After battling constant injuries throughout his career as a Gator, Alabama native Jaydon Hill is healthy and flourishing in his new role on defense.
The redshirt junior has totaled 12 tackles (six solo) with two pass breakups and one TFL through six weeks. The transition from cornerback to the star (nickel) position is truly starting to pay off for Jaydon Hill in 2023.
“I looked at it more so as a team need, and with my skill set I feel like that I could come into that position and play pretty well. I’ve embraced that role,” Hill said on his position change. “I’m just still trying to fill it out, but I feel like I’m doing pretty decent at that position. For me personally, I feel I can play any position in the secondary. With this offer being offered to me to play star, it’s like why not.”
It’s never easy switching roles as a football player regardless of position on offense or defense. When playing nickelback, the game moves faster because your role comes with more responsibility.
“I would say things happen a lot faster as far as the urgency of getting lined up, urgency of getting a call to the cornerback, safety. It’s not just you who has to call, you must relay it to everybody,” Hill said on adjusting to his new position. “It kind of just came with reps. Repetition and I would say just out there with those wideouts every day just banging and defeating blocks. So, it comes with just experience and reps.”
Compared to his former position at cornerback, the physicality in-between the hashes and inside the box has been the biggest adjustment for Hill this season.
“You’ve got to take on blocks,” Hill said on how much physicality this position requires. “I’ve got to take on linemen, pulling in linemen. It’s not always fun. We don’t always get the credit. But I make the gaps smaller for Shemar and Scooby to make the tackle. I love it. I love it for those guys.”
Over the summer, the former cornerback made it a priority to increase his numbers in the weight room, and that’s been evident so far this season. The ability Hill has to shed blocks and make tackles in space is something this secondary has been missing for some time.
“Really with my body and numbers, as far as like my weight, I gained a couple pounds of muscle, and like my numbers in the weight room are pretty good,” Hill said on his goals over the summer back in July.
After putting on significant muscle mass, the 6-0, 195-pound redshirt junior has only gotten faster and quicker with the help of this training staff.
“I would say explosive. I feel like I’ve gotten a bit more explosive as far as just being healthy and having this full year of health and just working in the weight room with those guys — Ed, Tiger, Coach Hocke — just keep my body going. That twitch, it’s something we work on in the weight room, like in the off-times it’s more so of just like — like I said earlier, it comes with reps. It comes with you just keep doing it,” Hill said on his explosiveness. “It’s really just that first step that’s kind of like where I was like trying to catch back up on last year.”
Several players on both defense and offense have stepped into important leadership roles after being around the program for a few years. As a former cornerback, Hill has become a mentor for many players and continues to see strides from the young freshmen in the room.
“Like Bryce, Jordan, Ja’Keem, being out there with those guys, and I will say those guys are really mature,” Hill said on the freshmen. “They took that step as far as the urgency because that’s the biggest thing we preach is urgency. As a freshman coming in, kind of laid back but you understand you’re a play away from playing. Those guys are playing now and they were just in high school a couple months ago. It’s like the time is now and y’all are — like, I’m a couple years older, but y’all are out on the same field as me playing on the same secondary, we have to be on the same page.”
The maturity level of that group is an understatement; In the second quarter against Vanderbilt, freshman cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson got beat deep on a 52-yard pass to Junior Sherrill. Just a couple plays later, Jackson kept his head up and recorded two pass breakups and a big stop on fourth down in the red zone to give the Gators the ball back.
“I probably saw that big play Ja’Keem gave up, but then got the two big stops to get us off the field. That’s grown-man football,” Hill said on Jackson. “That’s that stuff we love to see. With him being a young guy and not knowing, like, the impact he just had on that play, that’s big. He doesn’t even understand why we’re so happy.”
Jaydon Hill has evolved as a leader and is thriving in his new role on defense. According to PFF, Hill was Florida’s fourth highest-graded defensive player last week at 80.8.
The third-year defensive back has improved every week under Coach Raymond and Coach Armstrong while proving to be what the Gators needed at nickelback for many years. With Florida traveling to Columbia this weekend on the road, Hill has another opportunity for success on Saturday.