Florida Gators head coach Jon Sumrall earned his stripes in college football on the defensive side of the ball.
He was a linebacker for the Kentucky Wildcats. His first job was as a defensive line coach for San Diego, where he eventually became the defensive coordinator. He was a defensive coordinator and coached linebackers at Tulane and Kentucky, and coached linebackers at Ole Miss.
So, you know it's eating at him that his defense has given up 37.5 points per game in its last four contests, all Power Four competition.
Sumrall admitted on Monday that he was taking a more hands-on approach to making sure his team understands what is expected of them on a down-to-down, week-to-week basis. While he's taking a more active approach in fixing the Gators' defense, he denies that he's taking the reins.
"I'm not taking the defense over," Sumrall said.
"I have to be involved in all facets of the game," Sumrall said. I'm the head coach of the whole team, offense, defense, kicking game, all of it. Every other aspect too, operationally. I got my hands on everything. I think being a head coach this day and age, you have to be in the weeds of every part of the program."
Sumrall went into detail on some of the points he and his coaches tried to make this week about playing within the scheme.
"I showed 15 plays roughly to the defense today from the game in a team setting, where I just showed them, 'Hey, this one decision we made on the field, do we teach it like that in practice?'
'No, coach, we do this.'
"OK, well then, if we do that in the game, what happens right here? Well, it's probably a sack, like on the flea flicker that they didn't convert, which they should have converted. We should have had somebody in coverage and ready to cover it. And somebody that didn't really run the blitz pattern properly, because as soon as I saw the quarterback spin out the way he did, I'm like, it's a sack.
"And we didn't get there, get home. I'm like, that should be a sack 100 times out of 100."
Yet, he doesn't want a bunch of robots. He used another example that the right way isn't the only way, and effort can trump scheme at times.
"I showed one clip today that LJ McCray actually didn't play the technique properly, but the way he played was really physical on their tight end coming back across the formation," Sumrall said. "He was supposed to be in a 4I, which means you would play the B gap.
"He kind of hopped out and became a 5 and played the C gap, which is the wrong technique, but on the splitter, he played with real physicality, and I'm like, 'Hey, wrong technique, right physicality.'
"And you know what, if you make a mistake, make it like THAT."
Sumrall has decades of experience on the defensive side of the ball, and at the end of the day, it's his program now. The Gators' defense needs to play better, and if that means getting Sumrall more involved, Gator Country will be happy to see it.
A complete turnaround won't happen in a week, but a better showing against the No. 7 Texas Longhorns in Austin on Saturday at Noon EST will go a long way towards righting the ship.
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