The 2023 NFL Draft guard class is thin up top. There’s an opportunity there for Florida’s O’Cyrus Torrence to separate himself, but did he do enough in his SEC audition to earn early-round capital? Let’s take a closer look at Torrence’s composite skill set, and see how he grades out in his scouting report.
O’Cyrus Torrence NFL Draft Profile
- Position: Guard
- School: Florida
- Current Year: Senior
- Height/Weight: 6’5″, 330 pounds
- Length: 33 7/8″
- Wingspan: 83 7/8″
- Hand: 11 1/4″
You don’t often see players from conferences like the MAC and the Sun Belt leap all the way to the SEC — the top of the college football pantheon. It often takes a dominant lower-conference prospect to earn the interest of the nation’s best.
Torrence also had his connection with new Florida head coach Billy Napier working in his favor. But he doesn’t make the leap to Florida without his performance from 2019 to 2021.
Torrence has always been a bigger guy. As a recruit in 2019, he was listed at 6’5″ and over a whopping 360 pounds. He was only a three-star recruit, but already, schools had taken notice of his talent.
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Torrence had an offer to play at Georgia, and plenty of Group of Five schools also battled for his allegiance. But being from Greensburg, Louisiana, Torrence decided to stay in-state and play for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
From there, it was only up for Torrence. He started almost immediately as a true freshman and logged 13 starts in 2019. He then started all 11 games in 2020 and 12 in 2021 at right guard. Owning 36 starts in three seasons, Torrence topped it off with first-team All-Sun Belt honors in 2021 — a fitting accomplishment for a dominant interior blocker.
After making an example out of opponents at the Sun Belt level, Torrence made the leap to the SEC, where he quickly became a standout on the Florida Gators’ offensive line. From the very first week of the season, Torrence set the tone at right guard. He’d end up starting 11 games, earning first-team All-SEC honors in the process.
Torrence parlayed his successful SEC campaign into a trip to Mobile, Alabama, for the Reese’s Senior Bowl. There, he continued to awe onlookers with his power in one-on-ones. He’s now regarded as one of the top guard prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft — but does he deserve the positional crown?
O’Cyrus Torrence Scouting Report
If any player was worthy of a jump to the SEC, it was Torrence. And his strong year at Florida could truly vault him into the early-round range of the NFL Draft.
Torrence’s Positives
It’s hard to miss Torrence on tape. He has elite size for an offensive guard, sporting a massive, powerful frame with great length. Unsurprisingly, size, power, and strength are all central parts of Torrence’s game.
With his length and frame density, Torrence has elite power capacity. He can recover control after initial losses and redirect momentum. His core strength allows him to absorb power and keep rushers inside his frame, and with his grip strength, he can effectively latch and neutralize the opposition.
More impressive than Torrence’s raw power is how he channels and maximizes it. Torrence opens his hips through extensions to generate massive amounts of upper-body torque. He consistently gets full rotation when exerting power and can drive defenders into the dirt with devastating force. He’s a mauler who regularly imposes his will on defenders.
Beyond his power element, Torrence has a degree of functional athleticism. He flashes decent straight-line explosiveness off the snap and can get upfield effectively, carrying momentum into blocks. With his power capacity and initial burst, Torrence can easily generate displacement in the run game. And with his solid knee bend, he’s shown he can sink and drive into blocks with proper leverage.
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When his feet are in rhythm, Torrence has passable lateral mobility. He also brings enough hip flexibility to adjust his blocking angle mid-rep. He can quickly rotate his hips to wall off defenders, as well as stack hip turns with good urgency. In a phone booth, Torrence is an amped-up blocker. And he’s shown that he can climb the second level and stack blocks on the move.
Run blocking is an area of strength for Torrence, but the Florida G also shows promise in pass protection. There, he keeps a wide base and can align his hips and quickly reset his base to match interior rushers. He leverages his feet nicely, with his back foot consistently placed to absorb rushes. He also flashes the ability to transfer his weight smoothly.
Going further, Torrence flashes independent hand usage. He can extend violently and swat at opposing moves in rapid succession. The Florida G uses his length and violent extensions to prevent rushers from getting inside his frame. He can use independent one-arm extensions and reload quickly. More often than not, he has a great sense of timing with those extensions. Torrence can snatch, latch, and roll into his base to stymie rushes.
