Florida football coach Jon Sumrall not ready to name starting QB for UGA
· Yahoo Sports
Florida football coach Jon Sumrall is keeping cards close to his vest when it comes for naming a starting quarterback for UF's Week 9 matchup against rival Georgia.
Sumrall said incumbent starter Aaron Philo, who sat out the Texas game with a shoulder injury, returned to practice on Monday, October 26. But Sumrall said he doesn't plan to name a starter at quarterback heading into UF's game against the Bulldogs in Atlanta on October 31 (3:30 p.m., ABC).
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Backup quarterback Tramell Jones helped lead the Florida Gators (5-2, 3-2 SEC) to a 27-24 upset win over Texas, passing for 155 yards with 2 TDs against the Longhorns in his first career start.
Sumrall said both Philo and Jones are taking first team reps in practice.
"Both guys are available," Sumrall said. "Believe in both guys. I'm not gonna name a starter today, like, I know that's probably been a big point of conversation. Like, both, we need both of those guys ready to play."
In six starts, Philo has thrown for 1,341 yards with 9 TDs and 3 interceptions. He ranks eighth in the SEC in passing (222.3 yards per game) and second in completion percentage (70.5%).
Asked what will go into the decision of naming a starter for Georgia, Sumrall responded: "it starts with health and availability. So if a guy's not available, then my decision gets made really easy. You don't throw out the full body of work with what they've done going back to January, but you also take into account most recent activities. You wait. How are they doing right now. If one guy goes out all week and practices really good and the other guy doesn't, then that'll tell me something. But it's who can function, who can operate, who can make the throws, who can get us in and out of things."
Sumrall also didn't rule out playing both QBs.
"We might put both in the same snap," Sumrall said. "We had some of that happen already this year, right, that you've seen that. So we can play both. We probably won't, like, within, once we start the game, it's that guy's game usually, depending how he plays. You have to keep playing good, right? And so, so that's kind of how that goes."
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football coach Jon Sumrall not ready to name starting QB for UGA