New England Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers helped a rehabilitated seal named after him return to the ocean on Tuesday — and the Super Bowl champ says the experience was “unlike anything” he’s ever done.
“[Trey] looked scared before she was released, so I decided to give her a little pep talk before she returned home to the ocean,” Flowers, 23, tells PEOPLE. “I told her that she was strong and could take over the world if she wants!
“I’m rooting for her.”
Trey (the seal) was rescued from Rockaway, New York, by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation and brought to the Mystic Aquariums’ Animal Rescue Clinic on December 15.