Shrine Bowl 2023: Which Gators are playing in the Shrine Bowl?

We chronicled earlier this week which members of the Florida Gators were taking part in the Senior Bowl. It is not the only senior game however that gives players a chance to showcase their talents in front of NFL coaches. The annual East-West Shrine Bowl is this Thursday in Las Vegas and the Gators are well represented on both the East squad and the West Squad.

Florida Gators in the Shrine Bowl: East Squad

Amari Burney is the lone representative for Florida on the East team. Burney spent five years in Gainesville, taking advantage of the extra year players were given due to Covid. Burney in appeared in 58 games with Florida and finished with 121 solo tackles and 102 assisted tackles. His best season was arguably in 2020, when he had 52 total tackles in 12 games.

For Burney to succeed at the next level, he is going need to get better at diagnosing plays at not getting lost in traffic.

His highlight with Florida came against Utah this past season when he had the game-clinching interception in the endzone.

The East Squad will be led by head coach Marquice Williams of the Atlanta Falcons.

Florida Gators in the Shrine Bowl: West Squad

Because reasons, the Florida Gators have three members on the West Squad. The squad will be led by Troy Brown of the New England Patriots.

Justin Shorter is the lone representative for the Gators on the offensive side of the ball. Shorter’s career never quiet lived up to expectations he had coming out of high school as the top rated wide receiver in the country. After transferring from Penn State to Florida, Shorter still had a productive finish to his college career. At 6-4, 223 pounds he doesn’t have the top end speed needed for the next level, but he does have the size needed to potentially be a solid possession-based receiver if he can get his route running down.

Trey Dean has the passion and physicality that will play well in a combine and/or All Star Game setting and will probably impress some scouts this week in practice with his play. The issue with Dean when it comes to the next level isn’t his motor, it’s his positional awareness. Too often Dean mis-diagnosed plays and just never seemed to be in the right position.

Brenton Cox was removed from the team midway through the season in a surprise move by Billy Napier. On the field, Cox seemed like he was genuinely improving his gap discipline and wasn’t overrunning plays like he was at the start of the season. Cox has the size and physicality needed to make it in the NFL.