Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall didn’t hold back when asked how things were running in Gainesville when he just arrived. In fact, he praised much of what he inherited such as the character of the roster, a strong 3.6 team GPA, and the overall talent level in the building. Oddly, except for one department only, that Curt Cignetti swears his life by for success: the strength and conditioning department.

“I think there’s there of high character. Where I feel like we’ve had to really push the envelope here in developing this team is in the weight room, doing some of the dirty work, maybe to Coach Meyer comment earlier, becoming a little bit more calloused,” Jon Sumrall explained about his reset on The Triple Option podcast.

You know, I think it may be, it became a little too casual, or a little too complacent, a little too comfortable. And so I think those things are probably where we need the most attention.”

Sumrall is a man who leads by example. Everything he preaches, he follows. He even worked out with the offensive line himself and realized they’re not yet at the level they need to be to compete in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

To sort out this below-the-standard physicality problem, Sumrall brought in a former special force with 3 decades of experience, Rusty Whitt to run the show as the Director of Football Performance. Whitt’s job is to be the “bad cop” and the second-most important guy in the building. He treats every workout like a military mission, which goes by the name of ‘The Gauntlet’. It’s a conditioning test that is design to expose quitters outright.

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Jon Sumrall believes you can’t out-scheme people if they’re bullying you physically, so Sumrall made it his first move to prioritize raw, unadulterated strength and conditioning as the foundation for everything else.

If you actually think about it, he’s making he’s leaning a bit hard into a proven formula that coaches like Curt Cignetti have used to turn programs around overnight: making the weight room the absolute sun that the rest of the universe revolves around. When Curt Cignetti walks into the weight room, he views the whole setup as a “scientific thing” where the goal is pretty simple: turn potential into a winning edge.

He famously says he “doesn’t mess with” his strength coach because he hires experts he trusts to run the show. Needless to say, the Hoosiers play very bullish defense. Safe to say, that approach has paid off on the field, helping Indiana cash in its first-ever natty in its year 2.

However, Sumrall is taking it to an even higher level than Curt Cignetti.

measurement that Jon Sumrall is taking to make sure the team is not lacking

To really drive the point home, Sumrall started the “Earn the Logo” rule. New players and veterans alike aren’t allowed to wear the official Gator gear during workouts until they’ve proven they’re putting in the work. To really drive the point home, Sumrall started the “Earn the Logo” rule.  Sumrall is also being incredibly blunt about the modern era of NIL money. He’s basically telling his roster that since they are now being compensated like professionals, he has every right to coach them like professionals.

This means the “soft” habits of the past such as missing bedtimes, having poor body language, or giving 80% efforts treated as fireable offenses. The word is he expects his team to be in bed by 9pm. Sumrall carried this set of beliefs everywhere he’s been, and it actually pays in dividends and dubs. Three conference title wins in the last four years says all.

Regardless, end of the day, Sumrall has no interest in a slow five-year plan unlike others. After watching Florida get pushed around in previous seasons, Sumrall decided to put an end to it. He wants a team that is physically dominant and mentally unbreakable the second they step onto the field this fall.