COMPETITION: Florida Gators Quarterback Battle IGNITES with Aaron Philo & Tramell Jones Predictions

0:00The Florida Gators are going to decide some position battles this spring. You are locked on Gators, your daily podcast on the Florida Gators, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of locked on Gators, part of the locked on podcast and networking your team every day. Thanks for making locked on Gators your first listen of the day every day. We are available daily and free rivers and podcasts and on YouTube. This episode of locked on Gators is brought to you by Mazda. They put that same drive into every detail wins to find the moment putting in the work that defines you. Stay tuned for highlights and this week's moving the game forward. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. And we're going to talk about the Florida Gators position battles today because they do have quite a few. And look, we're going to do a bunch of these. We are going to have multiple shows talking about position battles

1:00because I want to give them the breath that they deserve, right? And we'll talk about tight ends later. We'll talk about running backs later. I'm just going down the list positionally. But we're going to start with quarterback because I know, I know, I know, everybody's like, I'm tired of quarterback talk, right? It's Philo. It's Jones. I hate it. Aaron, Philo didn't come in here to be a backup. Tremel Jones and the state to be a backup. Well, someone's got to be a backup, right? And I think the most noteworthy thing for me is that this coaching staff has so consistently said, this is going to be a competition. Okay. And after the first day of spring ball, when many people watched the clips of quarter backs throwing passes, even though it was routes on air, they went, that's the guy. That's the guy. Look at the zip on that ball. Ah, that was a duck. I don't know about that one.

2:05First day of spring practice, by the way. First day of spring ball. Crazy. But after the first day of spring ball, what John Sumrell did and what John Sumrell said was, I don't know who it's going to be. He was asked outright. I don't know who it was that asked him, but he was asked outright about what the timeline would look like there and what he'd be looking for in that situation as far as when he would want an answer. And John Sumrell said the right thing, right? Which is crazy. Like we got we got Billy Napier last year or years prior, which was like, oh, we'll figure it out or he immediately knew. And now we got a guy that's like, I don't know. And it's like he said what? He said the truth. It wasn't nonsensical coach speak. There was still some coach speak, but it wasn't nonsensical coach speak. What the hell's going on here? Twilight zoning gains, Bill. But that's what Florida has, right? With a coach that's just going to tell you how it is.

3:09And by the way, if you haven't heard, John Sumrell is going to be here next Thursday, a week from today, John Sumrell is going to be here on lockdown gators. And we'll talk about the quarterback battle. Like we'll talk about it all. But I do like the way that he answered the questions about the quarterback situation, the battle where he brought up to Lane and he was just like, look, like I wanted a decision early. And I didn't have that. He's like, in fact, I didn't have a decision until about a week before we played our first game in 2025. When there's Jake Redslap, who is a summer enroly. That's really just summer enroly. That's who that's who was the starting quarterback for Tulane in 2025. It was a guy that Johnson Morgan wanted the decision made way earlier and didn't have one. And I do think that that's also the best way to handle a quarterback competition. I don't think that you should go into it and say, hey, by the spring

4:12game, we're going to have an answer. I don't think you should go into it and say, hey, by week three of the spring, we're going to have an answer. Hey, by week two of fall camp, we're going to have an answer. I don't think you should set a date. I think it's one of those things where you go, well, when you know, you know, that's it. I like when I know I have my quarterback, that's how I know I have my quarterback. That's when I'll know I have my quarterback. He's like, it's on me deciding this. It's them how they play, how they practice, how they perform, how they work. It's on them. So is it going to be Aaron Fylo? Is he going to reach Mel Jones? I don't know. Really don't. I'll get him really confident that it's going to be one of those two. But as far as who's going to be and when? No idea. There's just I don't think there's an answer for it right now. And I don't think there should be an answer for when you have that. It should be when the guy steps up and proves it. That's when I have my answer. Like I don't know when they're going to have

5:18that. Like you watch if anybody has watched Blue Mountain State, which is a wild thing to reference in 2026 on on locked on Gators, which is always being appropriate. You know, we say, ass and damn, but you know, that is what it is. But Blue Mountain State, there was Alex Moran, was you know, the star of the show, he was the backup quarterback, and they had KB3 challenged him for the backup job and the way that they decided it was, all right, we got a challenge, scrimmage, whoever wins the scrimmages is starting KB. And I think that's how people want it to happen, right? Like I think that there's people that go, Hey, we're going to go into the spring game. And whoever wins the spring game, that's it. And like you got to know, that's such an awful idea, right? You have to. I throw a dot to someone and he drops it. Now I'm not a court, now I'm

