Florida

Pregame comparisons use preserved published forecasts. Results include wins and losses.

2026 rates aggregate verified completed-game box scores. EPA is expected points added per play.

That challenge extends well beyond a coaching change. Florida announced 50 newcomers in February: 29 four-year transfers, 20 high-school recruits and one junior-college transfer. Sumrall said freshmen and transfers make up more than half the scholarship roster. The overhaul creates room for immediate improvement, but it also makes communication, role clarity and cohesion central to the season. The essential question is how quickly a collection of new and returning players can become a dependable team.

No decision carries more weight than quarterback. Sumrall described Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. as two starter-level options at SEC Media Days and offered no timetable for naming one. Philo arrived from Georgia Tech with prior familiarity with Faulkner, an advantage that could shorten his adjustment to the offense. Jones offers a different kind of continuity as Florida’s returning quarterback. Neither had publicly separated by late July, leaving leadership, ball security, command and explosive-play creation to determine more than simply who takes the first snap.

Whoever wins the job will have one established ally in running back Jadan Baugh. He rushed for 1,170 yards at better than 5.3 yards per carry in 2025, giving Florida a proven way to stay on schedule and reduce the burden on a new starter. Transfers Micah Mays Jr. and Eric Singleton Jr. also supplied an encouraging spring glimpse, combining for 10 catches, 214 yards and three touchdowns in the Orange & Blue Game. That performance suggested useful receiver depth, although it did not settle their fall roles.

The offensive line remains the room most capable of raising or lowering the entire operation. Sumrall sharply criticized the group after spring, then said in July that its strength and body composition had improved. He credited transfer center Harrison Moore and guard TJ Shanahan Jr. with improving accountability. Those are meaningful summer developments, but they do not yet show whether the rebuilt unit can create lanes for Baugh or protect either quarterback against SEC fronts. Until it does, Florida’s offensive upside will remain conditional.

White’s defense has a sturdier starting point in the front seven. Linebacker Myles Graham returns after leading Florida with 76 tackles in 2025, and his selection as one of the program’s SEC Media Days representatives points to his leadership value during the transition. Retained edge Jayden Woods is another anchor for a group in which Sumrall saw potential after spring. A dependable front would help Florida control early downs and shield a secondary still trying to identify its best combination.

That back end carries both experience and uncertainty. Baylor transfer safety DJ Coleman arrived with 84 career tackles, nine pass breakups and two interceptions, along with a reputation as a vocal presence. He could help organize a remade secondary, but one experienced addition cannot settle every alignment or communication issue. Health also complicates the broader roster picture: Dallas Wilson, Graham and Dijon Johnson were among several players limited during spring. Those spring circumstances do not establish their August participation or opening-week availability.

The schedule gives Sumrall two home games to begin the season, against Florida Atlantic on September 5 and Campbell on September 12, before the pressure rises. Florida visits Auburn on September 19, hosts Ole Miss the next week, then travels to Missouri, hosts South Carolina and visits Texas. Georgia follows on October 31 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. That sequence rewards a team that resolves its quarterback competition, blocking combinations and defensive communication quickly.

November brings Oklahoma to Gainesville, a trip to Kentucky, a home game against Vanderbilt and the finale at Florida State. Florida has enough established production to give its new staff a foundation: Baugh in the backfield, Graham in the middle of the defense and experienced additions throughout the roster. It does not yet have enough settled answers to support a firm prediction. Sumrall’s first season will be measured by whether those pieces become coherent before the schedule repeatedly tests every unresolved issue.

Final · team–opponent

W 52–3