Scouting Report: Gators 2023 EDGE Commit Isaiah Nixon
The Florida Gators landed a commitment from blue-chip edge rusher Isaiah Nixon from Lakewood (Fla.) on Tuesday, as he flipped his pledge to UF from UCF shortly after finishing up his official visit in Gainesville.
While flipping a UCF commit to a Power 5 program may not sound that intriguing, this is no ordinary UCF commit.
Nixon is a prospect that holds offers from over 20 other institutions including blue blood programs like Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and USC, and for good reason when you turn on his tape.
The first thing that jumps out when watching Nixon’s tape is his first-step quickness and ability to change direction to chase down a quarterback or ball carrier. While he is still slender at the moment, weighing in at 215 pounds while standing at about 6-foot-4, he has a great frame to with long arms that can add a lot of good weight once he gets into a college weight program.
Nixon does a good job of bending the corner once he gets a step on the offensive tackle to flush the quarterback from the pocket. He displays a great motor and has enough speed to be able to chase quarterbacks and ball carriers down from behind. He also does a good job of using his long arms to disengage from bigger offensive linemen and make tackles near the line of scrimmage.
This can be seen by his high school production, as Nixon has tallied 13 sacks and 30 tackles for loss over the last two years including 10 sacks and 24 tackles for loss in his breakout junior season. His 7.18-second three-cone and 4.49-second 20-yard shuttle results also speed volumes about his athleticism off the edge.
Right now, Nixon is pretty much exclusively a speed rush specialist. And while that works extremely well for him at the high school level, he will have to develop more violent hands and a couple of counter moves that will help him handle much-improved offensive line play at the next level.
His length will certainly help here. With arms long enough to strike from afar as he approaches the point of attack, paired with improved hand usage, Nixon should be able to add several pass rush moves to his arsenal such as the long-arm, cross-chop and swim move, among others.
Given his skill-set, physical profile and experience at a similar position in high school, Nixon is expected to man the JACK rush end position at Florida and be developed by outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson.
All in all, Nixon is a great pickup for the Gators, providing Florida with a prospect who can develop into a premier pass rusher at the next level and will live in opposing backfields. He has all of the physical tools you look for in an edge recruit and the potential to develop into a game-wrecker once he adds a little weight and technique.
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