Expanding on Torrence’s pass protection, the Florida G is able to keep his eyes up and active, and he has an attacker’s mentality as a help blocker. He’s also shown he can shade outside to offensive tackle if injuries require movement.
Torrence’s Areas for Improvement
Being as big as he is, Torrence sometimes plays too tall. This can impede his ability to maintain balance and sustain blocks on the move. He also shows minor stiffness when changing directions, as well as in recovery. This may stem from his heavy, high-cut frame.
On the field, Torrence isn’t a liability as an athlete, but his athletic ceiling is a viable concern. He doesn’t quite have the lateral explosiveness to consistently get outside the 3-tech on moving blocks. And his linear explosiveness is also visibly non-elite. More explosive defenders can win at the contact point and gain leverage. Torrence also lacks high-end range as a pulling guard.
Torrence’s lack of lateral mobility impacts his recovery capacity, similar to his flexibility. And his NFL Combine showing didn’t do anything to quell concerns about his athletic profile. Torrence’s 5.31 40-yard dash and 8’5″ broad jump were just average marks, and his 23.5″ vertical jump was well below average.
To be fair, Torrence’s 1.82 10-yard split was in the 64th percentile — exhibiting his passable straight-line burst — but he doesn’t have the athletic profile of a Round 1 pick. And that middling athleticism does show up as a diluting factor on tape, both for his upside and scheme versatility.
Going further, Torrence’s execution can still improve in several phases, even after his 2022 campaign. Torrence’s footwork can be too slow and open off the snap, opening himself to angle manipulation. He sometimes pivots around when attempting to match when he should keep his base uniform.
More simply put, Torrence’s footwork can be staggered at times. Additionally, Torrence can be more consistent with his upper-lower body synergy, as he sometimes extends before his base is set, lurching as a result.
Torrence’s hands also have room for refinement. The Florida G sometimes fails to re-establish his anchor after engaging in hand-fighting, and his hands don’t always strike cleanly on initial punches.
While Torrence has solid awareness, he sometimes loses track of his assignments in congestion as a moving blocker. Furthermore, he can be late to react to stunts and interior blitzers on occasion.
Current Draft Projection for Florida G O’Cyrus Torrence
Torrence grades as a top-100 prospect in the late Day 2 range on my board. Given the scarcity of natural guard talent in the 2023 NFL Draft, he could field consideration as early as the top 50. That’d be a bit rich for him by my ranking, but he does have a few elite traits in his arsenal.
On the interior, Torrence’s brand of physicality fits perfectly. He’s an overwhelming size threat with devastating power and torque. And with his size and power, he can be a major mismatch in a phone booth. Torrence has the strength to dominate opposing defensive linemen, and with his sheer width, he’s tough to get around.
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While athleticism isn’t a strength of Torrence’s profile, he does flash better mobility on tape than what he tested with. He can be stiff laterally, but he has enough burst to get off the line and work to the second level as a zone blocker. You don’t want Torrence flipping his hips and pulling often, but he has the power and burst to displace what’s in front of him, and he has the awareness and physicality to stack blocks.
In close quarters, Torrence is an amped-up mover with excellent raw power, combined with active hand usage, hip flexibility, and a mauler mentality. He needs to keep refining his hand placement and weight leveraging, as well as polish his footwork.
Nevertheless, as a heavy-handed pass protector and a capable fortifier in the running game, Torrence is worth Day 2 capital, and he can grow to be an above-average starter.
Tony Pauline’s Scouting Report on O’Cyrus Torrence
Strengths: Massive power-gap lineman who is shooting up draft boards. Sets with a wide base, works to bend his knees, and blocks with leverage. Strong and powerful. Easily turns defenders off the line and opens up large holes for running backs. Explosive, quickly gets his hands into defenders, and controls opponents at the point. Fires out to the second level and seals linebackers from the action.
Weaknesses: Not a mobile zone-blocking prospect. Struggles to adjust on occasion. Average footwork in space.
Overall: Torrence displayed much improvement in his game after transferring to Florida and was an overwhelming force who dominated as a run blocker. He possesses next-level measurables and has the ability to start in a power-gap system.