6:20not starting quarterback. No, like context matters. What's going to matter and what the criteria is going to look like. And Johnson Raul kind of gave some insight to it was, who protects the ball, who scores, who gets us explosive plays, those things, that's going to determine what our quarterback, what our starting quarterback's going to be, who are starting quarterback's going to be explosive plays, protect the football. The only thing I disliked about it was the, and I understand in a competition it's different than just normal practice, but I did kind of hate the protective football thing. Maybe it's like, you know, protecting the football over a larger scale, but I'm also of the belief like in practice is when I want you to throw picks. And again, quarterback competition, I'm sure that changes things, but like my thought is in practice, I want you to throw picks because I want you to know what you can't do in games, right? Like I don't believe in the whole

7:21like, well, if you throw picks in practice, you're going to throw picks in a game. Like no, I want you to throw picks in practice so that you know, I can't make that throw. I can make that throw. I can't, if I'm going to make that throw, gotta lead to the little more things like that. I understand that a quarterback competition is a little bit different, right? Because you're not looking at a guy where you go, all right, well, is he going to do it on Saturday? Maybe he's not throwing picks on Saturday, but he's throwing picks in the week. I don't care. Obviously, you don't get that say, but I do think you can kind of take the approach of like, hey, if he's throwing picks in practice and then we go into his scrimmage and he doesn't throw picks, that tells me two things. One, he knows that he can be like, he's using practice to figure out what he can and can do in games. And two, he's treating scrimmages like games. Like again, if I'm saying, hey, I want to like, I'm finally throwing picks in practice to find out what you can and can't do. And then you get into as long as you want to throw picks in a game and you throw picks in practice and then not in a scrimmage, I'm going to say, hey, he was either dealing or he's treating it like a game.

8:26And that's going to matter, right? Because that's going to show what you're like leadership-wise. That's going to show your intensity. And so for Florida, again, I feel about as comfortable no matter who it is. I feel about as comfortable whether it's going to be Chameleon Jones or Aaron Filo. Like, I don't necessarily care. I'm not at practice every day. I'm not in the facility with them every day. I'm not in the weight room. I'm not in meetings with them every day. They're going to do what they're going to do. Whoever it is, whoever it is. And look, I can say, like I think Aaron Filo is deadly accurate and really technically sound. And yeah, he knows the offense. But I can also say that Chameleon Jones, I think, has a better overall arm and is a better overall athlete. The fact remains for me. They're both pretty, pretty inexperienced.

9:29They both got their strengths in this battle. But what's really going to come down to it is how you execute the offense is going to come down to the stuff that we're not going to see. Physically, I think I know what the Florida Gators have in Chameleon Jones and Aaron Filo. I do. Mentally, I have no idea what they got. Even with Aaron Filo, we haven't seen him throw a pass against powerful competitions in 2024. Chameleon Jones, we saw throw in 2025, but it was in blowouts. We got no idea. We're going to talk about their running back room when we get back with locked on Gators. This is Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on screen. Those who remind us what it takes daily to raise the bar. It's that extra work off the court, dialing in every detail, giving it that extra fire, that grit that I never quit. I'm going to give it to two people today. I'm giving it to Mike, a hand-locked and Xavier only. Because I'm

10:32giving it to the two seniors that walked on senior night on Tuesday night. Both played pretty well. Mike, a hand-locked and 10.9 rebounds. Xavier and Lee, hoping, had four steals. I'm pretty sure or two. They hoped. I'm going to give it to both of them. They put that same passion out there, every game, and Mazda put that same passion to every model. Highlights make the real, what it takes to get there makes it count. There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Actually, I have to make a lock down Gators. Your first listen of the day every day. We are available daily and free. We have to podcast and on YouTube. The Florida Gators have one of the most interesting backup battles that you're going to see. It's backup and not really backup because it's running back to and running back to is going to play. You have Jayden Ball as your starter. There's no doubt about what he's going to bring to the table. That is an NFL running back that you get for one more year. It's six foot one, 228 pounds, creates yards after contact, makes people miss, has great vision.

