Jon Sumrall details conversation with Urban Meyer before Florida hire: 'I felt like I was talking to myself'

Florida has a new head coach, with Jon Sumrall taking over for the fired Billy Napier. During the interview process, Sumrall had a conversation with former Gators head coach Urban Meyer that has stuck with him to this day.

In an interview with On3’s Andy Staples, Sumrall reflected back on that conversation with Meyer. The new Florida coach definitely saw some similarities between how he’s wired and how Meyer was.

“I really enjoyed that conversation with Urban,” Sumrall said. “I think there’s some wiring that maybe how they did things here that I have a great deal of respect for, because it’s how we’ve done things and how I know to do things. You build through the weight room, you build through the offseason program.”

In today’s age of college football, the transfer portal, NIL and revenue sharing play a prominent role. But they aren’t the only parts to the equation. And while Sumrall has respect for those aspects of the sport, they aren’t the most important factors to how he wants to build Florida’s program.

“Our first conversation talked nothing about NIL, rev share, transfer portal,” Sumrall said of his conversation with Meyer. “We talked about how you build a football team. And that’s something I’m very passionate about. I am passionate about the other components to our world now. The portal does matter to me. Rev share and NIL, I’m for it. I love that our players get paid. But I also think your team, how you build that team and help individuals grow and develop from wherever they come to you at, whatever process of their development they’re at.”

Sumrall felt like he was talking to himself at times during conversation with Meyer

Sumrall comes to Florida having had a great deal of success in every stop as a head coach in his career. He was 12-2 and 11-2 with two bowl appearances at Troy in 2022 and 2023, and led Tulane to 9-5 and 11-3 records in 2024 and 2025. He led the Green Wave to the College Football Playoff last season.

Meyer, of course, is a Florida coaching legend. He was 65-15 in six seasons from 2005-2010 at the helm of the Gators, winning two national championships. He also led Ohio State to a national championship in 2014.

In Sumrall’s eyes, he and Meyer are very similar. During the conversation the two had, he said that he felt like he was talking to himself. That’ll surely excite Florida fans.

“But that conversation was a fun one for me because I felt like I was talking to someone that I was able to tap into their wiring,” said Sumrall. “I felt like I was talking to myself a little bit sometimes.”

The Sumrall era will officially get underway at Florida on September 5 when they host Florida Atlantic. His first SEC game will be at Auburn on September 19.