By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

We’re done with the first month of the college football season.

One big question I have is, are the Florida Gators back? They became an elite program when Steve Spurrier became the head ball coach in 1990.

He coached in Gainesville from 1990-2001 and had a record of 122-27-1. He also won six SEC championships, won a national championship and played in another. He averaged more than ten wins per season and coached a Heisman Trophy winner (Danny Wuerffel).

Urban Meyer had the second-best tenure after him from 2005-2010. His record was 65-15. He also won two national championships, two SEC championships and he also coached a Heisman Trophy winner (Tim Tebow).

They have struggled to find consistency after Meyer left. Their last head coach was Billy Napier (2022-2025). He had one winning season in 2024, when they went 8-5. He was fired during the 2025 season after starting 3-4.

Jon Sumrall was hired as the 31^st head coach at UF on November 30, 2025. I thought he had a similar profile to Napier because he’s coming from a much smaller program. He coached at Troy (2022-23) and Tulane (2024-25). His record was 43-12 at both schools.

Napier mainly stuck around to start his final season because he had quarterback DJ Lagway returning. After Sumrall was hired, Lagway transferred to Baylor.

We’re only four games into Sumrall’s first season but the Gators are 4-0. They beat #4 Ole Miss, 52-28 in the Swamp. It tied Florida’s most points against a top-five team since beating Florida State 52-20 in the 1996 national championship game.

“It’s not asleep, but it ain’t fully awake yet. It’s being kind of stirred up a little bit,” said Sumrall, who became the first coach in Southeastern Conference history to lead his team to 200 or more points in his first four games.

“We’re going to get there. It’s coming.”

“I didn’t come here for us to be average.”

Junior running back and Atlanta native Jaden Baugh looks like the best back in college football. Last season he rushed for 1,170 yards, 8 touchdowns and averaged 5.3 yards per carry.

He also had 33 receptions, 210 yards and 2 scores.

After four games he has 600 yards, 11 TD’s and averages 7.2 ypc. He had 142 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Rebels.

Baugh became the third player in school history to top 100 yards rushing in five consecutive games, joining Emmitt Smith (1987, ’88) and Fred Taylor (1997). If he can sustain this, he could win the Heiman Trophy.

“That means everything to me, just having my name up there with those guys,” Baugh said. “They did so much when they were here. And just being able to follow their footsteps and excel, that just means so much to me.”

The Gators are now ranked #8. We will see if they can handle success.

I also want to talk about the impact the new offensive coordinator, Buster Faulkner is having. He was the OC/tight ends coach at Georgia Tech from 2023-25. He was the offensive quality control coach at Georgia from 2020-22. The Bulldogs won two national titles while he was there.

He got his QB, Aaron Philo (Georgia Tech) to transfer with him when he was hired at Florida. Philo has passed for 917 yards, 7 scores and 2 interceptions, while completing 72.4% of his passes.

The remaining schedule is @ #25 Mizzou, South Carolina, @ #1 Texas, #2 Georgia, Oklahoma, @ #24 Kentucky, Vanderbilt and @ Florida State.

I think the Gators will win ten games and make the College Football Playoff.