Billy Napier praises NFL Draft prospect O'Cyrus Torrence: 'I think the proof's in the pudding'

All eyes are on quarterback Anthony Richardson at Florida‘s Pro Day on Thursday, but one of the under-the-radar potential first-round NFL Draft picks might have played in front of Richardson last season.

That’s guard O’Cyrus Torrence, who transferred to Florida to play for one season under coach Billy Napier after following him over from Louisiana.

Torrence basically did it all on the O-line for the Gators in 2022. He was named a consensus first-team All-American and had Florida recognize him formally by unveiling a brick with his name on it just outside of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Wednesday.

“I think the proof’s in the pudding, the guy’s played a ton of football,” Napier said during the team’s Pro Day in an interview broadcast on the SEC Network. “Played close to 4,000 snaps in his career. Proved himself against the best competition.”

Some NFL mock drafts have O’Cyrus Torrence as a first-round NFL Draft selection, so he’s certainly got the eye of some NFL franchises.

A few others put eyes on him on Thursday at Florida’s Pro Day, some even with their NFL head coaches present. Among those were Seattle’s Pete Carroll, Carolina’s Frank Reich and Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson.

But about 80 other NFL scouts and personnel folks were present inside Florida’s indoor practice facility on Thursday for the Pro Day as Torrence worked out alongside some of his former teammates.

Napier believes his experience playing against the best of the best in the SEC is already a pretty good resume.

“Playing in this conference is about as close to the National Football League as you’re going to get and played well against really good competition,” Napier said. “He has character, he’s intelligent and very sound fundamentally and a guy that will play this game for a long time.”

How’s this for a stat, from Pro Football Focus? In 1,501 career pass sets spanning his time at both Louisiana and Florida, Torrence allowed zero sacks and only one quarterback hurry.

In preparation for the NFL Draft, O’Cyrus Torrence participated in the Reese’s Senior Bowl and also impressed there.

Four ESPN NFL Draft experts ranked their top five prospects at each position in the NFL Draft and Mel Kiper was the only one who did not have Torrence as his top-rated guard.

ESPN’s Todd McShay, Jordan Reid and Matt Miller all had Torrence as the top-rated guard. And it’s also worth noting that Kiper, the lone dissenter in the group, had Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski as the top guard prospect in the draft. Skoronski played tackle at Northwestern and the other three analysts all had Skoronski as their top-ranked tackle.