Jon Sumrall had a simple exercise when he took over in Gainesville: everybody on staff writes down their top 11 offensive players, regardless of position.
No groupthink. No deferring to the coordinator. If seven receivers make the list, they make the list.
Seven games into his first season, that list has sorted itself out on the field. At 5-2, 3-2 in the SEC and back in the AP Top 25 at No. 20 after a 27-24 upset of Texas, Florida heads into the Georgia week with a defined offensive hierarchy for the first time since the offseason roster flip.
The keyword here is Florida Gators top offensive players after bye week — and the answer is less about 11 names than about how Sumrall and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner are actually using them.
The philosophy is the ranking
Sumrall explained it on the GNFP Podcast this spring. He makes every staffer — quality control to coordinator — rank the best 11 offensive players and then the next six or seven individually.
It was a guardrail against personnel inertia. Florida fans had watched previous staffs live in 12 personnel when tight end was arguably the thinnest room on offense. Sumrall’s point was blunt: if you have six receivers in your top 11 and no tight ends, you shouldn’t be playing with two tight ends just because the playbook says so.
“If we got four receivers or let’s say six receivers in the top 11 and no tight ends and we’re playing a lot of 12 personnel, then we’re freaking idiots,” he said.
That mindset is showing up in snaps. Florida opened the year averaging 53.5 points through its first four games on the way to a 4-0 start, its first since 2019, and the personnel distribution has followed talent, not tradition. When Florida beat Ole Miss 52-28 and Auburn 44-39 on the road, it did so with three receivers on the field as the base, not as a changeup.
- Jadan Baugh isn’t just RB1, he’s the system
Every ranking has to start with Jadan Baugh.
Sumrall and Faulkner have both said they want to feature their best players, and Baugh may be Florida’s No. 1 offensive player period. The junior broke 11 tackles on 25 carries for 91 hard yards against Texas, a game Florida trailed 17-3 after failing to convert a third down in eight first-half tries before converting eight of 11 after halftime.
Baugh has been at his best in the biggest spots — 233 yards and four touchdowns combined in Florida’s two wins over top-10 teams this season. That’s Faulkner’s ideal bell cow: a back who can carry late-game possession when Florida needs to keep an opposing offense on the sideline.
In Faulkner’s structure, the run game isn’t just inside zone. It’s counter, split zone with receiver orbit motion, and a heavy dose of play-action off that action. Baugh’s patience allows Florida to run Duo from 11 personnel and still get plus numbers in the box because defenses have to account for the receiver threat outside.
The receiver room Florida thought it had
If Baugh is 1, the next three spots are almost certainly receivers, and Sumrall’s staff believed that before Week 1.
Dallas Wilson, Vernell Brown III, and Eric Singleton Jr. were projected as the starting trio in spring, and that projection has held. Wilson and Brown were the headline in the Texas prep and in the grading review that followed — Wilson with the touchdown against Auburn on a day he had penalty issues but still posted 74 yards, Brown leading the team with 86 yards on five catches that same night.
What makes the group different from last year’s Florida groups is skill overlap. All three can win outside, but Florida is using them to stress different levels.
Dallas Wilson is the contested-catch, back-shoulder winner and red-zone target. He is the player Florida goes to when the route has to win late.
Vernell Brown III is the separator and the explosive play creator after the catch. The staff re-signed him early for 2026 precisely because his yards after catch turn simple stick and glance routes into chunk plays.
Eric Singleton Jr., TJ Abrams, and Bailey Stockton rotate that third spot to keep speed on the field. Singleton brings the vertical element, while Stockton and Abrams have taken the underneath jet motion and return motion that sets up Baugh’s counter.
That depth is why the top 11 conversation matters. Florida does not need to force 12 personnel to get to run looks. It can get to the same runs from 10 and 11 personnel with a receiver doing the tight end’s dirty work as a crack blocker, keeping the better player on the field.
Where Aaron Philo fits in the pecking order
Quarterback Aaron Philo is not putting up Heisman volume, but his placement in Florida’s offensive pecking order has risen every week.
Listed as QB1 over Tramell Jones Jr. on the Week 1 depth chart and as a redshirt sophomore who knows Faulkner’s language, Philo has been exact rather than explosive: 15-of-22 for 204 yards and a touchdown against Auburn, managing the game late against Texas after a rough first half.
Faulkner’s system rewards that. The offense is built on staying ahead of the chains so Philo gets to the third-down menu where he is comfortable — play-action dagger, Y-cross off split flow, and the glance RPO that Baugh makes so effective. Philo’s value isn’t in being a top-3 talent on offense, it’s in making sure the top-3 talents touch the ball where they are most dangerous.
The line and the missing piece
PFF’s early interior grades had Florida in the top five nationally on both lines, and the offensive line’s performance has tracked with that. While tight end remains Florida’s thinnest offensive room — a multi-year issue that Sumrall openly acknowledged this spring — the line’s ability to play without extra tight end help has allowed Florida to stay in 11 personnel.
The offensive line’s ability to play without a sixth lineman or a second tight end is why Florida can run Duo and inside zone while keeping Wilson and Brown on the field. That is the personnel feedback loop Sumrall wanted when he instituted the ranking.
The tight end spot, led by senior Lacota Dippre and freshman Heze Kent, is still competing to crack that top 11. Until it does, expect Florida’s answer to short-yardage and red-zone to be more Jadan Baugh from shotgun with an H-back wrapper by a receiver, not a traditional 12 personnel push.
What the bye week clarified for Georgia week
Florida now faces No. 5 Georgia (6-1, 4-1 SEC) in Atlanta after the off week. The bye week superlatives singled out offensive MVP, breakout player on offense, and needs more snaps candidates — and the underlying message was the same: Florida knows who its best 11 are now.
The question for Faulkner isn’t whether to feature Baugh and the receiver trio. It’s how far to push the philosophy.
If five of the top 11 are receivers, does Florida play more 10 personnel against Georgia’s heavier fronts and force Georgia to play nickel against Baugh? If three of the top 11 are edge rushers on defense, does that change offensive tempo to give them more rest and maximize possessions?
For a first-year staff that started with 112 players to evaluate and one returning assistant, getting to a clear top 11 by mid-October is a program win. It turns scheme from theory into personnel reality.
Florida’s offensive identity after seven games isn’t complicated: Baugh sets the table, Wilson and Brown win on the perimeter, Philo keeps it on schedule, and everyone else is arranged to make sure those three get the touches that make SEC defenses uncomfortable.
Florida’s next step is proving that its best 11 offensive players can win when everyone in the stadium knows who they are — starting with the Florida Gators top offensive players after bye week.
Alternative Headline 1: At 5-2, Florida’s Bye Week Reveals Who Really Runs the Gators Offense
Alternative Headline 2: Baugh, Wilson, Brown III: Inside Florida’s Real Offensive Top 11 After Seven Games
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