Take a walk through practice for the Under-Armour All-American game and you’ll bump into most of the nations most highly touted recruits. Five and four star prospects from some of the biggest and most successful high schools in the country and guys that are looking to replicate that in college. Which means most of these athletes you’re bumping into will be committed to places like Florida State, Alabama and Auburn.
Of the 104 players though, you will only come across one that is set on Gainesville, at least for now. Tyler Jordan, an offensive lineman from Bishop Kenny High School, comes into the week as the sole Florida commit, and with that distinction comes a responsibility; do some recruiting of his own.
Jordan has a list of guys he’s focused on for the next few days.
“Abdul Bello (offensive tackle, FSU commit), of course [Christian] Pellage (offensive tackle, South Carolina commit), Ray-Ray [McCloud] (running back, Clemson commit), Deondre Francois (QB, FSU commit), Byron [Cowart] (defensive end, uncommitted), a bunch of people.”
Before he can convince them to go to Florida though, he gets a chance to see what playing with them would be like.
“I’m excited that I have a chance to compete with the best”, Jordan said about the week.
And with all these guys around, that means the sports world has eyes on Orlando, a fact Jordan is aware of and ready for.
“I mean I’m not a five star, I’m not really a high ranked guy so I’m excited for the chance I have to prove myself in front of the nation.”
Some of those eyes will be apart of Gator Nation, who gets to see how Jordan could fit into head coach Jim McElwain’s new offense. Jordan is ready to see how that’s going to work out as well.
“I like it. I’m looking forward to it. Definitely. I’m excited to see what the future holds.”
That future will for sure hold McElwain and Doug Nussemeir, who between them won three championships at Alabama as offensive coordinators.
“I like ‘em. They all know their stuff. They’ve been in championship programs and they know how to win.”
Now Jordan has a week to convince others of the same.