Did Tramell Jones Jr. Do Enough to Reopen Florida's QB Battle?

Tramell Jones Jr. joined a short list of Florida Gators quarterbacks on Saturday, becoming just the fifth UF quarterback to beat a top-10 team in his first start. He followed Treon Harris, Jesse Palmer, Danny Wuerffel and John Reaves in that group. 

But was his performance in Florida’s 27-24 upset over Texas enough to overtake the starting quarterback spot from Aaron Philo?

Head coach Jon Sumrall said after the win that there is no decision to be made yet and that they will evaluate the tape as they do every week. 

“We will get through the tape, I’ll watch the tape on the plane today, and then I’ll watch it again tomorrow and then we’ll figure out how we move forward,” he said. 

Jones Jr. threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns alongside 41 yards rushing with no turnovers in the win, helping the Gators turn a 17-3 deficit into its first road win over a top-10 team in 14 seasons. While his clutch play was impressive, a decision on who will start moving forward will be based on many factors.

For starters, Philo has to get healthy for there to be a discussion.

After starting in Florida’s first six games of the season, the Georgia Tech transfer was sidelined with a shoulder injury on Saturday and spent the day as the Gators’ emergency third-string quarterback. Sumrall said his injury is a multi-week issue, but the lack of participation this week and the upcoming bye week both provide ample recovery time.

A lot of it is based upon his ability to have some zip and do it on the move and function fully. But he's a tough dude,” Sumrall said. “… We’re going to bring him back more as time is right for his return to play.”

Philo’s play is also a factor. Despite two straight losses as the starter, Sumrall was quick to support the original starter, saying he had generally made good decisions and played cleanly, while offensive line play had been poor in each of the two losses.

At the same time, Sumrall also admitted that Florida’s win was a result of much more than just Jones Jr.’s play, emphasizing the defensive turnaround and the offensive line playing much cleaner. Jones Jr. was also far from perfect, missing throws early in the game before turning things around.

“I would tell you, the God’s honest truth, like, looking back, the last two games, Philo didn’t cost us the last two games,” Sumrall said. I’m not going to point fingers at everybody, but just like individually, Tramell didn’t win the game by himself. I’m glad we got two guys I believe in we can go win football games with.”

Florida will have a full week of rest, recovery and tuning up before preparation for the matchup against Georgia on Oct. 31. While a discussion on the starter remains to be seen, confidence remains in both Jones Jr. and Philo moving forward. 

“I love both guys,” Sumrall said. “I believe in both guys. I’ve said that about Tramell for several months now, like, since I saw the shift in the summer. I really felt like we could win with both guys, and that proves it that we did it today.” 

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