Florida OT transfer addition Lyndell Hudson 'pumped' to be a Gator, his former coach says
What is Florida getting in transfer offensive tackle addition Lyndell Hudson Jr. of Florida International? Is he ready for SEC football? Where can he improve? Gators Online caught up with Chris Sands, head coach at Melbourne (Fla.) Eau Gallie to get some insight. He coached Hudson for four years back at Brooksville (Fla.) Central and the two remain very close.
Gators Online: How excited was Lyndell to land at Florida (he flipped from USF)?
Chris Sands: “To be honest, it was a little overwhelming for him. Because he found a home and everything worked out and it was a local spot. When Florida called you had to at least look at it. When that happened, he obviously was excited and just kind of wanted to go through the process to make sure he was making the right decision. And obviously he changed his mind. He’s really pumped. He called it a perfect situation for him and his family. They have a need at tackle and he’s a guy that can plug in and play right now. He’s a guy that’s played a lot of football. And he has grown a lot since he got on campus at FIU.”
Gators Online: What about the Florida situation did he really like?
Chris Sands: “Just the opportunity to play in the SEC and to play close to home. USF is about 40 minutes away. UF is about an hour away. So it’s not much of a difference from where he lives and where his family lives. His parents are getting older and the ability to go to every game was key for them. It was definitely something he had to look into.”
Lyndell Hudson started multiple seasons at FIU
Gators Online: Does he have SEC ability and if so why?
Chris Sands: “When you’re 6-foot-7 and 315 pounds and you’ve played a lot of college football you have ability. A lot of people don’t know, he played Texas Tech a couple years ago. He’s played against good competition. Two years ago, he was one of the most highly rated tackles in the country. And then he got banged up. He’s 100 percent now. I want to say he had a herniated disk in his back. But again, he’s 100 percent. I saw him move around and he’s doing well.
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Lyndell was kind of just a big body when I got him. About 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds as a freshman in high school. But the one thing we instilled from Day 1 technique. Whether he got beat or not, he uses technique really well for his size. And with his length, and all the snaps he’s played at the college level I think he’ll do well.”
Is he ready for the SEC?
Gators Online: What will be the biggest challenge for him in the SEC?
Chris Sands: “Just the change of speed. FIU is different from the SEC obviously. And facing it week in and week out. This is every week.”
Gators Online: What gives you reason for optimism he’ll do well?
Chris Sands: “I think the confidence for me comes from the fact his maturity has grown the past two or three years. Coming from a small town. Pretty under-recruited for how big he was. The kid had to lose almost 100 pounds going into his senior year to get what he got. Because he was very overweight. … he kind of had a chip on his shoulder and lost almost 100 pounds. Just his work ethic and ability to adapt to any situation.”
