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Saturday, April 15, 2023

2023 Season Countdown: #132 Damani Dent

 

Damani Dent (#9, image via Twitter)

Name: Damani Dent
Height: 
5'11″
Weight: 
196 lbs.
High school: 
Jacksonville (FL) Terry Parker
Position: 
Safety
Class: 
Redshirt freshman
Jersey number: 
#9
Last year: 
I ranked Dent #90 and said he would redshirt (LINK). He redshirted.
TTB Rating:
 82

Dent was a member of the 2022 class who did not play at all in 2022. In fact, he left the team for a while due to some personal issues, and he was not on the roster for much of the season. So this is quite a precipitous drop, perhaps the biggest in the countdown's history. Ranked even below many walk-ons, my concern here is that Dent spent a year away from football. That hurt his football conditioning so much, he even shrunk by an inch after being listed at 6'0" last year!

I do still have high hopes for Dent, but losing out on a year of development when other talented classmates and position mates like Zeke Berry and Keon Sabb probably does not help him in the race to get on the field.

Prediction: Backup safety, special teamer

4 comments:

  1. Harsh imo. Dent missed the season but so did others like mcburrows. He's around and participating in team activities so definitely didn't spend a year away from football. Obviously a setback for the young man but he has a leg up relative to true freshman

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    Replies
    1. Dent has not played football since the fall of 2021. He was away from the team. So he was away from football for a year. (Not saying he wasn't running routes or throwing a ball around or doing drills; there's no way for me to know that, but he wasn't with the team.)

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    2. I don't have any inside detail but his social media pots makes it look like he was around the team in the Summer and Fall of 22. I would guess he was training at least and learning the defense.

      I'd give him a leg up over an equivalent incoming '23 freshman because that rust will fall off quickly, assuming he's recovered from whatever injury he had.

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    3. ...and...he's in the transfer portal.

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