Lions scouts visited 5 Florida Gators games - a more in depth look

A while back ago this report came out.

Many took this to mean the Lions were interested in QB Anthony Richardson at 6OA. There’s been multiple threads on the den about it and let’s for arguments sake leave AR15 out if this thread and conversation. If you want to discuss that choose one of the many other threads about it. Not this one please!

I believe that AR15 wasn’t their only reason to goto these games and very possibly not the main reason. I want to discuss those other possibilities.

  1. OG O’Cyrus Torrance - The Lions struggled through IOL problems all season. It’s very possible Big V could be a cap casualty and that Torrance was a reason they were at those Gator games. I like Torrance. He has good measurables and has 4 years of experience as a starter. He’s taken over 3000 snaps and hasn’t given up a single sack.

I expect OG to be a priority in the draft and it wouldn’t shock me if we grab one round two. I seriously believe Torrance is on our radar. He very possibly could be the main reason our scouts were at those games.

  1. LB Ventrell Miller - He played 4 season for the Gators. Well technically 5 but red shirted on one. He’s a very interesting prospect. A versatile chess piece who can drop in coverage, set an edge, blitz and plays well against the run. Most draft sites are projecting him in the middle rounds but I think he brings a lot of value to as team like the Lions. We seem to value players who are high motor and versatile. That is Miller. Also the Lions seem to be unwilling to spend high draft capitol on LBers. Miller could be in play in rounds 3-5. It wouldn’t shock me if he was the reason for some of those visits.

  2. DT Gervon Dexter Sr. - Another versatile chess piece. Dexter has played DE, 3T and NT. He can be moved along the DL and provide quality dept. He was a 5 star recruit out of HS. He’s explosive off the ball. He’s a tough guy to scout and could be the main player we were looking at in this draft. If the Lions fail to get Carter… Dexter could be our target. It wouldn’t shock me if Dexter went as high as round two but he could be our target in round 3.

Thoughts on these 3 prospects? …. Let’s talk about them.

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Another guy in late day 3 could be Justin Shorter WR as a developmental type. He was a very highly rated recruit who first went to Penn State before transferring to Florida. He’s a 6’4" X type WR (maybe if he can learn how to get a release off press coverage better). I don’t think they went to see him five times specifically or anything, but another player that could be on their deep radar.

The Chargers sent 2 scouts to see Anthony Richardson along with the Lions. Herbert’s days in LA are numbered.

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Dexter might be spot on with one of the 2nds if they go cb/cb in rd 1

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I like all 3,
Miller is a guy I’ve been on in the later rds, he’s exactly what you said.

Dexter has all the tools you want just needs to put it together our coaching staff may be just what he needs. The guy is a freak.

O’Cyrus Torrance he just seems like a plug and play player at a position of need, and makes this Oline even stronger. As our running game

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What 5 Games what is it…who were the Gators playing?

All 3 of the prospects you mentioned should be high on our board I’d imagine

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Didn’t Houston play for Florida before transferring? Might have seen some guys they liked while scouting him as well.

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O’Cyrus is one bad motorfinger ! more than 3,000 snaps and not one sack-whew.

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Which brings up another point. Going to scout a team/school is about more than just scouting the prospects who are immediately available to draft.

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O’Cyrus and Sewell on one side just looks too good to be true.

He could be the sprint to podium guy at #18.

We took Decker at 16, Cherilus 17, Ragnow 20.

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I feel like this is where good teams pass on a shiny RB in the 1st like Bijan and instead go with an o lineman such as O Cyrus at pick 18. They then draft a RB in the later rounds. It’s really hard because Bijan is really good but keeping that offensive line stocked is a RBs wet dream.

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I suspect no one sees what Torrrence can do in a phone booth and doesn’t love him, but is he a fit?

At least since Ben has been in charge, we’ve sent our guards on the move a ton. That’s the weakest part of Torrence’s game. Now he’s similar to Vaitai who we didn’t pull with quite as much, but we sent him to the second level pretty regularly, and you don’t see that a lot from Torrence. I think he might be power scheme only.

Otherwise I agree that Miller and Dexter will be on our board. But the question then is how often do we send scouts to watch LBs and OGs and DTs and other non-QB positions play?

Five seems like a lot, no matter how many prospects they had. I mean Illinois, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Clemson, Iowa, Texas, USC, etc… all have at least as many or more prospects than Florida this year, and you don’t hear anything about us flooding their games with scouts. There could be extraneous reasons for it, sure, but I tend to go with Occam’s Razor in these situations… the simplest answer is usually the right one.

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SEC is talent rich across the board.

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Then why not Georgia, Alabama, LSU? What was it about Florida that inspired us to go to 5 of their games?

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Do we know what games they scouted or didn’t scout?
Do we know if one or two of the UF games were cross checkers?
Wanting to see UF QB, OG, perform against specific SEC dlines or defenses.
Do we know if this is the only SEC school that they scouted more than once, twice, thrice, four or five times?
Saying SEC is talent rich doesn’t exclude the possibility it was just for UF. I think I read they attended the Vandy game(from you iirc) and also scouted the UF at UT game. So did they go to Knoxville for UT or for UF, or both. You would seem to be implying just for UF.

Not Hooker or Hyatt etc etc

For sure they went to see other prospects as well. And you’re right we don’t know all the games they attended and I’m willing to admit I could be wrong. Maybe we really did go see Florida play because we were interested in Torrence, Miller and Dexter and that was it. I wouldn’t bet on it, but it’s possible.

It’s just strange to me that with all these great prospects in the SEC, we would continue to watch them against Florida. I can only see one reason for it.

And I’m not saying we’re still interested in Richardson. Maybe what we learned from those 5 games was he’s not right for us. But I really believe we were interested, and it wouldn’t shock me if we still were.

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If they took a DL at 6 and Torrance at 18, Brad Holmes can do whatever he wants the rest of the draft as far as I’m concerned. Kicker in the 5th? Don’t care. LS in the 7th? Don’t care.

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Imagine DE Tyree and RG Torrence

That’s just building off our strengths and I love it.

Day 2

DB DT DB

Day 3

DB RB K QB whatever

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I think Richardson is definitely part of it.
I also think if they are that high on Richardson or other UF players they want to see them play against high end talent.
I still don’t know how much of an exception UF is for the scouts along with scout checkers going to another UF game. Did we only scout other SEC teams once and UF 5x or did we go to multiple UGA or Tenn games.

I just can’t find anything showing what games they went too or didn’t go to.
Yes, it’s a slow work day or, multiple conf calls.

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I think they definitely went to more Florida games than the others. That’s why it got reported, it was an outlier.