New Florida head coach Jon Sumrall unleashes a demanding "Gauntlet" workout, forging accountability and toughness to rebuild Florida's football culture.
New head coach Jon Sumrall is trying to change the culture at Florida.
Sumrall has proven success as a head coach at the college level. He led Tulane to the College Football Playoff in 2025.
Not long after he was named as the new head coach of the Gators, Sumrall borrowed a tactic from legendary leader Urban Meyer, opting to not allow his players to work Florida logos on workout gear until they earn the privilege.
Sumrall is also borrowing from another head coach's playbook.
Army head coach Jeff Monken uses "The Gauntlet" with the Black Knights. Florida strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt is implementing that system at UF.
Sumrall uses The Gauntlet on Wednesdays and Fridays, which sets up stations that are agility drills like hoops or bags.
"The Gauntlet is six stations,” Sumrall said, via On3. “You’re paired up with the same guy all morning, all right. And, the first half, you go to each station for two and a half minutes, and every rep is scored. There’s a winner and a loser to every rep.
"If there’s a mistake, then we take time off the clock. You have one hour to beat The Gauntlet. If there’s a call back—which means we don’t run full speed from one station to the next—then there’s a call back, and then we restart that station."
Sumrall and Whitt have used the tactic at Troy and Tulane. The new head coach believes it helps with accountability.
“I like what we’ve built through The Gauntlet. I’m not gonna sit and act like I created it,” Sumrall said. “I’ve evolved to there being competition involved, there being more accountability, scoring, and those sorts of things.
“Then, the way we’ve evolved it, it’s become extremely detailed. And so I’ve done it every year since I’ve been a head coach. So as a head coach, we’ve always done it, and I’ll probably never not do it.”
Frankly, Florida looked soft at times under head coach Billy Napier. The new culture in Gainesville could help the Gators be a much tougher team in the fall.
Those types of drills helped Troy and Tulane become successful. It'll be interesting to see how developed Sumrall's Gators are in the upcoming season after a rigorous offseason.