped 42 points in each of its first three outings.
For Jon Sumrall, the bigger development has been the way Baugh is finishing runs and making faster decisions once he gets the ball. The coach has even backed the running backs Heisman pose celebration, a sign of how central Baugh has become to Floridas identity, and why Ole Miss is staring at a much tougher problem than it might have expected when it starts planning for the Gators. [Read more 🡒]
Steve Spurrier Just Weighed In On A Texas Game Gators Fans Know Well
Steve Spurrier doesnt often need much convincing to share a football opinion, and his latest one will perk up Florida fans who still remember how often he had Tennessees number. The former Gators star and coach weighed in on the upcoming Texas-Tennessee matchup by backing the Volunteers, pointing to Tennessees past win over Texas and the edge of playing at home.
For Florida supporters, the timing and the source make it especially notable. Spurriers long history with Tennessee gives his endorsement of the Volunteers a familiar edge, and his personal ties to the state only add to the intrigue, even if the bigger question is whether Texas can shake off the kind of matchup that has tripped up plenty of teams before. [Read more 🡒]