RB Jordan Scarlett itching to rebound in a major way

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Highly-regarded tailback Jordan Scarlett was forced to miss all of 2017 due to his involvement in an alleged credit card fraud case, but the redshirt-junior is putting the past behind him and ready to make a major splash in 2018.

"It's going good; it's moving along pretty fine," Scarlett said on Thursday. "It's hot out there but you know we get out there."

The 5-foot-11, 210-pound Scarlett says the running back group as a whole is doing a great job of paying attention to detail, while placing some of their individual concerns on the back burner.

“It’s been a little different," Scarlett said. "I would say in the execution, like guys are starting to pay a little bit more attention and not really worried about reps, counting reps. And I think that’s a lot better and we’re coming along as a team.”

Greg Knox, who coaches up the running backs in Gainesville, has been stressing repetition in hopes of minimizing all the brainstorming that goes down prior to the snap, and Scarlett certainly approves of his vision.

“It’s just like reviewing," Scarlett said. "Anything you review a lot of times, eventually you’ll get the hang of it and it’ll be automatic. That’s what he wants it to be, natural to us so he wants our blitz pick-up to be natural and our steps to be natural and everything.

"He doesn’t want us thinking while we’re playing, so he’s doing a good job.”

Strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage has been receiving rave reviews since relocating to Gainesville, and Scarlett has took full advantage of his presence. The Fort Lauderdale native says he can currently bench 465 pounds multiple times, but also says the team hasn't been going "too hard in the strength.

"Yeah, I think it was really more all-around in shape, getting faster, getting more quicker and being in the weight room too," Scarlett said. "I had a lot of time, so I took advantage of it.”

Those are some eye-popping numbers for a tailback, but Scarlett says teammates always bring out the competitiveness and are looking to one-up each other.

"Yeah, a couple of them, like Jabari Zuniga can lift a lot of weight and Tanner Rowell," Scarlett said. "Those guys are some big dudes so they can handle it, definitely.”

In regards to squatting, Scarlett says that's a whole other story.

“Dameon Pierce got the strongest squat I’ve seen," Scarlett said. "That man puts like, 5-6 plates on each side and just lifts it like it’s 225 up and down, up and down.

"I was like ‘Yeah, that’s a strong kid.'"

Fellow South Florida native and Gators linebacker, James Houston IV, echoed his impressions of Scarlett in the weight room and is eager to test himself against the big-bodied back.

“I haven’t gone against Scarlett yet, but I’m going to go ahead and say Scarlett is probably the most NFL-ready back that we have on the team," Houston said. "I would like to get some reps against Scarlett; that would be nice.”

Like Scarlett, Houston was also inactive for the 2017 season due to his alleged involvement in the credit card scandal.

"Oh yeah, we’re all hungry," Houston said. "All four of us that came back, we’re ready for something this year."

For Scarlett, who amassed 889 yards and six touchdowns two season ago, lacing up the cleats and darting into the Swamp is something he daydreams about quite often. The fans have done nothing but welcome him back with open arms, and now Scarlett is itching to make another run at it with the season-opener just roughly two weeks away.

“You know, I can’t wait, man," Scarlett said. "I dream about it sometimes and think about it a lot. Just the atmosphere here, 90,000 screaming at you, you know just being ready to get a couple touchdowns in The Swamp. I miss that feeling.”

Scarlett stayed in contact with several teammates throughout last season, but completed his workouts off-campus and admits watching last year's contests was a difficult pill to swallow at times.

“It was tough to watch, considering all the close losses we had and I just felt like if I were out there it wouldn’t have been that close, obviously," Scarlett said. "And I just know it hurts, because I know my team wanted me out there and they’re out there fighting their behind off and we came up short.

"I’ll say the LSU game was hard to watch, because of how close we came, and I know the hype behind that game and a lot of people were looking forward to beating LSU and we just came up short again like I said.”

Is LSU the opponent Scarlett wants to surpass the most for 2018?

“Yeah, them and Georgia," Scarlett said. "Georgia was another game where, for my two years here, we had beaten Georgia and unfortunately last year I sat out and we took a really bad loss to them, so I’m just looking forward to getting back and going after the Bulldogs this year.”

Mullen has been vocal in regards to young people making mistakes and giving them a second chance, and echoed that to Scarlett when both parties sat down over the offseason.

“He was a very open guy," Scarlett said. "He told me he wants to start with a clean slate, that everybody makes mistakes when you’re young. He wants to know that the most important thing is that I learned from it and I won’t have any other issues.

“He’s brought a lot of energy, positive energy," Scarlett added. "He always expresses to us to be accountable to each other and take care of each other. I wouldn’t say with the last team that we weren’t taking care of each other but some people wouldn’t hang out with certain people just because.

"Now we’re all family and this place is coming together. It’s looking pretty nice.”

Racking up the individual accolades is always a goal for each student-athlete, but Scarlett says team success will always be at the forefront.

“Yeah, it’s a goal of mine but not something that I’m really fixing down on to complete," Scarlett said of rushing for 1,000 yards in 2018. "I really just want to have team goals and just try to do whatever I can for my team.”

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