{"id":219636,"date":"2026-04-05T15:15:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/219636\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:15:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T15:15:06","slug":"floridas-new-coach-demands-intensity-and-intentionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/219636\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s new coach demands intensity and intentionality"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE<\/p>\n

Jon Sumrall\u2019s media availability starts on time.<\/p>\n

Such an occurrence is only startling at Florida because the previous man who stood behind that podium had a habit of tardiness. Billy Napier ran two-hour practices that rarely didn\u2019t eclipse a third; he subsequently arrived late for scheduled obligations and, more damning than all, he didn\u2019t win games while at it.<\/p>\n

Sumrall is the polar opposite, which was possibly the intention of athletic director Scott Stricklin when making his selection. With spring camp nearly complete, Florida\u2019s new coach is making that exceptionally clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not patient at all,\u201d he said one March morning [sharply at 10:45 because, you know]. \u201cWe can\u2019t be complacent, we can\u2019t be lethargic. We have to be urgent, and fiery, and passionate, and we\u2019ve got to compete every day, and we got to strain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claims of that sort can be overwhelming \u2014 how can a team become so many foreign things at once? Everything starts in the environment. Florida\u2019s practices nowadays are a sharp one hour and 45 minutes, give or take. The belief is that if a player has the right stuff, they will come in on their own for more training. No need to work them into the sweltering ground. To that point, every practice is in the morning, as opposed to Napier\u2019s 3 p.m. technique.<\/p>\n

While the timing changed, most players have testified that the sheer amount of productivity during practices is about the same, despite shorter time on the field. That tracks back to Sumrall\u2019s \u201curgency\u201d ordeal. Horns and megaphones are the omens of transformation in Sumrall\u2019s eyes, and they\u2019re ever-ringing as the new coach shoots players drills with intentionality. If a coach doesn\u2019t think a player gave their best effort on a rep, the player immediately takes another attempt. Every moment needs to count.<\/p>\n

It turns out, the Gators might not be all that opposed to a coach who can explain the logic behind his practices. Rationality had taken a hiatus from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for some time. Sumrall provides a clear framework for the why \u2014 it just couples with a \u201csky is falling\u201d mentality that now is all that matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Sumrall does a tremendous job of making every coach aware that, hey, it\u2019s important every period,\u201d strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt said. \u201cEvery rep is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

No disconnect here.<\/p>\n

Star running back Jadan Baugh: \u201cCoach Sumrall is 24\/7 on our heads.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edge Jayden Woods: \u201cHe\u2019s very, very hands-on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linebacker Myles Graham: \u201cI love the intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n

But a world exists where Sumrall could take this a touch too far. Back in the fall, the week of Napier\u2019s ouster, he spoke of practicing Zen. \u201cThere\u2019s no growth without struggle. There\u2019s no good days without bad days,\u201d he proclaimed, outlining how he wanted his players and staff to balance intensity with well-being. It didn\u2019t land well with those of North Central Florida, given the Gators were 2-4. He just wasn\u2019t entirely wrong.<\/p>\n

The author of the book he was reading at the time, Phil Jackson\u2019s \u201cEleven Rings: The Soul of Success,\u201d which preaches the Zen principles Napier tried to teach his team, thinks there\u2019s a balance between the two coaches\u2019 practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want intensity, but intentionality,\u201d Hugh Delehanty said in a phone interview. \u201cEverything can mean something, but some of it needs to be rest and release of stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every Florida player to have spoken publicly this spring has described Sumrall\u2019s environment as some derivative of \u201curgent,\u201d \u201cintense\u201d or \u201ccompetitive.\u201d None of those are band practices, especially when trying to resuscitate one of college football\u2019s sleeping giants. It\u2019s also impossible to truly know what happens behind the curtain of Florida\u2019s day-to-day schedule.<\/p>\n

A handful of sports psychologists, reached over the phone or via email, backed Delehanty\u2019s analysis, outlining the ways a program that is too intense can slowly wear a player down to a state where they mentally struggle to perform. What any coach should seek is a middle ground.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s worth a gamble for Florida to lean all the way in, anyway, given it has only lost eight games in two seasons since 1980. And one of them is the product of the team Sumrall\u2019s currently shaking to life, which already only has a week of spring camp left, with its spring game Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s trying to be urgent,\u201d Whitt said. A word to describe these practices, then, Mr. Whitt?<\/p>\n

\u201cEagerness.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

John Devine has worked with the Miami Herald since 1996. He has worked as a Broward sports editor, Broward news editor, assistant sports editor and deputy sports editor before he became executive sports editor in 2021.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE Jon Sumrall\u2019s media availability starts on time. Such an occurrence is only startling at Florida because the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-219636","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-headlines","10":"tag-florida-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219636","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=219636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}