Florida lands Texas transfer OL Jean Delance

As people across the United States readied to see the moon blot out the sun, the Florida Gators picked up a transfer offensive lineman big enough to do the same.

Former Texas lineman Jean Delance announced his intention to transfer to Florida early Monday afternoon.

Even without making a single start, Delance has had an itinerant existence as a college football prospect and player. He originally committed to Oklahoma as a three-star player in December 2014, then decommitted from the Sooners in February 2015, later explaining that decision as being rooted in his reaction to a viral video of Oklahoma fraternity members making racist remarks.

Delance — who hails from Mesquite, Texas — was then courted by in-state schools Texas and Texas A&M, and eventually committed to the Longhorns in January 2016 over LSU and Michigan at the Under Armour All-America Game.

As a four-star prospect, Delance was considered a candidate to play early and often in Austin, but he ended up contributing only sparingly, falling to third on the depth chart at left tackle and — per Burnt Orange Nation — seeming destined for a redshirt season in 2018.

Rather than spending that at Texas, he’ll do so at Florida, where he could conceivably slide into the starting left tackle role that Martez Ivey — a likely 2018 NFL Draft selection — is set to vacate this offseason. Delance could also work at right tackle if Florida slides sophomore Jawaan Taylor to left tackle before his junior season.

Regardless of what, precisely, happens with Delance, Florida landing him is like adding another four-star player to its 2016 recruiting class, and compensates for the loss of Clemson transfer Jake Fruhmorgen, who committed to Florida this spring but parted ways with Florida just days into his time in Gainesville. (Fruhmorgen has since transferred to Baylor, meaning that Florida is getting a Texas lineman, and Baylor is getting one from Tampa.)

Delance has the frame, at 6’5” and around 300 pounds, to be the sort of blocker tasked with protecting a quarterback’s blind side, and if he eventually does so effectively, Florida will have landed one of its best transfers ever.