With both the offense and defense trading blows in a spring game featuring a unique scoring system, the matchup ended in a 45–45 tie. Afterward, head coach Jon Sumrall met with the media to recap the Orange and Blue game.
Here’s everything he had to say:
Opening statement:
“I thought the pace was good. The defense started fast, offense finished the half strong, certain guys flashed. DJ Coleman’s interception was a really nice play. Couple interception tips, not really completely on the quarterback – one a little bit behind the receivers, so probably could have been a better location. But I think the guys are fairly healthy. It looked like, I think McCloud might have missed some time. He started the game and had a little boo boo, but don’t think it was anything major. I think everybody else is pretty clean. Good work. The model we did, it’s not going to end three to nothing, because there’s going to be points on every drive, whether defense gets points or the offense gets points. I want it to be competitive. And we did it that way too, though, so we could see maybe different O-line combinations. I want to see Bryce Lovett play some tackle and some guard. I want to see Eagan Boyer play left and right tackle and move certain guys around. Then secondary, the same thing. I wanted to see maybe Cormani with the ones and with the twos, and see how he responds. Same thing with Ben Hanks and all these guys. So just moving a lot of pieces around secondary and the O-line is the reason for the format. But I think we got a lot better this spring. We have a long way to go, but pleased with the work we got today and great turnout, grateful for our fans and awesome energy in the stadium. I don’t know who went to church last night and prayed for the weather, but thank you for that. That was a Chamber of Commerce day, weather-wise, so beautiful day for football.”
How did QB competition go. Tramell responded, throw to Micah Mays was pretty elite?
“Micah made some big-time plays. Quarterback, going back, I’ve said this before, when you get the whole whatever the picture of the offense is around them settled, it makes it easier to play quarterback. So right now, with the O-line being in such flux of moving a lot of guys around, there’s not as much continuity. But both guys have done some good things. I think that room’s done good things as a whole. I’ll sit down with all those guys on Monday and have a really transparent conversation about, hey, after 15 practices, this is where we are. I’ll talk to them about, hey, if we had to play a game next week, this is probably what it would look like. I won’t make an announcement because we don’t play here next week. But I wanted them to know kind of after we wrap up, I think our players, they deserve, they’ve earned honest conversations. So I’ll meet all 111 this week, and I’ll talk through kind of where you were, where you are, where you go next to continue to grow and develop. So nothing’s decided yet. I do think sometimes we can almost make too much about the quarterback deal, when it’s like, ‘Hey, we got to figure out who our O-line is and which tight ends can do what, and which backs are certain types of runners.’ So the quarterback’s done some good things.”
You understand the interest in it, obviously.
“Now look, I completely understand the interest in it, I’m interested in it. But I’m interested in like 1000 other things. And so I think too often, the storyline is always the quarterback, the quarterback, the quarterback. I’m like, well, I’m pretty damn worried about who the right tackle is and who the left tackle is who. So those decisions are as important, to be quite honest with you, because they’re protecting the quarterback.”
Joe Craddock said the other day that he likes Aaron’s gun slinging mentality, but also said that’s one thing he liked to work on with him in the offseason to see him improve. He did have a couple picks. What did you kind of see on those?
“Yeah, I thought one of them, the ball’s a little bit behind, got tipped. The other one was a great play. We want him to be a little bit, not dangerous with the football, we have to protect the football, but we want him to take some shots. You can’t turn over the football and expect to win. But at the same time, you can’t play passively. He’s protected the football pretty well this spring. Today, not maybe what the norm has been. He’s operated at a really high level – all the guys have. He’ll be fine.”
Usual message coming out of spring leading into the fall you give the guys?
“We break the year into four phases. Phase two is spring ball. We entered into a little bit of a discretionary period where lifting is more on their own for a couple. I told my guys, guys, so I’m gonna learn a lot about this football team. I’m gonna learn a lot about who we are then. Really, as you go through the spring, you’re trying to figure out what things certain guys do well, install the systems and the communication, things you do offensively, defensively and kicking game. The thing I voice is where this is different for me in my third head coaching job post spring, I don’t get to go, all right I’ve had 15 practices, what areas am I still not comfortable to go fix it? I would love to be able to go out and have that little free agency period, and fix a couple spots a little bit more than we got fixed right now – and it’s not really available to you. My first year, Troy I added three NFL players on defense post spring, where two of them were FCS move-up guys that are playing in the NFL right now. I don’t have that luxury to go around, so we have to just continue to develop it as we got. Nobody is going to be anointed the starter tomorrow. Long way to go.”
