Jordan Castell has always been confident.
For whatever reason, not everyone always had the confidence in him.
Three years ago at an FSU summer football camp, Castell, now a freshman starting strong safety for Florida — which plays a pivotal SEC game at South Carolina on Saturday — was trying to gain the attention of recruiting outlets. He didn’t have a profile on recruiting sites 247Sports or Rivals.
Then a rising junior at Winter Garden West Orange High, Castell asked all those associated with recruiting if they knew scouts from those websites.
He was already an established starter at West Orange and his star was going to shine even brighter during his junior season after the team had just lost several standout senior defensive backs to graduation.
“His confidence was really good. I don’t think it took long for people to notice, West Orange coach Geno Thompson said. “Jordan was a highly recruited athlete since his sophomore year.”
The recruiting sites were slow to keep up. He did, however, finally land on their radar and his recruitment picked up.
In stepped the Gators’ recruiters under then-coach Dan Mullen, and their pitch to Castell was solid. When Billy Napier was hired, his staff continued the pursuit and Castell verbally committed in July 2022.
“What made me feel like it was a good choice for me was how they stayed consistent with me,” Castell said at the time. “They check in every day and go over film with me. I would say Coach [Patrick] Toney and Coach [Corey] Raymond, those two guys had me like, ‘OK, this is home.’”
Gators grab another Central Florida talent in West Orange CB Jordan Castell
But after Castell arrived in Gainesville, Toney, then the co-defensive coordinator with Sean Spencer, departed to coach safeties for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. Florida replaced him with Austin Armstrong as co-coordinator with Sean Spencer.
Three months into his early enrollment this year at UF, Castell was learning a whole new defensive scheme.
“He’s doing a phenomenal job up at UF, and he has really excelled,” Thompson said. “I’m really impressed because he came in under coach Toney, and now the new DC is there and he had to basically start fresh and learn new concepts.”
By the second game of this season, he was the starting strong safety and he has been there ever since. In Week 3, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound safety was named the Shaun Alexander National Freshman of the Week and SEC Freshman of the Week for his 10-tackle performance against Tennessee. In the opener at Utah, Castell came off the bench with 14 tackles.
Earlier this season, Napier talked about Castell’s start.
“Jordan is a really smart player,” he said. “He’s instinctive. … you go to Jordan’s school, I think he’s well-respected there. His character, he’s a good teammate and he was a leader on his team. Jordan has been a worker. He’s in the building. He’s doing extra meetings. He’s trying to get up to speed.”
Castell went from high school to covering talented SEC receivers in eight months. The Gators have what looks like an anchor at strong safety for a few more years.
“I’m not surprised at all by his success at all,” Thompson said. “He has a great work ethic. When he was a freshman [at West Orange] he didn’t drive or have a ride, so he would ride his bike to school so he wouldn’t miss a workout and he was always on time. You never had to call or question where he was.”
Thompson also said Castell’s older brother, Dajour Nesbeth, who graduated from West Orange in 2016, was a good influence. Nesbeth was a two-time all-Ohio Valley Conference first-team selection at Tennessee State.
“He played corner, so I’m sure when he came home he helped Jordan with technique,” Thompson said, “and just kind of gave him the rundown of what’s expected at the collegiate level.”
Osceola CB Ja’Keem Jackson chooses Gators over Alabama, Georgia
Castell isn’t the only Gators freshman defensive back impressing his coaches. Kissimmee Osceola cornerback Ja’Keem Jackson also has plenty of live game reps, and he could be close to starting in his near future.
His coach at Osceola, Eric Pinellas, also isn’t surprised by his former player’s success.
“He’s adapting well. One of the main reasons why he went there was to be under the tutelage of Corey Ryamond. His track record speaks for itself and is validated,” Pinellas said. “Ja’Keem is a fast learner and he soaks in coaching. So that was a match made in heaven and a perfect fit for him.”
UF redshirt junior Jaydon Hill, who plays the Star position for the Gators which is similar to a nickel back, has certainly noticed the growth in the freshmen. When Jackson gave up a 52-yard pass play against Vanderbilt last weekend, he didn’t get discouraged.
“Night and day. I probably saw that big play Jock gave up, but then got the two big stops to get us off the field. That’s grown-man football. That’s that stuff we love to see,” Hill said. “With him being a young guy and not knowing the impact he just had on that play, that’s big. He doesn’t even understand why we’re so happy.”
Jackson was a standout sprinter on the Osceola track team, running a 10.8-second 100 meters, and also anchored the 4X100-meter relay team. On the football team, Jackson doubled as a wide receiver. He also runs a 4.4 40-yard dash.
“It’s all expected. He spent a lot of time playing receiver for us, and so he understands the offensive side of the ball,” Pinellas said. “It also helps that he’s a tall, athletic kid with tremendous speed. He’s twitchy and so his build, with his athleticism and his football knowledge, is like a perfect marriage and has allowed him to play early at a place like Florida.”
Both players also were able to graduate early from high school, so that gave them a jump on studying the defensive schemes and gaining a faster understanding in preparing for their freshman seasons.
“I think spring practice, OTAs, we do a ton of things to where a young player that shows up in January has an opportunity to go through the best teaching progression to have an opportunity to play as a freshman,” Napier said. “We teach our system about five times before we even play a game. … Jordan … this guy continues to get better and he’s a product of a lot of hard work, and it’ll continue to be that way in the future.”
Senintel reporter Edgar Thompson contributed to this report
Chris Hays covers high school and college football and college football recruiting. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) @OS_ChrisHays or on Instagram @os_chrishays. Email him at chays@orlandosentinel.com.
