Despite boasting a stellar 43-12 record, Jon Sumrall enters the SEC with everything to prove as analysts debate whether his past success can fix the Florida Gators.
There is a lot of excitement surrounding new Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall.
Former Gators head coach Steve Spurrier thinks Sumrall should win at least nine games with the current roster, and other college football forecasters think the team could be a dark horse to make the College Football Playoff.
The reasoning seems simple enough: former Gators head coach Billy Napier had some good players, and Sumrall has won a lot of games at Troy and Tulane, taking the Green Wave to the CFP last season.
With that being said, winning games in the SEC is a much different challenge for Sumrall.
During his show on Sunday, Josh Pate made the case that Sumrall deserves to be ranked a Top 10 coach in the SEC, but he needs to see some Florida games this fall before Sumrall climbs up from the rankings from 10.
“This is where I put Jon Sumrall, whose record in the SEC is 0-0 thus far," Pate said about Sumrall at 10. "The million-dollar question is where do these guys enter the league? At what spot do they enter the league? And you could look at it one of two ways. You could look at it and say, 'It's impossible. Like everybody who is a new head coach is just tied for last until they've accomplished something.'
"Fair. I don't choose to do it that way. So I think the guy going 12-2 and 11-2 at Troy, and then 9-5 and 11-3 at Tulane, making the playoffs at Tulane, 43-12 as a head coach so far, and then taking the Florida Gators job and injecting the kind of attitude and DNA into that place that I know he will.”
Pate thought it was generous to put Sumrall in the Top 10 before he even won a conference game with the Gators.
“So I think his current existence is that of a top 10 SEC head coach," Pate said. “And it's up to him to prove me right. You know, if anything, I think that we should be thanked for putting Jon Sumrall top 10, and it's up to him to not embarrass us."
It's a fair point from Pate. Napier had success at the Group of Six level before taking over at Florida. The results were not there.
It feels different in Gainesville with Sumrall, but the new head coach has to prove it by winning games on the football field.