Micah Mays has gained praise, but did he show you something on the big stage? Four for 122, two touchdowns?
‘Yeah, he’s flashed, in particular, making plays down the field or getting the ball when he’s on the move. As a route runner, he’s been explosive. He tracks it well. He catches it clean. I’ve challenged him to play with a little bit more edge and physicality. That’s the biggest challenge I’ve put on him is like, hey, it’s not okay to just be like a guy that just catches the football. You gotta do the dirty work, too. And so he’s grown in that area. I expect him to continue to grow, but am really excited about having him on this roster. I said this for him, and Bailey to both come when there’s a lot of known players in that room. I got all respect for their confidence in themselves to come in and compete and not back down from the competition.”
On multiple transfers standing out and if that offers validation:
Yeah, you know, I think the biggest thing when you have 50 new players — 30 transfers, I believe, 20 high school. 30 transfers, you’re not gonna go sign 30 starters. Like, you know, I’d love to, that’s just not even realistic. And so certain guys have certain roles, and what you want to see is as we shift to the season, summer, end of the season, everybody has to know their role, embrace their role, and be a star in their role. And if you do that, your role grows. And so, it is nice to see certain transfer guys make plays and elevate, and validate kind of what we thought, you know? Certain guys, flash, certain guys got to do more.”
On how the defense performed:
“Yeah, I thought in particular early, you felt the line of scrimmage, you felt the physicality. We got good length and size up there. I think the D-line is a spot where I was maybe uncertain coming into spring. I feel more confident in it leaving the spring. I’m excited about that group. It was nice having Kam James back, he’s a good player. I mean, the depth right now, when you look at field end, you got Kam James, you got Emmanuel [Oyebadejo], you got L.J. McCray. We got a good chance over there. You look at interior, you talk about [Brendan] Bett, [Joseph] Mbatchou and some of those guys, [DK] Kalu has played good. He’s flashed at times. There’s a lot of guys in that room that I think can play winning football. Jeramiah McCloud’s had a really flashy spring at times. Last week’s scrimmage, he was sort of the D-line that flashed. Some folks I’m sure caught wind of that. But that group, I think, is what’s really giving me hope. I do think that the secondary outside of the 2-minute window today played good. I thought we really sat on some routes well, anticipated, playing the sticks on some situations. Late, Buster [Faulkner] gave them some double moves and kind of burned them. But I thought, all in all, there was growth on that side of the football, and we’re probably maybe a little bit ahead of where I thought we’d be holistically on defense. And the inside linebacker room, I like.”
On how he feels about the OL and what the group needs to do to be ready for fall:
“Well, you know, certain guys have individual things they have to work on. Like, I could go through the whole list, but maybe one guy needs to add weight and strength. Maybe one guy needs to continue to work on his body comp and maybe lose weight, right? And there’s some guys that may be lower body mobility, like ankle stiffness we got to kind of work through. Some guys maybe understanding, ‘Hey, I need to be a guard and a tackle.’ And get confident in that. So it’s, how do you get each guy built up to be the best they can be? So then we figure out, okay, here’s the best five, and how do we put them together? And so, that’s where I’m grateful for Rusty [Whitt]. Rusty I think does a lot of things well. I think what he does best is build lineman, and we need that. We need a lineman builder, which that’s what Whitt’s all about. So those guys have to have a freaking great summer or we got no chance. Like, no chance. I think we have a chance. We got guys in that room that can do it, but there’s gotta be a lot of growth that continues to happen. And they will. It’s gonna happen. But we’re nowhere near settled in that room.”
On if there were any surprise performances today:
“I wouldn’t say guys, like, that didn’t — you know, everybody’s flashed at some point in the spring. You look at Micah’s box score, it’s like, ‘Alright, well, he had a good day.’ So I think it was neat to see him step up in that moment and play really well. I think all the backs have made some strides, like I think you felt the whole running back room. I think Kanye Clark, you continue to feel. Myles Johnson made strides through the spring. I thought he showed up a decent amount today. You know, a lot of guys, man. It’s a team full of guys, I think, and certain guys have had their moments in the stadium so far. But we need everybody to be clicking on all cylinders when we come here.”
History and pageantry of this place, spring as foundation?
