After already inviting Florida Gators coaching legends Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer to watch spring practices earlier this month, Sumrall let another former UF coach watch spring drills on Tuesday, March 31.
Ron Zook, who coached UF between Spurrier and Meyer from 2002-05, watched practice from the sidelines and addressed the team when practice ended. The 71-year-old Zook, who lives part-time south of Ocala on Lake Weir, went 23-14 in three seasons at Florida and recruited several of the starters on UF’s 2006 national title team.
“Everybody reflects back to his time here as the head coach, and that’s what they remember,” Sumrall said. “But you gotta remember he was also on Coach Spurrier’s staff here as a defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator and, you know, there’s several guys on our staff – He helped recruit Mike P (Peterson), he coached Bam Hardmon, Bam’s last year, and he recruited Phil Trautwein here. So, he’s been around this program a lot of different facets.”