Florida has landed on ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s list of teams that could make a serious jump in 2026, and the Gators are the only SEC program in the mix.
That optimism is tied to the overhaul in Gainesville. Florida brought in new head coach Jon Sumrall after last season, kept much of its top-end talent, added several high-level transfers and hired respected offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner this offseason. Connelly pointed to those moves as the reason Florida fits as a “bounce-back” candidate.
In his breakdown, Connelly said:
I’ve been wrong about Florida’s capabilities plenty of times through the years, but I haven’t been particularly wrong about Sumrall. Granted, I was pretty high on Sumrall’s predecessor, Billy Napier, too, but after a genuine offensive collapse last season, the bar for improvement in Sumrall’s first season is low.
Florida collapsed to 89th in offensive SP+, and while new starting quarterback Aaron Philo - who followed new coordinator Buster Faulkner from Georgia Tech - isn’t incredibly proven, he was exciting in a small sample. There seem to be pieces for a strong run game, and a decent defense returns a solid core.
I’d be shocked if the Gators didn’t improve into at least the 40s in SP+, and probably a lot more than that.
Florida is coming off a 4-8 season and has not been a major national factor since the start of the Dan Mullen era, when it won the Orange Bowl and Peach Bowl in back-to-back seasons.
The Gators are also one of the few programs with a national championship in the 21st century that still has not made the College Football Playoff since it began in 2014.
Now, with Sumrall, Faulkner and Philo in place, Florida will try to turn that into something different in 2026-27.
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