2023 DL Jordan Hall Sees Change in Florida Gators Philosophy, Work Ethic
There's a bit of a different mentality within the Florida Gators football program this year. That's been said by plenty, including various coaches, players and recruits.
Recently, Florida hosted dozens of recruits for a 7-on-7 camp, held on Wednesday, getting an opportunity for players to showcase their skills and put a little more work in before making a decision on what program they'll be taking their talents to.
That was the case for 2023, Westside (Fla) defensive lineman Jordan Hall, who participated in the camp and got a hands-on coaching experience from Florida DL coach Sean Spencer and various other staff members.
That experience, Hall told reporters following the camp, was eye-opening and gave Hall a bit of an insight as to what type of mentality Florida is taking heading into its first season under head coach Billy Napier.
"I felt like getting that connection with him, working with him, I felt like that was beneficial for me, and my recruitment aspect because you don't want to work with a coach you never worked with before," Hall said of Spencer. "So just getting that environment and getting that love, truly from him, and this experience of working with him. I feel like that was the biggest thing for me."
Hall, 6-foot-4, 300 pounds is ranked as a four-star athlete and the No. 17 defensive lineman in the 2023 recruiting class, according to On3 consensus. He's also ranked as the No. 133 player nationally and the No. 27 player in all of Florida.
His recruitment is a slow process, willing to wait it out until potentially after his senior season, but he's still got a chance to see a team like Florida stand out, visiting them a few times in the past. Now, he was able to take his talents on the field and have some fun.
Learning from Spencer, Hall noted that his coaching style was more of a technician, working on players' hands, pad level, and hips, and making sure that he fixes all of the little things in a player's game. After working with him, it did move Spencer up a bit in Hall's mind as far as his recruitment goes, though.
"I think that's one of the better things about him is [he's] an accountable perfectionist [coach]," Hall said. "So, doing that and seeing that, I feel like that gave him a bigger leap in my recruitment, honestly. Having someone that wants to make you better at all costs, I like that a lot."
Hall was originally offered by Florida on June 17, 2021. He visited the campus several times, meeting with the previous coaching staff.
This year, Hall has already been to Florida's campus five times, including this week's camp. Simply put, he knows the Florida football program inside and out and the differences between this year's staff and the previous one.
"I see the work ethic here. Like, coming to that camp, I've never heard a school say 'no hands on hips,' like they stress that more than anything - except for saying Go Gators, everybody said no hands on hips, so I feel like that's the best thing I've seen from them," Hall said when asked about the differences he sees in the staffs and practices.
"The work ethic, the pace and how they push everybody, they want to stay conditioned and safe. So, honestly, that's probably the biggest thing that I've seen over time."
Hall still has plenty of time to go through his recruitment process. Though he's slated to visit Auburn on Friday and Louisville on July 29th for an unofficial visit.
He isn't planning on taking his official visits until during the season, likely near the end of the year, and currently isn't planning on taking an OV to Florida as he's been to the campus plenty of times already this year.
Hall has plenty of teams on his mind, including Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, Clemson, South Carolina, Miami, Oregon, Alabama, Michigan State, Ohio State and USC. Those, including Florida, were within his "top 12" released earlier this year in March.
Hall reiterated later in the interview that he wants to make sure he is making the best decision he can before committing, likely committing on Early Signing Day in December or on National Signing Day in February.
Regardless, he's already taking online classes to get set to graduate to enroll early in whichever university ultimately lands him.
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