Jon Sumrall questions NCAA over tampering issues: 'I don't know what's enforced right now'

As new Florida coach Jon Sumrall took the stage for his National Signing Day press conference on Wednesday, he immediately faced one of the most pressing questions in the sport. Does the NCAA need better enforcement or player contracts that can be a bit more binding?

Sumrall was quick with his answer. It’s a nuanced topic.

“Are we going to become the NFL and you have collective bargaining and employment status?” he asked. “That’s a whole different set of issues.”

As to the thrust of the question, Jon Sumrall got serious. He knew exactly what was being asked.

“I don’t know what’s enforced right now,” he said. “So like I know it’s been a hot topic the last couple weeks of somebody tampered with this guy or this guy. Yeah, no kidding, because nothing gets done. So who cares?”

The new Florida coach then reframed the question and answered what he believed was truly being asked. That was about tampering in the sport, which has become a hot-button issue.

Are there ways the NCAA could negate tampering? Right now it sure doesn’t seem like it.

“If you want to know is there tampering, yeah everybody’s tampered,” Jon Sumrall said. “Every player on our team got tampered with. They all did. One hundred percent of them have been tampered with. I’m not losing my mind with it because it’s just what happens.”

There’s another element to it, one that carries equal concerns about enforcement. That’s the transfer portal.

While the NCAA shrank the length of time the portal is open and narrowed things from two portal windows to one, there remain some issues. Jon Sumrall explained.

“And the transfer portal, I know there’s dates around it,” he said. “It’s always open. It’s always open. So I mean anybody that’s freaking out, like, ‘I can’t believe they tampered…’ well until there’s any penalties for it, what’s going to stop anyone from doing it?

“I’m not doing it, OK, but there’s always like the back-channel communication of, ‘Hey this guy may leave’ from the agent or the high school coach or whatever. So I don’t feel like there’s a whole lot that really gets enforced.”