New Florida coach Jon Sumrall challenged his team, especially the offensive line, to hit the weight room and get stronger, saying "it's time to wake this thing up."
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Oh, allow me to break this down, please.
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It's been seven years since Florida notched double-digit wins and 17 years since the Gators were legitimate national championship contenders.
New coach Jon Sumrall knows it as well as any diehard who watched the team's annual spring game unfold at the Swamp on Saturday.
So, all 10 of them?
"Championships are the standard and expectation," Sumrall said following the Orange and Blue game. "We've got to get it back there. We've got to wake this 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 going to win here. It's how fast we're going to win. It's coming. This winning thing, it's coming."
Florida is 29-37 over its last 66 games, including losing seasons in four of the past five years. It would be unacceptable at just about any Power 4 program, but it's downright embarrassing for one that has three national titles and eight SEC championships since 1990.
Sumrall was hired to fix it, essentially tasked with cleaning up the mess created and left behind by fired coach Billy Napier.
And Napier was hired to fix the mess that Mullen left. And Mullen was hired to fix the mess that McElwain left. And McElwain was hired to fix the mess that Muschamp left....
Florida ranked last in the SEC in scoring last season, averaging 21.6 points a game. The Gators allowed 34.3 points a game in its past three losses.
Sumrall, though, is focusing on the weight room. And anyone needing proof of Florida's most glaring weakness should look at the team's pro day last month, where long-snapper Rocco Underwood put up better bench numbers (14 reps at 225 pounds) than three-year starting guard Damieon George Jr. (12 reps).
"That shouldn't happen," Sumrall said. "****, our coaches need to be hitting 12. ... That's not something that changes overnight."
Well that sounds...like a plan! For cheeseburgers. And why is this dude so focused on what the coaches do in the weight room? What a freakin' poser.
Sumrall has made it clear his guys need to get stronger and learn to play through bumps and bruises. And it starts with Florida's offensive line, which seems to be the most unsettled unit on the team.
Hold up...but I thought their OL graded out better than ours last year?!?
The Gators signed three O-line transfers who might start this fall and landed a 2027 commitment last week from five-star offensive lineman Maxwell Hiller from Coatesville, Pennsylvania.
And if they don't start this fall?
Sumrall challenged the line "to live in the weight room" and embrace a "blue-collar mindset."
He believes creating "more movement" at the line of scrimmage is the easiest path to the top in arguably college football's most physical league.
What does that mean? I swear this dude is the millennial Al Golden.
"Now, I'm not patient. I want it to happen every day," Sumrall said. "But we are going to land some pieces in recruiting. We're about to do some things and build a roster here that is going to bring it back to where we all want it to be."
Some pieces. Some things. How inspiring. Such leadership. He sure sold me. Next time Florida Victorious and the Booster Club hit me up, I'll be sure to rewrite my will.
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