Maybe it’s not always best to just go along with whatever your PR department tells you to do — new University of Florida head coach Jon Sumrall found out as much recently.
A video of Sumrall went viral on Tuesday, showing him inside his team’s stadium and posing for photos with Helena the Alligator — an actual, real-life alligator — and getting a little nervous when Helena made a move toward him.
“Jon Sumrall got spooked by a real alligator for a photo shoot,” the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast’s official X account wrote on Monday, along with a pair of videos showing Sumrall interacting with Helena.
As is sometimes the case in 2026, the authenticity of the video was quickly brought into question.
“That’s not a real alligator,” ESPN’s Peter Schrager said on Tuesday morning. “That’s AI. Count on it.”
One of ESPN’s non-football analysts, former NBA champion power forward Kendrick Perkins, offered a slightly more homegrown take on the interaction.
“I’m very comfortable with alligators,” Perkins said. “My nickname with the Celtics was Swamp Thing, so seeing gators and being around gators is no thing to me. Gators are harmless. I see one floating in the lake behind my place all the time. I call him Gregory. I just see him back there, and I’m like, ‘Hey Gregory, how you doing?’ It ain’t no thing to me.”
Sumrall Trying to Bring Hope Back to Gators
Sumrall was hired in December after leading Tulane to an 11-3 record and the College Football Playoff for the 1st time — somewhere the Gators have never been.
Florida signed Sumrall to a 6-year, $44.7 million contract that runs through 2031 and includes a bonus of up to $5 million for winning a national championship.
Sumrall takes over for Billy Napier, who was fired after going 22-23 over 4 seasons.
Florida hasn’t had a season with double-digit wins since going 11-2 in 2019. Sumrall is the 4th head coach for Florida in the last 9 years following failed attempts by Napier, Dan Mullen and Jim McElwain.
“Florida underwent a full makeover this off-season, including my favorite head coach hire of this year’s carousel in Tulane’s Jon Sumrall,” 0 and 0 Sports wrote on its official X account. “With a ton of talent carrying over from 2025, I believe the Gators are primed to wreak havoc on the SEC.”
Sumrall spoke to the media on Tuesday as the Gators began spring football drills.
“A great team has to be player-led … it’s not my team,” Sumrall said. “I’m the head coach, but it’s not my team, it’s their team.”
High Praise From Florida Coaching Legend
Sumrall received some high praise after he was hired from the last man to lead the Gators to the mountaintop — former head coach Urban Meyer.
Meyer won a pair of BCS national championships at Florida in 2006 and 2008 before leading Ohio State to a College Football Playoff national championship in 2014.
Sumrall, 43 years old, is 43-12 over the last 4 seasons as a head coach with 2 seasons at Troy in 2022 and 2023 and the last 2 seasons at Tulane. That stretch includes 4 postseason appearances and 3 conference titles.
In a phone conversation with Sumrall, Meyer said he felt like he was “talking to myself 20 years ago.”
“I was like, ‘Can you say that again?’” Sumrall told Gainesville CBS reporter Julianna Reichenbach. “That was one of the coolest sideways compliments I’ve ever gotten.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Florida Head Coach Jon Sumrall Left ‘Spooked’ After Wildlife Encounter appeared first on Heavy Sports.