GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) 鈥� Florida coach has a new appreciation for the gator chomp.
Sumrall got while posing for promotional pictures with a live alligator last week. It was enough to prompt Sumrall to backpedal like his college playing days at Kentucky.
鈥淚鈥檓 pretty certain I鈥檇 look like Chubbs from Happy Gilmore if the alligator had gotten close to my hand,鈥� Sumrall joked Tuesday following his first spring practice at Florida. 鈥淵eah, that was cool, man.鈥�
A little nerve-racking, too.
鈥淚n my mind, I had this visual image of we鈥檙e going to have like a little baby alligator, like a 1-foot alligator you might see on a riverboat cruise in Louisiana, mouth鈥檚 taped,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 walk up and there鈥檚 this 7-foot alligator.
鈥淚鈥檓 like, 鈥楬ang on. What am I doing here?鈥� They鈥檙e like, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to take some pictures. You can get this close.鈥� I鈥檓 like, 鈥楲ook, during COVID I wasn鈥檛 allowed to get this close to people. I don鈥檛 know about an alligator.鈥�”
The alligator was named Helena and was from a nearby gator farm. She may have been relatively friendly, but she was far from trained. She walked in and out of shots while Sumrall flipped a football 鈥� and eventually turned on the former Troy and Tulane head coach.
鈥淎s soon as I started to get kind of comfortable 鈥� I鈥檓 like, 鈥楢ll right, this thing isn鈥檛 going to do anything crazy, I don鈥檛 think.鈥� I get 4 or 5 feet away and it starts to kind of hiss a little and it snaps,” he said. “I鈥檓 like, 鈥榃hat the hell is going on? I鈥檓 out of here.鈥欌��
He didn鈥檛 actually bail. Helena simmered down, and they got the photos done. But it was an experience Sumrall won鈥檛 soon forget.
鈥淚鈥檓 not necessarily looking for when that鈥檚 coming up on my schedule again,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it was a fun experience.鈥�
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