11:38Jayden Ball is going to be the NFL. I don't know when he's going to get drafted. I think the teams are going to need to see his long speed. But realistically, I don't care when he gets drafted. He should be one of the first running backs drafted. Realistically, I don't care when he gets drafted because I know he's going to be successful. I think a lot of us know I'm not really the type to go. I know this guy is going to be good. I'll do that usually. Jayden Ball is just him. No other way to put it. He's him with me. I hate myself for saying that. I just want to make that clear with everybody. I hate myself for saying that. But at running back to, you've got an open competition there, right? And it's mostly between three backs. I know a lot of people like to say four, maybe, right? Like maybe. But I think the best way for us to look at it is it's probably between these three. It's Evan prior London Montgomery and Duke Clark. And the fourth

12:40that people will talk about is Byron Lewis. And I'm not saying that it's not him. He's just not someone that, you know, we've seen Duke Clark. We didn't see a time. Duke Clark registered last year. I know the people were like, Oh, he played. He registered. He was banged up, but registered. And so I look at him like, All right, like we'll see what we get with him. But as far as thinking anything's a guarantee, no, right? But Evan prior is the guy that I think is going to be running back to. I've said before we're like, the speed that he has is real and true and just just home run hitting home run threatening speed every time he touches the ball. And I'll acknowledge that he did a lot of that against big 12 defenses that were specifically not built to stop the wrong. Big 12 teams suck at run defense. Okay, that's not a lie. That's not a fluke. That's that's nothing

13:47other than the truth. Because they do. I wrote about it the other day for Swamp signal dot sub psych dot com, of course. And in it, I wrote that, you know, every power for conference had at least six teams that held opponents to under 120 rushing yards. Okay, at least six teams that held opponents to under 120 rushing hours per game. The big 12 had one. Big 10 and SEC had seven teams that held opponents to under 120 rushing hours per game. The ACC had six. Big 12 had one and it was Texas tech. That's that's a stark gap to me, right? And and stylistically, it's because a lot of the big 12 defenses are still running three three stacks. And those those are success with getting run remember everybody remembers George reverse TCU, right? That was schematically TCU didn't stand a chance.

14:48But Evan prior has clocked over 20 miles per hour in game. 20.8 miles per hour in I think it was 20.8 miles per hour and 20.5 miles per hour. He clocked at different points in 2025. That's fast, right? That's speed that translates. I don't care if you're talking about big 10, dig 12, SEC, ACC, Mac, Mountain West, pack 12. I don't care if you're talking about FCS 20.8 miles per hour is fast. I think he's going to be running back to because I think he's got that home run threat and that home run ability that buster falcon is going to go, yeah, man, I'll just get you the ball in space. I'll run wide zone with you and I'll let you just one cut and go. I think it's really tough to stop that because you're going to look for ball security and of Duke, Evan prior, London Montgomery and Byron Lewis,

15:52none of them have had fumble issues, right? Even the guys that have barely played no fumble issues. You're going to look at vision, all four of them, good vision. They are like that was one thing with Duke and Byron. J. Barger Luke did not recruit running backs that had poor vision. He recruited running backs with really good vision and a feel for the game consistently. They've got vision. None of them are insane athletes between Duke, London, and Byron Lewis, but they're all workable athletes, right? It's really just going to come down to who's got the best vision, who's got ball security and all of them should have and who brings something extra. I think for us right now, we can look at Evan prior and say he brings it speedwise. I don't think that there's any other guy in the room that has an overwhelming trait.

16:58Duke has height, but he's not like a jacked dude, he's 6'2", but he's 200 and 2 pounds, he's 26 pounds lighter than J. Barger. But Duke and he's lighter than he was last year, probably trying to get a little bit faster just an extra step, right? Duke is powerful as a runner, but not overwhelmingly powerful. He doesn't do anything different than, or he doesn't do anything that gets him to stand out from a Jaden ball. Evan prior can stand out a little bit from a Jaden ball because of speed, but everywhere else Jaden ball wins. Is it past catching ability? Duke Clarks had two drops, Evan prior had three drops. London Montgomery didn't have a lot of drops. I actually don't even get any. Byron Lewis, we didn't see play much. London Montgomery, I think the thing he does really well that helps him separate is through traffic, he can make himself small. And I don't mean oh yeah like he's 5'10 194, he's slightly heavier than I've been prior but the same height. But London Montgomery, you watch his film at his

