Urban Meyer tells people to watch out for Florida under Jon Sumrall: 'I'm buyin' it'

Following four disappointing seasons under Billy Napier, Florida entrusted Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall to lead the program in a new direction this offseason.

Sumrall is a proven winner, boasting a 43-12 record across four seasons of head coaching experience (two at Troy, last two at Tulane). This past season, Sumrall’s Green Wave made an appearance in the College Football Playoff, something Florida has yet to do in the 12 year history of the Playoff.

During Wednesday’s edition of ‘The Triple Option‘ podcast, legendary former Florida head coach Urban Meyer gave Sumrall his stamp of approval. Meyer, who was in attendance at Sumrall’s introductory press conference, led the Gators to a 65-15 record and two National Championships across six seasons (2005-2010).

“You watch out for Florida man,” Meyer told co-host Mark Ingram. “I’m buying that stock right now. I’m buying it. That Swamp is gonna be like a jet engine, like it used to be.”

Sumrall appears to be going about things the way Meyer did during his tenure in Gainesville. This starts by not allowing his team to wear the Florida logo until they ‘earn it’. “We haven’t earned a damn thing,” Sumrall said on Jan. 25. “All we’ve got is our name. When are we gonna put our freaking name on everything? To wear the Florida Gator logo, to wear the Gators across your helmet and script and Gator head man, you gotta earn that.”

Urban Meyer appears to be all in on newly hired Florida coach Jon Sumrall

Along with giving the new coach his approval, Meyer praised Sumrall for making his team earn that historic logo.

“I love it,” Meyer said. “I agree with it, and I did it at a couple of stops. Bowling Green I did it, but we didn’t have gear. We didn’t have enough money to buy gear. Utah we did it to a degree. I’m just a firm believer that you have to earn it. Once you earn it, you really get rewarded. That’s the way I was brought up, and that’s what I believe in.

“At Florida, we took everything away and I wanted to prove a point. The expectations are a National Championship caliber team and that’s what Steve Spurrier did. If you’re not doing that, you’re going to hear it. I expect that out of this staff and out of the players. They weren’t allowed to wear Florida gear, and you earned it back.

“There was a time where coaches would get a raise as a staff. I took that away. I said ‘we’re not doing that’. If you’re a great coach you get a bigger raise. If you’re not a great coach, you won’t get the raise. We don’t do it as a group. You do it as individuals. Same with the team. You don’t just earn it back, you earn it back if you bust your ass.”

Under Sumrall, Florida is seeking its first 10-win campaign since 2019. The Gators won at least 10 games in seven of 14 seasons from 2006-2019, but have not done so from 2020-2025. Their best season in that span came in 2020, when they finished with an 8-4 record and fell to Alabama 52-46 in the SEC Championship Game.