Florida football coach Jon Sumrall hasn’t shied away discussing where UF’s roster stands from an NIL standpoint compared with the rest of the SEC.
“We’re probably middle of the road in our conference on the financial side with what we’re investing in our roster,” Sumrall said in an exclusive interview with The Sun. “I would like to get to the top four, that would be something I would really appreciate and enjoy and that’s something I think we need to push toward.
“That doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time, I think we can get there.”
Sumrall has spent most of May traversing the state, meeting with influential donors and appearing on radio stations and podcasts in an effort to drum up financial support for the Florida Gators.
Sumrall’s affable personality has played well so far in his fundraising efforts.
“People want to see Florida football be really good again,” Sumrall said. “It takes everybody. That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve tried to re-iterate to everyone is like, look, the head coach gets a lot of credit when things are going well, a lot of blame when it’s not. I’m good with that, I’ve got broad shoulders, I can take on whatever.
“But in truth great football programs are a combination of a ton of people doing things to make it successful and whether that means assistant coaches, support staff, whatever, administrators on campus or donors or the fanbase doing the things we need done to help us be able to put together a quality roster with resources.”
For now, Sumrall accepts the challenge of trying to do more with less. He pointed out that at in his two seasons at Tulane, he was behind higher-resourced programs such as Memphis and USF in the American Conference when it came to NIL spending. Under Sumrall, Tulane still managed to reach the conference title game in 2024 and won the conference title in 2025.
“We want to be really good stewards with our resources,” Sumrall said. “So while I want more and we’re going to try to work for more and get more, we’re not just going to spend frivolously, and do things that are outlandish.
“We want to be fair and equitable to our players, we also want to be make sure we’re not overcompensating new players and not taking care of guys in our own building that are there. That’s something that’s really important to me, the most important players are the ones you have on your roster.”
Florida football coach Jon Sumrall outlines player discipline program
The offseason is a time when players can find trouble. Last offseason, two Florida players were arrested, with incoming freshman defensive tackle Stephon Shivers kicked off the team following a domestic battery arrest in June of 2025.
Sumrall said he’s discussed conduct with his team, with “protect the team” as one of the core tennants of the program.
“The way you protect the team is protect yourself first and then be your brother’s keeper,” Sumrall said. “Protect the team means a lot of things it means vehicles, alcohol, drugs, guns, how you treat women, all of those things.”
Sumrall said there will be consequences for actions, depending on the severity of the incident.
“You have to understand that nobody is perfect,” Sumrall said. “I think if we all look at everything we’ve all done our entire lives, there’s plenty of mistakes all of us have made …
“The severity of the mistake usually determines the severity of the discipline and that’s how I’ve always felt.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football coach Jon Sumrall talks resources, player discipline at SEC spring meetings
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
