Florida Football Freshman Profile: Don’t get in Jordan Castell’s way
![Florida Gators strength coaches celebrate with Florida Gators safety Jordan Castell (14) after a defensive play during fall football practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, August 5, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F143cb07389d352e96ab92f1b9d74bb86c22f5cc59acd0a33cc78a25dbbca40a9.jpg "Florida Gators strength coaches celebrate with Florida Gators safety Jordan Castell (14) after a defensive play during fall football practice at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, August 5, 2023. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]")
As the season fast approaches for Florida football, we are continuing our series of the freshmen on campus and what the odds are they appear this season with the Gators. If you follow recruiting, these will be household names. But if not, these can be a good refresher to catch you up to speed.
We have previously profiled:
Today we look at a physical presence added to the Gators’ secondary, Jordan Castell.
Florida Football: Get down
Castell was a top 150 prospect from On3 and ESPN, a four-star prospect by Rivals, while 247 only viewed him as a three-star.
Currently listed at 6’2″ and 204 pounds, the safety out of Orlando was noted for his willingness to be physical with opposing wide receivers or even smaller tight ends.
He moves well for someone of his size, and on film, he had solid instincts on how to find the ball, whether he was playing safety or shifted out wide to play corner.
When given the chance, he will truck someone and make them wish they hadn’t gotten in his way.
The one negative that worked against him was that he hadn’t had a verified 40-yard dash time heading into his senior season. He participated in the 110 hurdles once during track season, but his time of 17.44 seconds wasn’t anything amazing. As a reference point, Jeremiah Smith ran 14.34 seconds in the event this past track season.
As part of our series for the website, we have been highlighting all the freshmen for the Gators.
— Hail Florida Hail (@HailFloridaHail) August 15, 2023
Working on a piece for Jordan Castell and was reminded of this clip from his highlight film. pic.twitter.com/vkZ6HByLZh
Odds of redshirting: Low
As we pointed out with Dijon Johnson, Florida only has two returning safeties on the roster with any experience as a Gator. Kamari Wilson will for sure be one starter, but after that, it is a mix of Miguel Mitchell, transfer R.J. Motten, and the three freshmen Billy Napier has in Gainesville this season.
Castell hasn’t had his name pop up a ton, but the bits and pieces he has showcased during open practice have been solid, and he has shown a willingness to be physical and strip the ball away from receivers.
What will dictate whether Castell stays on the field is his ability to diagnose opposing offenses and make sure he knows where to be, because like we saw with Trey Dean, one can be as physical as they want, but they still have to know where to be in coverage.
Castell will get his chance, and we anticipate seeing him a decent amount in the early going.
Next. Aaron Gates keeps grinding. dark