Jon Sumrall’s arrival at Florida is reawakening the recruiting buzz around the program. Along with staff changes, he is trying to build a program that can compete with the best in the SEC. However, the new Gators’ head coach (HC) is going about it in a fashion unheard of these days in college football.

Tulane is one of the two Group of 5 teams in the playoffs this season. That speaks of the kind of work Sumrall did in recruiting and developing talent at the program. Naturally, when you move to a new base, some talent travels with the head coach. But Sumrall has no plans to source talent from the winning machine he created at Tulane.

“I’ve told the team at Tulane, I will not talk to them about going in the portal at all,” Sumrall told Wake Up Barstool on December 10. “If any guy goes in the portal and they’re good enough to play here, then I’ll recruit them. But I’ll have zero conversation. I didn’t steal one commit from Tulane to Florida.”

While it may seem like general coach-speak, the trend in recent years has been the opposite. When Kalen DeBoer moved to Tuscaloosa from Washington, multiple players followed the head coach to Alabama. A similar thing happened with James Franklin and Penn State.

On the other hand, the new Florida HC requested permission to coach the American Championship game after accepting the Florida job. That rapport holds its ground despite Sumrall not being at Tulane. There is remarkably no buzz around any Tulane player planning to transfer or flip to Florida as of now.

Sumrall has, instead, focused on improving Florida recruitment. The 2026 class ranks 13 in the country, with the HC having recently added Dylan Porter from LSU. Roster management is something that the HC is skilled at, and it is showing in his tenure at Florida. Sumrall was able to lock 4-star EDGE Kevin Ford Jr., who was being pursued by Texas A&M amid the absence of an HC at Gainesville. At Tulane, he was able to succeed despite losing elite talents Darian Mensah and Makhi Hughes to the portal.

Jon Sumrall will be juggling both Tulane and Florida responsibilities until the former’s run in the postseason ends. Despite the added pressure, the head coach’s prowess as a recruiter is one to be noted.

Jon Sumrall convinced both Florida and Tulane recruits to stick to their choices

Sumrall is parting with Tulane on a good note, trying to stabilize things in the wake of his departure. He spoke to Tulane commits on a Zoom call 90 minutes before he spoke to those from Florida. The HC reminded the recruits of the many reasons they chose their respective programs to prevent chaos that could creep in.

“I just tried to help everybody understand that in this time of uncertainty,” he told SiriusXM. “Don’t forget you chose because you thought the fit for you was right.”

Sumrall is a little lucky on the Florida side, since the Gators’ 2026 class has remained almost intact after Billy Napier’s dismissal. However, he is providing Tulane with much-needed stability in recruiting. After all, it is the one area that becomes the most vulnerable when coaches are no longer at their respective programs.

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Although we have yet to see how the Gators’ HC fares in the SEC environment, he will become a figure that the Gators will rally behind. That much is evident from the way he is handling both these teams simultaneously.