FIU Football: Clayton Dees Looking Forward To Learning In 2024

The newest quarterback at FIU is prepared to learn and take in the collegiate football experience

Kevin Barral/G5 Football Daily

MIAMI, FL - The only quarterback that Mike MacIntyre and his FIU staff brought in through the 2023 recruiting class was Clayton Dees out of Palmetto high. In two high school seasons, Dees threw for 3,528 yards, 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

"Coach Mac was the first one to reach out to me," said Dees. "Building that relationship with him and coach Yost was simply the biggest part of it...It's been so close to home that I get to see my family on the weekends. It's been everything to me and then they get to watch me play. This program and this school was the right decision for sure."

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Although the freshman quarterback likely won't see the field in 2024, he has the opportunity to learn from the more experienced quarterbacks. Keyone Jenkins, who is just a sophomore, has been a huge help for Dees through his first couple of months on campus.

"Keyone has probably been the biggest just being there whenever you want to get food, want to hang out, he's there for that and just helping me," said Dees. "Getting here, the hard things were like footwork, reads and stuff. He was just awesome. Just teaching me that and just being a pleasant guy to be around."

Prior to football, Dees was set on playing baseball, but overtime he began to realize that football was the right way to go for him, but considered playing both sports at FIU.

"Baseball was really my thing ever since I can remember," said Dees. "I really didn't plan on playing football until my coach started to asked me to come out junior year one time. I figured I'd give it a shot and it worked out so I kind of got burned out with baseball and football was a new opportunity for me."

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Dees continued, "Definitely thought about [playing both sports] for sure. I'll be going to some games and I missed it a little bit, but right now I'm focused on football."

The Panthers will kick-off the season against the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington. Kickoff is on Saturday, August 31st at 3:30 pm ET on the Big Ten Network.