Jordan Scarlett grew frustrated during his freshman season.
Scarlett was a star in high school, the feature of an offense at University School that won back-to-back state championships. He transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas as a senior and rushed for 121 yards and a touchdown in the state championship game, winning his third ring. He was used to being the work horse, the guy his coach depended on every week, so when he rushed just 12 times in the first two games of 2015 he didn’t know what was happening.
“Last year, I felt like I was going to come in, be a big time player and have 100-yard games all the time,” Scarlett said Saturday. “It was a humbling experience.”
Scarlett had to wait his turn as Kelvin Taylor rushed for 1,000 yards. He then found himself in a time-share to start this season. Scarlett did lead the team in carries with 13 in the season opener. The number was a career-high but still not the workload that he was used to or knew that he was capable of. It was a major learning experience.
“Just don’t be selfish and just take every rep. If you’re not taking it physically, take it mentally,” he said. “I think I got a lot of that last year when I got to see how KT (Kelvin Taylor) fought against adversity with good defenses.”
With Jordan Cronkrite and Mark Thompson not making the trip to Jacksonville Scarlett got his chance to shine. The sophomore carried the ball 26 times for 93 yards and a score, splitting carries with freshman Lamical Perine. It was a turning point for Scarlett and the coaching staff.
“I felt great,” Scarlett said after the Georgia game. “I was glad to get all the touches I did. I got to show Coach Mac that I can get through tough sledding.”
The tide turned against Arkansas. Scarlett led the team with five carries but the Gators abandoned the running game when they got down early at Arkansas. Scarlett didn’t revert back to his freshman mentality, where less carries one weekend could have effected him mentally and hurt his preparation the following week. He put in a good week at practice, showing the coaching staff how he’s grown up as a person and a player. They took notice and rewarded him.
Scarlett carried the ball 20 times for a career-high 134 yards against South Carolina.
“It felt great,” he said after the game. “I believe that my coaches finally trust in me and they let me carry the game a little bit.”
The biggest show of trust was in the waning moments of the game. With a 20-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter the Gators went to run out the clock and get out of the Swamp with a win. They turned to Scarlett on seven of the eight rushing attempts in the quarter, showing that they trusted the sophomore to be able to take care of the ball and move the chains.
Despite getting 20 carries for just the second time in his career, Scarlett knew this was his moment and he had to take advantage of it.
“Towards the end of the game I just knew we were in pound mode, you know, trying to go four-minute offense,” he said. “That’s no time to get tired.”
The Gators will go on the road to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers in a must win game next week. LSU only gives up 114 rushing yards a game and have only surrendered five rushing scores on the season but Florida will need Scarlett to lead the ground game again.
“I definitely feel like I’m over the hump of kind of hoping and wishing for the big game,” Scarlett said. “Now I’m just here to play ball. I hope the coaches see that in me too and we can go out and go on this run that we’re about to go on.”