18:02hair in London and he's stepping in between the line and getting like real skinny. And that's trait that you can have there, we can go right, we can run inside zone and you can get really run duo and you can get real skinny and bounce between. And that could be your overwhelming trait. Getting skinny, finding the gap and getting through it, not just having the vision to see it but to actually make it happen. And so I think that you got guys with these traits and I look at Duke and oh my god I Duke brought a lot to the table or brings a lot to the table physically, but we haven't seen anything, same with Byron. I also look at this room and I go all right well Jaden ball is going to be this year and then done. Evan prior is going to be out of eligibility this year, after this year. In 2027 whoever loses these battles, if you can convince in 2027 London Montgomery, Duke Clark and Byron Lewis to come back at least two of the three,

19:02you're talking about not just having great depth in 2026 but already your starters in place for 2027. Being backups in 2026 is not mean that you're not good enough to be a starter in 2027. It means that right now or it could mean because you could be a backup at a spot that's not great but it could mean, which it would mean for the Florida Gators running back room, that you're behind an NFL back in Jaden ball and a potential NFL back in Evan prior. Evan prior should get a shot in the league. It's got amazing speed, home run, hitting ability and he's seen that for years. So you can do that. Running backs in would be really fun. I think it'll be Evan prior is running back to with London Montgomery or Duke Clark as running back three. If you can get again two of those three, as in London Montgomery Duke Clark and Byron Lewis back for 2027, that's going to be a hell of a running back room for the Florida Gators in 2027, especially if Buster's back as the offensive coordinator, especially if Phil Traut lines back as the offensive line coach. Then your own game

20:05is going to be cooking, strength and conditioning. He's going to be going chef's kiss in that running back room. We're going to talk about the tight end room when we get back with knocked on Gators. It is time for the biggest stretch of college basketball season, right? Buzzer beaters, bracket busters, unforgettable moments that everyone's talking about the next day. Being there live for something like that, that's a bucket list stuff. The hard part is always actually getting tickets, right? Long queues, prices jumping around and surprise fees that check out the game time app gives fans the advantage with constant innovation. It's how you unlock amazing tickets and experiences with just a few taps. Take the guess we're going to buy in college basketball, take us with game time, download the game time app, create an account and use code locked on for $20 of your first purchase. Terms apply again, create an account, redeem code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off, download the game time app today and it is time for the five hour energy flavor draft with 18

21:06different flavors to choose from, including new options like confetti craze, fruity rainbow or cotton candy. There's something or every one. The board is set. The flavors are ready and we've got this whole ESPN style set up, right? You got Todd McShay, Mel Piper, everybody's talking about Benjamin Solaag, Matt Miller, they're all over there. They're talking about who's he going to be? Who are they going to take? Cotton candy, confetti craze, cherry, who's going to be strawberry banana? No, no, no, no, no. I throw in a curveball item and I'm throwing a curveball at you too. I know who you think I'm taking. It's why I always talk about it. But no, I read the post it and I said, you know what? Feeling different, chucked it out. I'm taking Hawaiian breeze right now. Give me a good dollar. That's that's that's Hawaiian breeze for me. It's a good dollar. I'll find your new favorite flavor of five hour energy shots available online at five hour energy.com or on Amazon. Thanks for making a lot on Gators. You're first listen of the day.

22:12Every day we are available daily and free with spot guests and on YouTube. Gonna be honest, no idea what the hell I was doing with the give me a good dollar thing. I just it just felt right. Just to be frank, it just felt right. And the Florida Gators are going to have a tight end battle all throughout, right? It's everyone everywhere, all that wants, right? That was the movie except I think it was everything everywhere, a lot of months, whatever it is. The Florida Gators have an interesting tight end room where you're going to see probably three or four tight ends play consistently, which is very different from the billion apier days where it was one or two, right? I mean with billion apier, Hayden Hanson is playing just about every snap, right? There were multiple games where he did not come out of the game for a single time. So multiple games where he did that, played every snap. You would have Tony Livingston come in and rotate and you'd have a mere Jackson place sparingly. And I was very open about this. I spoke with assistants on that coaching staff last year and they were just like, I have no idea

