Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It was announced on Dec. 7 that Troy head football coach Jon Sumrall has been selected for induction into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023.

This was Sumrall’s first year on the ballot of the Athletic Hall of Fame in his hometown of Huntsville. Other Class of 2023 inductees include baseball player Adam Bass, football player Darrel Blackburn, track and field coach David Cain, football player Kenyon Hambrick, swimmer Margaret Hoelzer, wrestler Turner Jackson, volleyball coach Holly Richards, hockey player Jared Ross, basketball player Marvin Stone, outdoorsman Dr. Warren Strickland and football player Gary Wagner.

Sumrall and his wife, Ginny, both grew up in Huntsville. He was a two-time all-state linebacker at Grissom High School before going on to play college football at Kentucky, where he led the Wildcats in tackles with 72 as a senior in 2004. Following his playing career, Sumrall jumped into coaching as a graduate assistant at Kentucky. His first full-time coaching job came at the University of San Diego, where he served as defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007 until 2009 when he became assistant head coach and co-defensive coordinator. In 2012, he joined the staff at Tulane as co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.

In 2014, Sumrall coached the linebackers at Tulane – along with serving as co-defensive coordinator – before becoming the assistant head coach, linebackers coach and strength and conditioning coach at Troy under Neal Brown in 2015. In 2018, Sumrall accepted a position as linebackers coach at Ole Miss and then returned to his alma mater to coach inside linebackers at Kentucky in 2019 and 2020. In 2021, Sumrall became co-defensive coordinator before accepting the position at Troy as head coach.

Sumrall’s first year as a head coach has been an eventful one, as his Trojans have gone 11-2, won 11 straight games, won the Sun Belt Championship and Sumrall has been named Sun Belt Coach of the Year. He’s also a finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year.

Sumrall and the other Class of 2023 inductees will be honored at a ceremony on April 10, 2023, at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville.