{"id":367978,"date":"2026-08-11T01:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T01:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367978\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T01:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T01:38:17","slug":"gators-put-on-pads-as-jon-sumrall-gauges-teams-toughness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367978\/","title":{"rendered":"Gators put on pads as Jon Sumrall gauges team’s toughness"},"content":{"rendered":"

GAINESVILLE \u2014 The Gators will don full pads for the first time Tuesday as preseason football camp intensifies and coach Jon Sumrall<\/a> learns more about his first Florida team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Gators staged 15 spring practices, culminating with the April 11 spring game<\/a>. Recent months featured OTAs, player-led workouts and offseason conditioning. Florida staged its fifth preseason practice Monday in helmets and shoulder pads for more than 90 minutes under the blistering Gainesville sun.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure we\u2019re at least building our bodies up to some of the heat,\u201d Sumrall said afterward.<\/p>\n

Tuesday, though, will bring an increase in the level of physicality and more game-like situations as the Sept. 5 season opener against Florida Atlantic approaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to see guys compete,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cYou only get so many opportunities \u2026 and really there\u2019s a score \u2014 where you\u2019re trying to win the game. At the end of the day, we got to find out who will compete.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike when we go into the stadium, and it\u2019s real, who will lay it on the line?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Gators will also practice in full gear Thursday, return to helmets and shoulders pads Friday and hold their first of two scrimmages in the Swamp on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll tackle the ground a lot,\u201d Sumrall said.<\/p>\n

Since his arrival, Sumrall has strived to consistently challenge<\/a> his players mentally and physically.<\/p>\n

The grueling \u201cGauntlet,\u201d<\/a> a six-station, high-intensity strength and conditioning circuit, took players nearly two months to complete as a team, while setting the standard during winter workouts. Following the spring game, Sumrall called out the team\u2019s offensive line, saying,\u00a0\u201cThose guys have to have a freaking great summer or we got no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some linemen lost more than 20 or even 30 pounds while building strength and lean muscle.<\/p>\n

Sumrall was pleased with his team\u2019s progress entering preseason practices but continued to push his players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am into making things hard,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a challenging game, and tough teams win. I do want our guys to be challenged to the point that they\u2019re mentally tough, and they can overcome adversity because there\u2019s going to be adversity, and so we create adverse situations every day in practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s got to be really, really freaking hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sumrall aims to create a competitive environment whenever possible, but will get a better gauge of his players once they are in full pads.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first four or five days of training camp, you\u2019re competing all the time, but it\u2019s hard to always keep score of a winner or a loser when we\u2019re not tackling,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we go to live stuff a little bit more, there\u2019s even more clear winners and losers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several Gators will be unable to participate fully Tuesday, including veteran defensive end Kam James, a senior who starred at Orlando Olympia<\/a> and redshirt freshman running back Duke Clark, who is on track for a key role behind 1,000-yard rusher Jadan Baugh<\/a> after receiving considerable praise entering camp.<\/p>\n

Cornerback CJ Bronaugh of Windermere Prep<\/a> is sidelined, along with fellow true freshmen Kaiden Hall, a 4-star prospect at safety, and Marquez Daniel, an intriguing 6-foot-5, 219-pound receiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t foresee them being out for any game action, barring something that doesn\u2019t go right,\u201d Sumrall said. \u201cSo, nothing substantial. Just normal wear and tear for training camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sumrall knows what he hopes to see from those on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to see us play clean, competitive football on both sides,\u201d he said. \u201d As a head coach, you don\u2019t ever want one side to dominate. You\u2019d like to see some back and forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GAINESVILLE \u2014 The Gators will don full pads for the first time Tuesday as preseason football camp intensifies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[111,28,2530,2496,114,139,141,140,76046,110],"class_list":["post-367978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-college-sports","tag-florida","tag-florida-gators","tag-gainesville","tag-latest-headlines","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367978","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=367978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}