{"id":131461,"date":"2026-01-25T19:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/131461\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T19:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T19:59:08","slug":"why-aaron-philo-floridas-jon-sumrall-explains-qb-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/131461\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Aaron Philo? Florida’s Jon Sumrall explains QB decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE \u2014 Florida transfer quarterback Aaron Philo<\/a> became a package deal when incoming head coach Jon Sumrall<\/a> hired Buster Faulkner away from Georgia Tech<\/a> to become offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

The Gators had to wait a month for delivery. But upon Faulkner\u2019s early December arrival, he placed Philo on the layaway plan after his two seasons as the Yellow Jackets\u2019 backup.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuster had extreme confidence in him,\u201d Sumrall told reporters Saturday. \u201cAs I did my homework, think the place he was at, they didn\u2019t want him to leave. There\u2019s a lot of people there that felt like he was ready to be the starter there, and I trust our offensive coordinator to make the call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-year starter DJ Lagway\u2019s decision to transfer<\/a> from Florida further cleared the path for Philo, who signed with the Gators Jan. 6<\/a>, four days after the transfer portal opened.<\/p>\n

Philo has quickly adapted to his new surroundings.<\/p>\n

Philo attended Florida\u2019s 76-67 loss to Auburn Saturday<\/a> at the O\u2019Connell Center, where cameras showed him and running back Jadan Baugh<\/a> on the video scoreboard doing the Gator Chomp \u2014 to the delight of a sold-out crowd of 11,004.<\/p>\n

Philo still have much to prove. He started just one game during two seasons behind Haynes King at Georgia Tech, where Philo threw two touchdowns and three interceptions after a record-setting career at Prince Avenue Christian in Athens, Georgia.<\/p>\n

\"GeorgiaGeorgia Tech transfer quarterback Aaron Philo will join new Florida offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner in Gainesville, where the two aim to revive the Gators’ attack. Philo is pictured warming up before an NCAA college football game on Aug. 29, 2025, in Boulder, Colorado. (David Zalubowski\/The Associated Press)<\/p>\n

For comparison, Sumrall recalled Darian Mensah\u2019s breakout freshman seasons at Tulane. Mensah threw 22 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 65.9% of his passes and averaging 9.5 yards per attempt before he transferred to Duke prior to the Green Wave\u2019s 2024 loss to Florida<\/a> in the Gasparilla Bowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d never taken a collegiate snap,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cI get it. That\u2019s American Conference, not the SEC, so a little bit different. But, if you got the right guy, sometimes I think experience can be oversold. There\u2019s a lot of guys are experienced that aren\u2019t very good.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I believe in what he\u2019s about, because Buster feels comfortable with him and has confidence in what he\u2019s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Philo can produce like Mensah, who had 34 touchdowns in 2025 at Duke, the Gators will have made a massive upgrade at the most critical position in football.\u00a0Lagway followed an injury-plagued offseason<\/a> with a sophomore slump featuring a SEC-high 14 interceptions after an offseason filled with accolades, NIL deals and even Heisman hype.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll play his junior season at Baylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When spring practice opens March 3, 6-foot-1 \u00be, 220-pound Philo will begin a quarterback competition with redshirt freshman Tramell Jones Jr.<\/a>, himself a player with vast potential after a decorated high school player from Jacksonville Mandarin.<\/p>\n

\u201cTramell, I\u2019m excited about,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cI like our quarterback room. Is there maybe a known, proven starter in that room? No. Is there guys that think can help us win football games here? Yeah. Now we got a lot of work to do to figure out what that looks like and who\u2019s the starter.<\/p>\n

\u201cLong way from making that decision, but they\u2019ll make it for us. The quarterback competition, they decide who starts on me, by how they practice and how they play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE \u2014 Florida transfer quarterback Aaron Philo became a package deal when incoming head coach Jon Sumrall hired…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,28,2530,30,29,2496,114,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-131461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-college-sports","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-gators","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-gainesville","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}