Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Jamel Dean, who has been called one of the most underrated players in the NFL, will be a key figure in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
There was a time, however, when playing in the Super Bowl seemed like a fantasy. Dean said he almost gave up on football in 2015.
If Ohio State had its way when he was coming out of Cocoa High School, it’s unlikely he ever would have reached the NFL. Fortunately for Dean, despite enrolling early at Ohio State in January of his senior year and reporting to campus in Columbus five days later, he never signed a National Letter of Intent that would have bound him to the Buckeyes.