Jon Sumrall describes Florida's 'gauntlet' workout

In February, Florida‘s football team officially passed “The Gauntlet,” which is a conditioning drill meant to simulate the strenuous nature of grueling drives in games. The Gauntlet begins with six 2 ½-minute rounds. With each run through the circuit, the length of the six rounds decreases.

The Gauntlet must be completed within an hour. This past week, first-year Florida head coach Jon Sumrall pulled back the curtain on the excruciating workout.

“Wednesdays are no lifting. We do the gauntlet on Wednesday morning and Friday morning at 6 a.m. The Gauntlet is six stations,” Sumrall said. “You’re paired up with the same guy all morning, all right. And, the first half, you go to each station for two and a half minutes, and every rep is scored. There’s a winner and a loser to every rep. If there’s a mistake, then we take time off the clock. 

“You have one hour to beat The Gauntlet. If there’s a call back—which means we don’t run full speed from one station to the next—then there’s a call back, and then we restart that station for one extra minute. The stations are essentially agility drills. We might do a bag drill. We might do the hoops, like you see the pass rushers do. A race.”

The Gators had two chances to complete The Gauntlet. Sumrall threatened to postpone the start of spring camp if his team failed to complete the unforgiving fitness test.

Florida strength and conditioning coach Rusty Whitt adopted The Gauntlet from Army head coach Jeff Monken. Whitt has served as the strength and conditioning coach at all three of Sumrall’s head coaching stops.

Whitt was a communication sergeant in the 10th Special Forces Group of the United States Army. While Sumrall didn’t create The Gauntlet, he’s innovated upon the original concept.

“I like what we’ve built through The Gauntlet. I’m not gonna sit and act like I created it,” Sumrall said. “I’ve evolved to there being competition involved, there being more accountability, scoring, and those sorts of things.

“Then, the way we’ve evolved it, it’s become extremely detailed. And so I’ve done it every year since I’ve been a head coach. So as a head coach, we’ve always done it, and I’ll probably never not do it.”