Florida Gators 2020 Signee Profile: DB Mordecai McDaniel
Mordecai McDaniel, Defensive Back
School: St. John’s High School (Washingon, D.C.)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-1, 195 pounds
247Sports Composite Rating: Four stars, No. 27 CB, No. 5 state (D.C.), No. 358 national
Recruitment History
A product of St. John’s High School in Washington, D.C., Mordecai McDaniel was a sought after safety prospect for numerous big-name schools around the country. With offers from the likes of Notre Dame, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, and Florida, McDaniel had a plethora of options to chose from during his recruitment.
Electing to commit to Tennessee at the beginning of his senior season, the Volunteers held the four-star prospect in their class until just a week before Early National Signing Day.
Seeing the opportunity to find early playing time at the University of Florida, given the current state of the team’s safety room, McDaniel would jump ship from SEC East foe Tennessee on December 13, 2019.
Signing his letter of intent less than a week later on ESD, the athletic prospect played a vital role in bolstering a lackluster Gators safety class to that point on December 18, 2019.
Long-Term Projection and Outlook
Track speed, the main feature of McDaniel’s game that pops off his film.
Winning the DCSAA 55 meter dash in 6.45 seconds his senior year of high school, the 6-1, 195 lbs. defensive back brings a multi-dimensional presence, who excels when making plays on the ball, to the back-end of the Gators defense.
Playing at a multitude of positions throughout his high school career—safety, cornerback, wide receiver, and special teamer—McDaniel is set to focus in on a safety position that is in desperate need of a star.
Excelling when he is free to play downhill, the ideally sized defensive back is physical at the point of contact given his muscular build.
With an instinctive diagnosis of where the ball carrier is headed and a consistency in the angles he takes in pursuit, McDaniel brings an increased level of tackling from sideline-to-sideline that has been absent from the Florida secondary in recent memory.
Relying on his high-end speed at the high school level, there is a need for McDaniel to polish his footwork to become a legitimate threat in college. Already displaying a skillset that has the potential to make him a truly dynamic athlete while in college, the St. John’s product still has learning to do in order to become a complete player at UF.
However, with improvements in that area, his already incredible versatility to play down in the box, along with his ability to line up deep in split zone coverage concepts, McDaniel is a prototypical safety prospect that brings an extra piece to all facets of Florida’s defensive play.
When McDaniel’s time arrives, expect to see him flying around the rear of the Gators defense, being used deep in coverage, as an extra defender in the box, off the edge as a pass rusher, and in numerous other different ways in the ultra-aggressive Todd Grantham scheme.
Until then, McDaniel is yet another newcomer that could see the beginning of their time in Gainesville coming in the form of special teams contributor.