The Jon Sumrall era will begin for Florida on Saturday night when it hosts Florida Atlantic in Gainesville, Fla., in the season opener for both teams.

Sumrall, who led Tulane to the College Football Playoff last season, takes over a squad vying to return to prominence following a frustrating 4-8 season that led to the dismissal of former coach Billy Napier after seven games.

Florida has finished with a losing record in four of its past five seasons.

The Owls, meanwhile, enter their second season under coach Zach Kittley and have failed to beat Florida in four previous meetings — all in Gainesville.

Sumrall and Kittley coached against each other last Nov. 15, when Sumrall was at Tulane and beat FAU 35-24.

The Gators have a new starting quarterback in Georgia Tech transfer Aaron Philo, who won a tight competition this offseason against backup Tramell Jones Jr. Philo started once and appeared in three games while backing up former Yellow Jackets starter Haynes King last season.

Florida finished 93rd in average passing yards per game in 2025.

“We’re moving forward with Aaron Philo as our starter, but the other part that’s nice about it is both of those guys’ skillsets are similar enough that we don’t have to drastically change a game plan if we have to go with one or the other,” Sumrall said.

One thing FAU had no trouble doing last season was pass the ball effectively.

The Owls led the nation with an average of 340.2 passing yards per game, led by returning quarterback Caden Veltkamp, who threw for 3,641 yards last season.

But the big fix FAU needs to make in 2026 is to its defense, which allowed 36.3 points per game, tied for fifth-worst among 136 FBS teams. The Owls also allowed the seventh-most yards per game (436.5) in the country.

Linebacker Leon Hart Jr. will anchor the defense this season, which added multiple new starters through the transfer portal.

“I want to make more game-changing plays,” Hart said recently. “Turnovers, sacks, things of that nature.”

–Field Level Media