Florida guard O’Cyrus Torrence made the jump from the Sun Belt Conference to the SEC look easy. From First Team All-Sun Belt in 2021 to a First Team All-American for the Florida Gators in 2022, Torrence is now looking to make the jump the NFL.
Today Torrence met with the media at the NFL Combine and talked about his jump to a Power Five Conference and what it showed NFL teams.
“It showed teams that I could switch and be in a different environment and also compete at a higher level,” Torrence said. “But also be able to flip the switch faster being able to get to know new people, new teammates and being able to get comfortable in a new spot and being able to still perform under a lot of pressure in a different area that I’m maybe not used to. I feel like it helped out a lot.”
Torrence performed at all levels, not allowing a sack in his last three years at the collegiate level according to PFF. This past season, he flawlessly made the jump to Florida where he finished the year with a PFF grade of 88 where he helped block Florida’s 37th ranked offense to 424.1 yards per game.
The Pittsburgh Steelers who may want to move on from left guard Kevin Dotson may find themselves thinking the man who once played Dotson on the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns may also be the man to replace him in Pittsburgh. Dotson and Torrence played together in 2019 on the Ragin’ Cajuns line.
Torrence, listed at 6’5″ 347 pounds could be a road grading guard to pair with James Daniels on the Steelers offensive line to help Najee Harris and the rushing attack reach new heights. An upgrade in pass blocking over Dotson, it would make sense for Pittsburgh to go after a great guard considering in recent times they seem to prioritize guards over tackles, drafting two guards, David DeCastro and Alan Faneca, in the first round more recently than a tackle in the first round (1996 Jamain Stephens).
So far Torrence has met with Pittsburgh, but not at the NFL Combine so that will be something to watch.
“I had met [with the Steelers] at the Senior Bowl but not here.”
While there are links to Torrence given the Dotson connection and the meeting at the Senior Bowl, it will be interesting to see if they want to meet with him again the the NFL Combine. If not it may be a bit less likely that Torrence ends up in the Black and Gold on draft night.
