Florida coach Jon Sumrall won the crowd over at his first trip to SEC Football Media Days in Tampa. (Photo: Nathan Ray Seebeck/USA TODAY Sports)
Carter's Corner: Five Things That Had People Talking About Gators at SEC Media Days
Friday, July 24, 2026 | Football, Scott Carter
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By: Scott Carter, Senior Writer
TAMPA, Fla. — I like internet lists as much as the next sucker with his hand on a mouse or scrolling on a smartphone.
They pull me in more than I'd like to admit.
With that said, let's do a list of the top five things connected to the Gators at the annual Southeastern Conference Football Media Days.
But first, while we're in a listing mood, an impromptu list to get us going. My five favorite locations for SEC Media Days:
Tampa
Nashville
Atlanta
Hoover
Dallas
OK, back to that Gators list:
1. SHOOK ONES, PART II
I had never heard of Prodigy or Havoc or Mobb Deep until a phone started playing the song "Shook Ones, Part II" during Gators coach Jon Sumrall's appearance in the main media room on Wednesday.
What can I say? I'm more of a rocker.
Editor's note: And if not for fellow Gators beat writer Zach Abolverdi of On3.com pointing out the song title in a story, I would still be clueless about the hip-hop duo formed in 1990 in Queens, N.Y.
Still, the brief interruption prompted Sumrall to fire off one of his trademark quotes over the interruption.
"You would be kicked out of our team meeting, I swear,'' he said. "Like, you're lucky I'm not going to throw this podium right now. That drives me crazy. I would say who is that, but I'm not going to embarrass anybody."
Sumrall's response drew chuckles in the room full of reporters. But by the reaction on social media, you'd think he had predicted the Gators were going to win the national championship his first season and told every Georgia fan to kiss his rear.
I'm just logging back onto social media and the back-and-forth on Sumrall's reaction to phone going off is so peak 2026 ridiculousness ... he was being funny to make a point about his team. I guess CFB season has officially begun ... #Gators
How meaningless was the whole episode? Former Marquette, Indiana and Georgia basketball coach Tom Crean weighed in with a critical jab at Sumrall.
Sumrall responded a few hours later.
"I wasn't serious. I was joking,'' he posted.
Welcome to 2026, when anything can go viral and serve as fuel for the faux outrage crowd.
Meanwhile, have you listened to "Foreign Tongues" yet, the new Rolling Stones album? The song "Hit Me In The Head" sums the whole silliness quite nicely.
2. SHOW STOPPER
While those on social media spit back and forth, those I spoke to actually at the Tampa Marriott Water Street hotel raved about Sumrall's first time at the event.
Sumrall's track record that landed him the Florida job is impressive: four seasons as a head coach, four appearances in the conference championship game (three wins). Equally impressive: his personality and ability to captivate an audience.
"The sentiment across, I think, the entire building after hearing him speak was, 'I hope that guy wins at Florida.' He's such a likable person,'' J.D. Pickell of On3.com told GatorsOnline.com. "He generates buy-in so easily. And my thing is, that's great with the media, but that translates on the recruiting trail, too."
— Brandon Walker College Football Show (@BFWshow) July 22, 2026
SEC Network analyst Nick Saban, who knows a few things about winning in the SEC, now lives in Florida and will be keeping a close eye on the Gators.
He views Sumrall as one of the league's up-and-comers.
"I think Jon Sumrall is very, very impressive," Saban said on the SEC Network. "That guy has the right stuff. He talks about the right things in terms of intangibles to build a program and a culture that's going to sustain, and Florida, I think, is a sleeping giant."
Longtime college football reporter Bruce Feldman, who writes for The Athletic, has known Sumrall for several years. He was already impressed long before the 44-year-old Sumrall got the Florida job.
"I'm convinced they finally hired the right guy,'' Feldman wrote. "Sumrall is the best thing to happen to Florida football in almost 20 years."
I can think of about 90,000 fans at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Sept. 5 who hope Feldman is right.
3. O-LINE CHATTER
Those who follow the Gators year-round know one of the biggest question marks coming out of spring camp was the offensive line.
Sumrall made sure everyone knew the group had to improve after the Orange & Blue Game for the Gators to be the kind of program he envisions.
Offensive lineman TJ Shanahan Jr. works out over the summer. (Photo: Ethan Roy/UAA Communications)
The unit has made progress this summer in the weight room under Rusty Whitt, the team's director of football performance.
"I was very underwhelmed with our strength when I got to Gainesville with our offensive line," Sumrall said Wednesday. "The weight being moved wasn't up to the standard of what I'm comfortable with. The guys in that room, they've gotten real comfortable with pushing heavy weight. They've improved; their bodies look different."
Georgia Tech transfer Harrison Moore, a center, and TJ Shanahan Jr., a guard who followed offensive line coach Phil Trautwein from Penn State, have helped raise accountability, according to Sumrall.
4. QB BATTLE CONTINUES
If you have heard this before, hear it again: Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo and sophomore Tramell Jones Jr. will carry their competition to start into preseason camp.
While Sumrall dominated the headlines during Florida's appearance at SEC Media Days, Sumrall was asked about the ongoing battle to determine his first starting quarterback with the Gators.
"Right now, in my mind — I'm not trying to make it coach speak — I view us as having two starters today. I do," Sumrall said Wednesday. "Now when we exited the spring, I sat down with both of them and told them, 'If we started a game next week, this is who would start, this is who would not. It's not final. It's not fatal. We don't play a game next week.' Just because you start game one doesn't mean you start game 12. I don't have a timeline. My timeline may be five minutes before the game before anyone finds out."
If others might be concerned, don't include Sumrall among them. He praised both for embracing the competition in the spring and wants to see more from them in camp before making a call.
Sumrall used two quarterbacks before and made the conference championship game.
"My first year as head coach at Troy we used two quarterbacks the entire year," Sumrall said. "Not necessarily by design, because we had to. One of them would get hurt, then another would get hurt, then the guy would come back healthy and wouldn't play good, then we'd put the other guy in. I don't love the quarterback shuffle deal, but I don't have a blueprint for how it's going to go. We're going to do what we have to do to try and help position Florida football to win games."
They represent the program well and earned respect from Florida fans by sticking with the program after Sumrall replaced Billy Napier following last season. UF running back Jadan Baugh at SEC Media Days. (Photo: Ethan Roy/UAA Communications)
"They came around and embraced me with open arms just to keep going,'' Baugh said of the fans. "When the coaching staff comes in with a fire in their eye, and they're ready just to go, I'm ready to play right then and there."
Brown III sees a rejuvenated locker room and complete buy-in to the culture that Sumrall has worked to build.
"It means everything to be part of a program I aspire to be a leader on,'' Brown III said. "We want to change the narrative of Florida football."
Graham led the Gators in tackles a season ago and emerged as a team spokesman as the season progressed. He understands the task ahead as the Gators seek to return to relevance in the league.
He grew up hearing all the stories from his father, former Gators running back Ernest Graham, and wants to share similar stories before he finishes his college career.
Graham quickly bought into Sumrall's message.
"We're itching to play,'' Graham said. "I think that's really up to Coach Sumrall, Coach Whitt and the coaches to really pull us back. I think our job is to go 100%. Whenever they say we gotta go. We gotta compete, we gotta get benefit, we gotta push each other, we gotta hit, we gotta strain, we gotta run to the ball, we gotta do everything that they tell us to do."
They pull me in more than I'd like to admit.