“You start with the history and pageantry. I’ve told the stories about my scars of being in this stadium. I’ve got a couple etched in me. This is a special place. You can tell when you pull over to the Gator Walk today, and there’s a decent number of people here at 9 in the morning for a noon kick that are ready to see these guys play. The turnout and the crowd were great. Very pleased with the support we’ve had here. This fan base is passionate. Championships are the standard and expectation. We’ve got to get it back there. We’ve got to wake this beast up. I had Coach Gruden here a few weeks ago. We talked about – we’ve got to wake the beast up. Like, it’s time we wake this thing up. This is a sleeping giant. I’m telling you right now, it ain’t a matter of if we’re gonna win here. It’s how fast we’re gonna win. It’s coming. This winning thing, it’s coming. Now, I’m not patient. I want it to happen every day. But we are going to land some pieces in recruiting. We’re about to do some things that I think and build a roster here that is going to bring it back to where we all want it to be.”
Dallas Wilson – what do you envision with the WR depth when he’s back?
“I’m fired up about Dallas. Dallas on Thursday hit 21.5 mph on the GPS, all right? If we had games the last couple weeks, Dallas would have played. It’s my duty to have enough discipline to go, hey, we don’t play until September. What’s in his best interest to get him healthy and right so he can play at a peak, optimal health? Would I have liked to have seen him go this spring? Yes. Was it the right move to limit him this spring so he can fully get to where he needs to be and he can have the full year of recovery and get this thing where he can play at his maximum potential? Yes. Because when he does, watch out. He’s a talented dude. I love his energy. Even when he’s not playing, he’s one of the loudest guys in the field. He’s talking the most smack. I think when we get him back, you add him to the equation in our receiver room, you go five, six deep. It’s a really good room. We need 7, 8, 9 to continue to grow, too. But you talk about VB and Singleton and Dallas and Bailey and Micah and TJ Abrams. It’s, like, OK, we might look pretty good out there. I think you saw we probably play in a decent number of open sets. A good amount of 11 personnel. Didn’t live in 10 today, but we run probably more 10 — which is four wides, if you didn’t pick up my lingo here — but we’ve run more four-wide this spring than they’ve probably run recently in a lot of situations. Doesn’t mean we’re gonna live there. You want to be able to protect your edges, too. If you want to be slow down the pass rush, the worst thing you can do is tell the offensive tackle, hey, nobody’s in the C gap area. Good luck. You’ve got to chuck, chip and nudge and help that guy some. We’ve got to keep people off balance, but that receiver room gives us a chance to be explosive. Dallas’ return’s a big part of that.”
Recruiting momentum?
“We can get anybody to come visit the University of Florida if we want in America if we do a good job. This is not a really hard place to recruit to. We’re the fifth-ranked public school in the United States of America academically right now. You come outside today, and it’s beautiful. You come to the stadium, and you know the history and pageantry of what it feels like to play in this place. And you know the stadium renovations that are coming. You know the fan base is hungry for a winner. I think the guys that come here to visit, most of them come back at some point whether they’ve chosen us or not, how they feel the energy’s real. And there’s authentic relationships. I think we coach every day — we’re not going to change. I tell recruits all the time. If you like us now, you’re gonna love us later. If you don’t like me now, go somewhere else, because I’m not changing. What you see’s what you get. If you want to come improve your craft every day, it’s gonna be a blast. If you’re tough and love football, it’s gonna be a blast. If you’re soft and you like football, don’t come here.”
Physicality growth?
“I felt growth, yeah. I think we have to continue to live in that weight room so we can get stronger so we can play with a little bit more movement on the line of scrimmage at times. I think the guys embraced the way we want to play the game, which is with an edge, a chip on your shoulder, blue-collar mindset. That travels. In this league, if you don’t have it, it gets exposed really fast. I’ve seen it on the good and bad with my own two eyes. I think the guys have embraced it, I think we still have a long way to go there, but there’s been a lot of growth. And I do think they’ve really accepted the challenge of stepping up and being a more physical football team. We’re going to continue to grow upon that and build upon it.”
Surprise when you asked for that approach from them?
“No. I think the way I want them to do everything is with urgency. I think for some of them, that’s a little bit new. I want them to walk urgently in the building. I want them – I don’t like casual behavior, and complacency’s a killer. If you think because you did something one week, it’s gonna happen the next week, you’re going to be exposed. I think the guys have grown. We’re gonna wake up tomorrow, and we’ve got to get our ass back to work because spring practice may be over, but us getting better so we can try to win football games here is far from over.”