Florida Gators Safety Rashad Torrence Sees Game ‘Slowing’ Down in 2022

Florida Gators safety Rashad Torrence is entering his junior season with the program, adding another year to his belt.

Photo: Rashad Torrence; Credit: Florida Communications

The game is slowing down yet again for Florida Gators junior safety Rashad Torrence. That's been the takeaway he's had since stepping foot back on campus this spring, integrating himself with the team's new coaching staff under head coach Billy Napier.

Torrence, 6-foot, 197 pounds, has been an integral part of the Gators football team over the past couple of seasons, first earning his stripes as a true freshman in 2020, seeing action in nine games with three starts. He would register just 25 tackles over the course of the season and was named to the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll.

In his second season, however, Torrence burst onto the scene, starting all 13 games for Florida, while finishing third on the team with 87 tackles. He would add 3.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions (team-high), one fumble recovery and two pass breakups as well.  

Now, entering Year 3, the game doesn't appear as fast and he's been able to adapt quickly as a result.

“It’s kind of becoming slower to me," Torrence said when asked about the difference between now being a veteran guy of the group. "I’m kind of slowing the game down a little bit. I feel like I’m focused on more details kind of this spring and kind of tying to up my game a little bit.”

Florida underwent a complete change of the guard with its new coaching staff, including a defensive coordinator bringing in Patrick Toney, who also coaches the safety position for Florida. With Toney, Torrence sees a defense that allows every player to make plays, eliminating the grey area.

"It kind of allows us to know what we have going into every single play," he said. "There’s not much things going on, we’re already focused.”

Eliminating the "grey" area allows the players to know what they will have to focus on before the ball snaps, no complicated adjustments or call, a simple defense that allows them to play as fast and as physical as they need to on any given play.

Though some concepts have changed, most of the adjustments Torrence has had to make this spring and heading into this season are to do with the verbiage, the way Toney wants to plays to be made, he says. That's been the biggest adjustment he's had to make to the new staff, getting used to how they phrase things rather than what his responsibilities are.

Still, Torrence enjoys those changes, especially with the discipline-focused mindset that Napier has brought in since he's been named the team's head coach. 

“Coach Napier does express just being disciplined and together and being one, being a full team whether that’s all three phases, offense, defense, game-changers. We kind of put our side of the ball aside and come together as the Gator football team.”

The same can be said about coach Toney, who Torrence described as one that demands discipline.

“Discipline and alignment, just having everything 24/7 it kind of confuses the offense if you show them the right stance and not give them tells to where you rotate,” he explained. As a result, what Torrence really wants to improve on this spring is his "focus" he says, something that will allow him to think less and move faster.

Torrence, and the rest of the Florida football team, are set to compete in the program's annual Orange and Blue spring game. It's there, he says, that the team will be able to show just how different they are, along with giving spectators a look at some of the newer players such as freshman safety Kamari Wilson, who Torrence said is "coming along great."

“It will be very exciting just to wake up and be like ‘ok, it’s game day’ and just go out and perform in front of the fans and show them the things that we’re doing this spring.”

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