New Florida head football coach Jon Sumrall made an appearance during the Gators’ home basketball game against Auburn on Saturday, and he briefly met with the media to discuss some of the recent news surrounding his program.
Reporters asked about the current state of the quarterback room in Gainesville, as the departure of DJ Lagway and the transfer-portal addition of former Georgia Tech signal-caller Aaron Philo has created a new-look unit.
When fielding questions about the future outlook for the group, Sumrall put the ball in the quarterbacks’ court so to speak.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to figure out what that looks like, and who’s the starter and all that stuff,” Sumrall said. “We’re a long way from making that decision. They’ll make it for us. The quarterback competition, they decide who starts, not me, by how they practice and how they play.”
A native of Bogart, Georgia, Philo arrives after spending two seasons with the Yellow Jackets in a backup role to Haynes King. In limited action through, Philo completed 57.8% of his passes for 938 yards, 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
The 6-foot-2, 220 lb. Philo is a threat with his legs also, as evidenced by his 95 rushing yards and the game-winning score he produced against NC State in 2023.
Philo figures to compete with former 4-star quarterback Trammel Jones for the job, as the Jacksonville native backed up Lagway in 2025 and threw for 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Parker is currently the sports editor for the Enterprise-Journal in McComb, Mississippi. He's a graduate from Mizzou who has experience covering the Tiger football and basketball beats for SB Nation, and he's worked for a variety of sports news outlets in the past.
