I’m going to go out on a little bit of a limb here.
I think Florida is going to be pretty damn good this year.
For starters, I love the hire of Jon Sumrall. The guy has won everywhere he’s been, and I think he’s exactly the kind of coach Florida needed. He brings toughness, discipline and an identity to a program that frankly has had enough talent to win for a while now.
And make no mistake about it—Florida has talent.
You can line their roster up against just about anybody in the SEC and they aren’t going to be completely outclassed. The problem at Florida hasn’t necessarily been finding SEC-caliber football players. The problem has been turning all that talent into wins.
That’s where I think Sumrall makes the difference.
The schedule also looks a little more favorable to me this year. It’s still the SEC, so nobody is handing you eight or nine wins, but I don’t look at Florida’s schedule and see some impossible mountain they have to climb.
I see opportunities.
I think 8-4 is very realistic for Florida.
And I’m not convinced 9-3 is out of the question.
The biggest question is going to be quarterback. If Florida gets consistent play at that position and Sumrall gets this team playing the kind of physical, disciplined football his teams have played everywhere else he’s been, the Gators could become one of the biggest surprises in the SEC.
Everybody is talking about Georgia, Texas, LSU, Alabama and some of the other usual suspects.
That’s fine.
But don’t go to sleep on Florida.
I’ve got a feeling the Gators are about to become relevant again.
