{"id":228578,"date":"2026-04-12T12:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/228578\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:24:11","slug":"where-floridas-quarterback-battle-stands-after-gators-spring-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/228578\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Florida’s Quarterback Battle Stands After Gators’ Spring Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE, Fla.\u2014 Jon Sumrall made it clear at the beginning of the Florida Gators<\/a>\u2019 spring camp that the quarterback battle between Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. would likely go into fall camp.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Saturday\u2019s spring game<\/a>, he reiterated that sentiment, saying that while \u201cboth guys have done some good things,\u201d \u201cnothing\u2019s decided yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll sit down with all those guys on Monday and have a really transparent conversation about, \u2018Hey, after 15 practices, this is where we are,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI’ll talk to them about, \u2018Hey, if we had to play a game next week, this is probably what it would look like.\u2019 I won’t make an announcement because we don’t play here next week. But I wanted them to know kind of after we wrap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philo, a transfer from Georgia Tech, and Jones Jr., last year\u2019s backup, both had highs and lows in the spring game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philo went 21-for-28 for 193 yards and two touchdowns but had two of Florida\u2019s three interceptions on the day. He had a 31-yard score to Vernell Brown III and a 23-yard touchdown to Micah Mays Jr., but interceptions to DJ Coleman and Cam Dooley in the first half were low-lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything’s not going to go the way that you want it to go,\u201d Philo said. \u201cSo you have to be resilient. You have to be able to bounce back when things go bad and I think it’s a great trait of a quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida quarterback Aaron Philo had two touchdowns and two interceptions during the Orange and Blue game. | Alan Youngblood\/Gainesville Sun \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Jones Jr., meanwhile, went 13-for-17 for 210 yards and two touchdowns with no turnovers, throwing a 38-yard touchdown pass to Eric Singleton Jr. and a 75-yard touchdown pass to Mays Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started slow, bounced back. I think sustaining drives was a big thing for me, being able to put guys in good situations, get athletes the ball,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I think just being able to do that, I think I did pretty good<\/a> today.\u201d<\/p>\n

The battle between Philo and Jones Jr. has been constantly described as a neck-and-neck battle, with both having their own individual strengths and weakness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philo, despite his relative inexperience, spent two years in offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner\u2019s system at Georgia Tech and has familiarity with multiple new-comers on the offense. However, quarterbacks coach Joe Craddock emphasized on Thursday that Philo is a \u201cbit of a gunslinger\u201d who needs to be smarter with the football.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones Jr., despite having less experience than Philo, has been praised for his ability to learn the offense quickly and for his familiarity with the returning players. Still, Craddock said he \u201closes receivers a little bit over the middle\u201d and that his footwork in the pocket needs improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was impressed with both of them,\u201d Faulkner said on Saturday. \u201cThey both came in, did a really good job. Like I said, it’s a body of work of everything that we’ve done the last 15 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was just a small sample size of what I think both of them could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Florida<\/p>\n

Florida quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. (9) had two touchdown passes in the spring game. | Alan Youngblood\/Gainesville Sun \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

While both have earned considerable praise throughout camp and on Saturday, and despite some of their struggles as they compete, Sumrall has continued to emphasize how open the battle is.\u00a0
It also doesn\u2019t help the decision-making process when the Gators are constantly shuffling its offensive line and looking to establish its rotation at receiver, tight end and running back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think too often, the storyline is always the quarterback, the quarterback, the quarterback. I’m like, Well, I’m pretty damn worried about who the right tackle is and who the left tackle is who,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cSo those decisions are as important, to be quite honest with you, because they’re protecting the quarterback.”<\/p>\n

Now, Florida enters the longest part of the offseason, with more questions about its quarterbacks answered but without the main question on who will start still unanswered.\u00a0While it remains to be seen when that question will be answered, both Philo and Jones Jr. are seemingly embracing the extended competition period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhoever at the end of the day gets to go out there, they’re going to compete at the highest level, because we’ve been pushing each other, we’ve been put in great situations, we\u2019ve been putting each other in difficult situations,\u201d Jones Jr. said. \u201cSo being able to get that extra time and get better and really push ourselves to what we can be, I think that can really help everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE, Fla.\u2014 Jon Sumrall made it clear at the beginning of the Florida Gators\u2019 spring camp that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-228578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228578","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=228578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}