Could Trey Dean III Lose Playing Time at STAR for the Gators?

For whatever reason, the sophomore has regressed from last season, the second half of the LSU game could mean something big for No. 21.

Perhaps we all thought this would work out too seamlessly. 

Last season, when cornerback Marco Wilson suffered a torn ACL against Kentucky, true freshman Trey Dean III stepped in and played excellent football all season. Opposite of C.J. Henderson in nine starts, Dean broke up five passes and snagged an interception against Florida State. 

Entering the 2019 season, Wilson was back and it felt like the Gators had a really good problem in the secondary with enough talent to move around. Even more so, with Chauncey Gardner-Johnson declaring for the NFL Draft, it felt like Florida had solved that problem as well: Move Dean to the STAR position as a safety/corner hybrid. 

Well, it sounded nice. It really did. But it has not turned out well. Dean only has one pass break up and one interception through seven games, and the INT came on a pass that should have been caught by Tennessee's Jauan Jennings. 

The STAR position allows more freedom to roam than corner, in a lot of ways. The point of the position is to fly all over the field and make tons of plays as Gardner-Johnson did last season, recording four interceptions and returning two for touchdowns. 

Furthermore, in the second half of the LSU game, something extremely interesting happened. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham took Dean out of the game and moved Wilson to STAR. Freshman cornerback Kaiir Elam moved outside to take Wilson's original place. Dean had allowed three receptions on as many targets for 48 yards and a touchdown up until that point, on 18 defensive snaps (per Pro Football Focus).

Nothing was incredibly effective in slowing down the machine that was LSU's offense. However, that setup did halt one series and get the ball back for the Gators, a notable feat in a game where stops just weren't happening. 

Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham didn't specify whether Dean was benched for his performance or not, but stated that he was pleased with Wilson at the position.

"Marco did a good job at STAR," said Grantham. "We like that matchup, and our whole thing is how do we get the 11 guys on the field in position for us to be successful, and we'll continue to move forward with the option of playing guys at more than one spot."

In Saturday's game against South Carolina, Dean is on the depth chart as the starter, so we can assume that the switch has not been made permanent. However, if the Gamecocks start to move the ball and put up some early points, it is highly possible that UF tries it again and takes Dean out of the game to place Wilson at STAR and Elam at outside cornerback. 

There are no reports that Florida has any plan to stick with that lineup on a more permanent basis, for all we know they could never use it again the rest of the season. 

However, the fact that the Gators tried it against the best offense they'll face all year, in the second half where they were absolutely still in the game, says otherwise.