Florida Football: Trey Dean boosts his draft stock at Shrine Bowl
![Florida Gators safety Trey Dean III (0) looks at the offense during the second half against the South Florida Bulls at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 17, 2022. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs South Florida Bulls](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F7d7a4a3e4ab88c275d8abaa70802571912caf2272465c9304e46adcff1d11fe7.jpg "Florida Gators safety Trey Dean III (0) looks at the offense during the second half against the South Florida Bulls at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, September 17, 2022. [Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun]Ncaa Football Florida Gators Vs South Florida Bulls")
It’s not a secret that most fans of Florida football took umbrage at the on-field play of Trey Dean this past season. Between blowing coverages to flexing on an opponent after they achieved a first down, the calls for Kamari Wilson grew louder as the season went on.
But Dean has attributes and physicality that NFL scouts love and his performance at the Shrine Bowl ensures that he will be getting his name called during the NFL draft.
Florida Football: Dean of the class
As we wrote earlier in the week, part of the importance of the Shrine Bowl isn’t just the game but also the practices. Dean managed to ignore the advice of Allen Iverson to have a great week of practice and organizers of the Shrine Bowl took notice.
https://twitter.com/ShrineBowl/status/1621221745427648512?s=20&t=bITk7e7UVOd-3XmEjENHlw
Dean was joined by Amari Burney as the other member of Florida football to make the All-Practice Team. It may seem silly to hand out an award based on practice, but these are valuable honors for these guys as it means they won their one-on-one battles all week against other NFL hopefuls.
Of course, the problem for Dean isn’t looking great in practice as one-on-one drills should be his specialty. The problem is what happens during the game itself.
With the eye of every NFL scout on him, Dean picked up an interception off a tipped pass near the endzone.
https://twitter.com/ShrineBowl/status/1621348418777157633?s=20&t=bITk7e7UVOd-3XmEjENHlw
When all was said and done, Dean’s West team emerged victorious 12-3 and the former Florida football safety picked up top honors as the Defensive MVP of the game.
https://twitter.com/ShrineBowl/status/1621366858732670977?s=20&t=bITk7e7UVOd-3XmEjENHlw
As mentioned, this week highlighted the strengths of Dean. He came into the draft process projected somewhere around the fourth round. He’s going to have to improve his pre-snap recognition in order to be a mainstay in the NFL, but his performance this week at the Shrine Bowl does ensure that he will get his chance at the next level.