Aaron Philo or Tramell Jones? Florida won't say yet
Florida is a 10.5-point underdog this week, and its coach is in no rush to say who's taking the first snap.
Jon Sumrall says QBs Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. both practiced today and both will be "available" for Florida this week. "Believe in both guys. Not going to name a starter today...we need both of those guys to be ready to play."
There's real history behind both names. Sumrall picked Philo in camp. Philo is a Georgia Tech transfer who already knew offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner's system from their time together in Atlanta, and he beat out Jones for the Week 1 job. Sumrall said back then that the decision was "not an anointing." That turned out to be true. Philo took a hit on his last play against South Carolina and was listed as questionable for Texas, so Jones got his first career start in Austin.
Jones made the most of it. Florida came into that game on a 2-game slide, fell behind No. 7 Texas 17-3 in the 2nd quarter and came back to win 27-24. Jones went 22-of-35 with 2 touchdowns, both to tight end Lacota Dippre, and didn't turn it over. He also didn't come out of it clean, which is part of why this week is complicated.
Sumrall adds both QBs are taking reps with the 1s and 2s, and that Jones is dealing with some "bumps and bruises" from the Texas game. WR Vernell Brown III also looks "really good" and "normal" to Sumrall.
So the guy who just won the biggest game of the year is beat up, and the guy who started the year is reportedly trending the right way. Earlier Monday morning, before Sumrall talked, the beat was already hearing good things about Philo's health. Both QBs are getting reps with the 1s and the 2s. That's either a real open competition or a coach who'd rather Kirby Smart spend the week preparing for 2 quarterbacks. Probably some of both.
Sumrall was asked whether he'd play both of them, and he didn't completely rule it out:
Jon Sumrall is asked if he would play both Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. against Georgia: "I would never say never to play both, because we might put both in the same snap...We can play both. We probably won't within – once we start the game it's that guy's game usually."
Read that last line again. "Once we start the game it's that guy's game usually." Whoever starts is expected to finish, barring injury. Don't expect a rotation where the QBs swap every other series. The "same snap" part sounds like a trick-play tease more than an actual plan.
Then there's the matchup. Vegas has Florida at 10.5 points against Georgia, which is the same number they opened at against Texas the week the Gators won outright.
No. 20 Florida opens the week as a 10.5-point underdog vs No. 3 Georgia in Atlanta. FWIW, UF also started the week as a 10.5-point underdog vs Texas #Gators
That's the case for Jones. He's the one who just beat a top-10 team in a hostile stadium, and nobody benches a quarterback for winning. The case for Philo is that he's the guy Sumrall and Faulkner picked when everyone was healthy. Expect the answer to come late in the week, possibly not until kickoff in Atlanta. Sumrall has said before that his timeline might be 5 minutes before anybody finds out, and so far he means it.
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