Scouting Report: New Florida Gators OT Jordan Herman
Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: Alex Shepherd
Although the Florida Gators haven't been as active in the transfer portal since the end of spring camp as they anticipated, UF pulled in an intriguing commitment from junior college offensive tackle Jordan Herman on Tuesday and addressed a big need in doing so.
No, the Hutchinson Community College product won't be expected to play immediately in orange and blue, but head coach Billy Napier has admitted that the Gators' offensive line depth is in need of improvement.
With some time to develop in the offensive scheme, Herman can surely bolster depth and perhaps eventually find his way onto the field.
AllGators has composed a scouting report of Herman's game below.
Background
High school: Fort Mill (S.C.), class of 2022
Junior college: Hutchinson C.C. (Kan.)
College experience: Two years, 12 games (10 starts)
Size: 6-foot-8, 370 pounds, solid arm length for a player of his height
Projected position: Left tackle
Areas of strength
My first thought while watching Herman is that offensive line coaches Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton have very quickly defined their prototype at offensive tackle: Massive human beings.
It started with the transfer acquisition of Kamryn Waites, who Stapleton coached for one season at Louisiana before the coaching staff made the move to Gainesville. Waites and Herman are close to carbon copies physically, as Waites stands at 6-foot-8, 358 pounds.
At his daunting size, Herman also plays with a ton of power. He routinely ragdolls opposing rushers with his absurd upper-body strength — when Herman gets his hands locked into the defender's chest, he takes control of the rep and typically finishes by throwing the defender into the dirt or driving them far away from the action on a given play.
This can be seen most often when Herman run blocks, but it has been displayed in pass protection as well. Herman's initial punch against rushers is lethal and when it is completed cleanly, tending to throw a defender off of their rush angle and remove their leverage completely.
The strength of Herman's game is his run blocking. He's surprisingly explosive out of his stance as a down-blocker, immediately shooting into the interior and knocking defensive tackles out of their gap. From there, Herman's overwhelming upper-body power does the rest of the work.
He's also shown the ability to twist and seal blocks on the edge and at the second level, impressive skills for a player of his size as such moves require solid athleticism. Herman has showcased quick thinking on extended plays, regularly looking for and picking up extra blocks as the play moves his way.
Although he has work to do as a pass protector, Herman's kick-step is encouraging. He creates a long-stride with each step in order to match the footwork of quicker edge rushers working his outside shoulder, indicating that he does not play stiffly.
Herman will need to speed up his ability to take on inside counter moves, which will come with improved balance (we'll touch on that in the next section), but the foundation of solid footwork as a pass blocker is there for Sale and Stapleton to build upon.
Areas needing improvement
While huge offensive tackles can impose their will with great strength and technique, there are also some natural downsides to being a 6-foot-8 lineman that Florida will need to work around as it pertains to Herman.
When it comes to playing football in the trenches, the lower man almost always wins the battle between offensive and defensive lineman. Even with great balance, it's hard for 6-foot-8 linemen to ever be the lowest man in a one-on-one, meaning Herman will need to polish his footwork and hip fluidity in order to keep himself upright even if he stands above the competition.
That being said, at his height, Herman will also want to work on not standing too upright and instead will want to learn how to sink his hips effectively. He could be seen standing too upright in his JUCO tape, which led to a lack of technical leverage in pass protection. Fortunately, at that level of football, Herman was often able to recover due to his overpowering strength, simply able to toss defenders around whenever he got his hands on them.
Getting hands on SEC-caliber defenders, however, is far more difficult to do than it is at the JUCO level, as SEC defenders are much more athletic and far more powerful. In addition to refined footwork, Herman will need to perfect his hand usage as well.
The raw power in Herman's punch is fantastic, but his timing and target accuracy will need to improve. He'll also need to eliminate grabbiness from his play in protection as it can lead to holding penalties, which he luckily avoided at Hutchinson perhaps more than he should have.
Final thoughts
Like Waites, Herman is a raw tackle prospect who isn't be ready to take the field for UF in meaningful action quite yet. However, he brings all of the physical attributes to the table that Florida is looking for at offensive tackle, and he'll surely be a fun player for Sale and Stapleton to develop.
As of now, Herman and Waites are expected to man the No. 2 offensive tackle roles on each side of the line, Herman at left tackle and Waites at right tackle. Herman could be pushed by redshirt freshman Austin Barber as the primary left-side backup, but that will be determined in fall camp later this year.
Look for UF to continue to trend of prioritizing tall and long offensive tackles as it has done with Herman and Waites. Priortity 2023 recruits Payton Kirkland (6-foot-6), Lucas Simmons (6-foot-8) and Monroe Freeling (6-foot-7) are prime examples.
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