23:22why mere Jackson isn't playing more. I don't. And look, a mere Jackson is someone that came into Florida with a lot of hype and a lot of promise, right? He came in who's basically a wide receiver. I mean, that was one of the reasons that when we talked about him coming over, I was like, look, don't expect to see much from him as a freshman. I know everybody wanted to compare him to Kyle Pits, but realistically, that wasn't happening. He just wasn't going to do it. He came in and was basically a wide receiver. You look at his film at a portal, Georgia, and he's running end-or-owns and he's catching wide receiver screens. He's playing wide receiver legitimately lined up out there. Now he's ready to play, okay? Now he's ready to go and good be a starter this year. If he's as good as the coaching staff told me he was last year, he should be a starter, okay? Then you have Luke Harper, who also came in from I swear if you heard that, that was me dragging

24:24my phone because I got a notification. I swear. Then you have Luke Harper, who's coming in from Georgia Tech with Buster Faulkner, of course. And he was the fourth tight end last year in terms of Snapsplay, but he was the most productive pass catcher of the four. That was his job. You've got Lakota Dippery coming in from James Madison, which he is from Scranton PA, you know, the office, but also from Scranton PA, London Montgomery. Just fun little note, nothing to do with that. No more information, but just they're both from Scranton. But Lakota Dippery comes in from James Madison, and he made some dynamic catches at James Madison. Hell, we watched him in the college while I've heard of an Oregon defender for a touchdown. We saw that. You have Micah Jones, who is the second heaviest tight end in the room, 64265 pounds, and he is a hammer as a blocker, loved his high school film, loved it.

25:30You have Evan Chica coming in from New Haven, tight end 6 foot 4, 257 pounds, two years of eligibility remaining. Could be a legitimate contributor this year. You have Hezzy Kent, who we spoke about yesterday, 6 foot 6, 313 pounds. Don't know what you're going to see from him this year, frankly. And Trip Brown Jr. The walk on tight end for the Florida Gators that joined this year, believe it was a high school, I think believe it was a quarterback in high school at plant. That's your tight end room, right? There is no incumbent returning starter, and John Somal has mentioned, like, I wish we had an incumbent in some spots. He's like, I got a quarterback. I wish we had an incumbent. I wish we had an incumbent. It would be so easy. It's so much easier for me, but you don't tight end. You don't have it. You've got a mere Jackson who didn't play much. You've got Luke Harper, who is incumbent from the last offense,

26:33or from your last spot with your offensive coordinator, but he was tied in four, who by the way, that Z still played more than a mere Jackson did. He was tied in four, and a mere was tied in three. Lakota DiPri was tied in one with James Madison, but again, coming over, and I will say this with Lakota. First off, I'm sorry if that's not how you pronounce your name. Secondly, there were major question marks for me on his film when he faced powerful competition. So I got to see what he's going to be like as well. But the way that I'm looking at it now is that you're going to have two guys that we can list the starting credits. A Y is your traditional inline guy. You can say H. You can say F. I don't know what Buster is going to call it at Florida. You can say H. You can say F. Some teams will say U. Everyone has different names. The thing you'll learn about football is that there's a thousand ways to say the same crap.

27:34Really is. I can call something something, and you can go, I know it is this, and it's like, okay, that's cool. We just learned from different sources, probably. But you'll probably see a Y in inline guy that could be Lakota DiPri, Micah Jones, Evan Sheikah as he can. You could see your H as Amir Jackson, Luke Harper, maybe that's Micah Jones, maybe that's Evan Sheikah. The only thing I know is that Lakota DiPri should be playing the Y. I think Micah Jones should be playing the Y, and Amir Jackson and Luke Harper should be playing the H or the F. I normally call it the F, but they should be playing that. Okay, they're the passing of your types. I've said there's going to be times you'll probably see two tight ends, and they're both Ys, or they're both F, Sir Hs, or whatever you want to call them. It's going to be really fun. It's going to be really interesting. This tight end room has a lot of bodies, like I've said, from this past off season. I don't know if the tight ends in 2026

28:40are going to be better than 2025, but I know they're going to be more dynamic, and I'm looking forward to that. Thanks for making Lakota DiPri. You're a person of the day. Every day we are available daily and free of as the podcast, and on YouTube, as always, I am Brandon Olson. Thanks for making Lakota DiPri. It was your first listen of the day. If you didn't hear, John Summroll, next Thursday. Give me a hell of a show. Give me a hell of a show. If you want to find all my written work, go to SwampSignal.sepsack.com. If you want to find me on Twitter or X, or whatever you want to call it, it's WNS, or underscore Brandon, and I'll see you all next time.