Jon Sumrall issues a blunt challenge to his staff, declaring that failure to land elite talent in Gainesville's fertile recruiting grounds is a sign of poor coaching.
It took 15 practices for new head coach Jon Sumrall to surmise an issue with the Florida Gators: The roster needs a lot of work, as some holdovers are having a hard time adjusting to the needs of the regime.
"As a first-year head coach, I'd love to have the second portal, really," Sumrall told Richard Johnson of CBS Sports.
"Now I've seen this team practice, and I may have thought I knew about certain guys, but you know more when you've seen them on the grass live. As an established program, no second portal is very ideal."
Sumrall had a challenging offseason with Florida. While he was trying to find players to help the Gators via the transfer portal, Sumrall was busy getting Tulane prepared to play Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff.
After the Green Wave lost to the Rebels, he put his full focus on Florida.
Still, Sumrall wants better players on the roster, as he wants to compete for championships. He's noted that UF is behind in funding that would allow him to have an elite group of players.
During an interview with Damien Harris of CBS Sports, Sumrall made a bold claim about recruiting at his new school. Anyone who can't recruit at Florida is a bad coach.
"We're the University of Florida, we're the fifth-ranked public school academically in the United States of America right now," Sumrall said. We're in Gainesville, Florida, right in the middle of Jacksonville, Tampa, and Orlando.
"We've got a lot to recruit to, a great college town. If you can't recruit here, you've got a problem. You're not very good as a coach if you can't recruit guys here."
All of the above should still play a factor in recruiting, but it was more of a pull when Urban Meyer was coaching the Gators.
Florida is going to have to raise more NIL funding if it wants to compete with LSU, Texas, Alabama, and Texas A&M.
Players, as they should, are looking to get paid at the college level. The sunshine is a plus, but Florida will have to pay to get a winner.
