Florida Gators OL Accepts Invite to East-West Shrine Bowl

The Gators representative will be in the trenches for the 100th East-West Shrine Bowl

The Gators will have a man in the trenches for the college football all-star game / Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK

Florida Gators offensive lineman Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson has accepted an invite to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl. 

Control the trenches 💪

OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson (@Brandon_CD56) from @GatorsFB has officially accepted his invite to the 100th East-West #ShrineBowl!#GoGators | #ShrineBowlWHOSNEXT 😎 pic.twitter.com/mLzOqkCfCU

— East-West Shrine Bowl (@ShrineBowl) December 4, 2024

The East-West Shrine Bowl is the longest-running college all-star football game. It’s been held since 1925 by Shriners International to benefit the Shriner’s Hospital for Children (also known as Shriners Children’s). 

Crenshaw-Dickson is the only Florida player to accept an invite, at least so far. However, multiple players from a school can accept invites. Colorado is sending six players, including Shedeur and Shilo Sanders, and LSU is sending four representatives. 

The NFL has a lot of involvement in this game. They will supply the coaching staffs for the two teams from among current league assistant coaches whose teams do not advance to the playoffs. The NFL will also provide the game officials for the contest. 

According to the East-West Shrine Bowl website, More than 100 players from last year’s game signed with professional teams, and more than 70 made final NFL rosters last season. They added that since the game’s inception, 78 former players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and More than 200 former players have been named to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Players are selected based on their potential to make NFL rosters. All 32 NFL teams take part in the player selection process. The general divide used to assign players to the East or West team is the Mississippi River. However, to ensure that the best players are selected for the game, it’s not a hard line. 

For example, the Gators had representatives on both teams in 2023. Linebacker Amari Burney played for the East while safety Trey Dean III and edge Brenton Cox played for the West.  

Think of it as more of a preference. Players must be college seniors and currently eligible to play for their school. All divisions are considered. The Gators get consideration and, hypothetically, so does the Division II West Florida Argonauts. 

The 100th East-West Shrine Bowl at AT&T Stadium (home of the Dallas Cowboys) on Thursday, January 30, 2025.