Scouting Report: Gators OL Commit Roderick Kearney
The Florida Gators continued to set fire to the recruiting trail by landing another blue-chip prospect from the 904 on Monday, The Gators were able to flip the commitment of one of in-state rival Florida State’s prized commitments in interior offensive lineman Roderick Kearney.
Kearny is one of the absolute best in the country at his position — a member of the SI99 and considered the No. 9 offensive tackle in the country — and serves as a huge recruiting win for the Gators as they look to bolster the offensive line with an influx of new talent. Kearney's pledge makes him the consensus highest-rated OL to commit to the Gators since Richard Gouraige back in 2018.
All Gators took a look at Kearney’s film to give you more of an in-depth analysis of the talent prospect from Duval County.
Scouting Report
While Kearney has typically aligned tackle at the prep level and could very well play the position when he gets to college, many analysts including myself believe he is best suited to play along the interior of the line and could fill either guard spot or potentially center. He has experience on the inside from his high school career, as well.
The first thing that stands out on tape is his athletic ability. Kearney moves extremely well for someone that is listed at 6-foot-4, 300 pounds. He's consistently shown the ability to get down the field and make blocks in space, and does a great job of using that athletic ability to pull and become a lead blocker on running plays, which the Orange Park offense asks him to do often.
Even though he does so at tackle, Kearney's experience as a puller should benefit him greatly if he ends up playing along the interior in college.
In pass sets, he displays solid technique by maintaining good knee bend and keeping a straight back. Often times you will see a high school lineman bending at the waist when they get tired and relying too much on their size and strength, but you don’t see that from Kearney. He also does a solid job of using his initial kick step to create depth and get himself in position to block, and has a great initial punch to stonewall opposing pass rushers.
Kearney is an extremely aggressive blocker that just about always finishes his blocks by driving his opponents into the ground. He does a good job of keeping his pad level low for someone as tall as he is and that should allow him to transition well into the interior of the line.
Kearney's skill set features everything you look for in an SEC offensive lineman, possessing size, strength, mobility, and tenacity.
It can not be overstated how big of a win this is for the Gators as they beat out an in-state rival in FSU as well as a divisional rival in Georgia for Kearney's services. Especially considering UF's need for talent up front, Florida must continue to acquire blue-chip prospects like Kearney to rebuild the offensive line after failing to do so the last four years.
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