Gators HC Jon Sumrall continues to impress with Heisman Trophy QB Tim Tebow sending a firm statement on the program’s future

Tim Tebow is bought in on new Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall, and that buy in is growing amongst the alumni.

Tyler Forness — NFL & College Football News Writer
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Aug 30, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; SEC Network analyst Tim Tebow on the field before a game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Syracuse Orange at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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We are now 12 days into the Jon Sumrall era as the Florida Gators head coach and things are looking brighter and brighter.

We’ve seen Sumrall do things that former head coach Billy Napier refused to do during his tenure, with the biggest of them being hiring Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner to call plays. Not calling plays was the reason why Napier ended up getting fired, and Sumrall wasn’t going to let that happen.

The other major difference between Napier and Sumrall is their mentality. Sumrall comes across as a major no-nonsense guy who is a pure football guy, and he’s winning people over.

Tim Tebow is a big fan of Jon Sumrall

One of the more important things when you hire a new head coach is to have your boosters and alumni behind the hire. One of the more famous alumni for the Gators is Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Tim Tebow. He joined Sirius XM’s Zach Gelb and spoke very highly of Sumrall.

“I liked him from afar,” said Tebow. “I like him more up close because I’ve gotten to talk to him and getting to talk football, getting to talk psychology, getting to talk recruiting, getting to talk culture, all of those things I really like in getting to know him more and more, and that makes me feel even more confident that he could be the guy to really turn this program back to where it needs to be.”

On the surface, there were a lot of reasons why the fanbase didn’t want to hire Sumrall. The main reasons were that he was a Group of Five coach from Louisiana, two things that also applied to Napier. However, the start to his tenure is proving how different he is from Napier. Tebow also mentioned the biggest reason: he’s a football junkie.

“He is a football junkie. He loves it. He wants to do it. He’s excited about the job, and I just really love his mentality for all those things,” continued Tebow. “Because also, one more thing that I think is important to bring up is that when Florida has been at its best, they had an edge. Some could call it a little bit of arrogance and ego with it, as you look at the [Steve] Spurrier days in the 90s with Danny [Wuerfell] and Ike Taylor and Reidel Anthony and Javon Kearse and all these great players. You had this confidence that some people say is arrogance, right? This is the fun and gun, and we’re going to go out there, we’re going to play our style.”

That mentality was one the Gators also had under Urban Meyer.

“Under Coach Meyer, it was also a different edge. It was an edge under mentality. It was an edge in toughness. It was a four to six seconds of relentless effort and focus that you were going to see. And the deeper the waters got, the more that we knew how to swim, and the more we believed other people you know, weren’t going to be able to swim in deep waters as long right, different, but both a form of a confidence and arrogance and an edge that I really believe as as teams and individuals playing a game, you need a deeply held belief, conviction and confidence in what you do. I think that that’s something that the coach, Sumrall in his own way, can bring to the program. I think you’ve seen it and where he’s coached.”

Imagine how much better Sumrall can be with the talent and resources that Florida will give him. That’s exactly what we are going to find out, and Tebow is on board.

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