Florida Gators’ Gervon Dexter, O’Cyrus Torrence picked on NFL Draft Day 2
The optimism around Gervon Dexter was so extreme Friday that a former Miami Hurricane — Devin Hester — did the Gator chomp to celebrate his Chicago Bears drafting the former Florida defensive lineman in the second round.
The buzz is warranted; Dexter has a lot of potential. The 6-foot-6, 310-pound Lake Wales native was a five-star signee under Dan Mullen but arrived in Gainesville very raw. He was a two-year starter for the Gators and recorded 55 tackles (four for a loss) last season.
But he was inconsistent and hasn’t yet approached his ceiling. Some of that stems from the situation he faced at Florida, where the Gators where thin on the interior of the defense. That forced Dexter to play more snaps than he should have, hindering his play.
“Gervon is an ascending talent with an unlimited ceiling,” Gators defensive line coach Sean Spencer said. “He wants to be great and will push himself on and off the field to get there. The Bears just got a steal.”
Dexter is the second Gators player taken this draft. Quarterback Anthony Richardson was the No. 4 overall pick to the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night.
Three picks after Dexter was selected, the Bears traded up to pick former Miami defensive back Tyrique Stevenson — the first Hurricane taken so far.
Former Gators guard O’Cyrus Torrence went to the Bills with the No. 59 overall selection. Torrence was regarded as one of the best offensive linemen in the class after earning first-team All-American honors in his only season at Florida. The 6-foot-5, 330-pound guard finished his college career without allowing a sack (though he did allow one hurry), which made him a fringe first-round prospect.
His trip to the draft is one of the unlikeliest in Gators history. He grew up in a small town (Greensburg, La.), where the cell phone service was so spotty that he had to move to one corner of his house or step outside to take recruiting calls. Not that there were many; Billy Napier, then the head coach at Louisiana, was one of the few coaches interested in him. That’s because his offensive film was mediocre, though he looked much better on defense.
Torrence’s recruitment headed up late, but he turned down interest from Georgia and others to sign with Napier’s Ragin’ Cajuns. He ended up starting 36 games there before following Napier to Florida, where he was one of the brightest spots on a 6-7 team.
The Eagles selected Illinois safety Sydney Brown in the third round (No. 66 overall); the native Canadian spent two seasons at Bradenton’s St. Stephen’s Episcopal School.
This story will be updated.
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