Things are different for Dante Fowler Jr. these days. There is no class to go to or Gator Dining training table to eat from. He doesn’t dodge scooters on his way to the facility or answer questions about why Will Muschamp’s job is in jeopardy. Fowler now spends his days fully devoted to training for the thing he’s dreamed about his whole life — a spot on a National Football League roster.
“I’m in Pensacola at the Andrews Institute over there, we have a lot of great guys Todd Gurley, Sammie Coates, a lot of SEC guys,” Fowler said during halftime of Florida’s 57-56 win over Arkansas. “Cam Erving, Mario Edwards, some top caliber guys so we just out there basically competing and getting ready for the combine. Coach Anthony’s doing a really good job of getting us prepared, getting us set up for the combine and the fieldwork drills and things like that so it’s going pretty good.”
Fowler became the first underclassman to declare for the draft on Nov. 18 with a tweet that read “I came in with Champ. I’m leaving with him.”
From there, he finished out his season with UF, punctuating it with a three-sack performance against East Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl. Fowler then signed on with renowned sports agent Jimmy Sexton of Creative Artists Agency who represents among others, Jim McElwain, Muschamp and Alabama coach Nick Saban.
It is full steam ahead for Fowler towards Feb. 17’s NFL combine, the six day event in Indianapolis where he and all other invitees will be put through rigorous mental and physical examination.
He’ll take the Wonderlic Cognitive Ability Test, run the 40-yard dash, bench press 225 pounds until failure, interview with multiple team coaches and general managers and have every inch of his body measured. The combine is where all his abilities will be put to the test.
“I think the scouts like how versatile I am just being able to play in a multiple defense. My freshman/sophomore year just having the experience to play defensive end D-tackle and then being able to show that I can play out in space this year,” Fowler said. “Just being versatile, going into this league nowadays it’s kinda like an offensive game now. You gotta be able to go whatever and just give offense fits and give em headaches cuz that’s what they like to do to us nowadays.”
While he trains, the notoriously playful Fowler messes around with former UF verbal commit and South Carolina running back Mike Davis. Davis didn’t take kindly to Fowler knocking his helmet off while tackling him in a game they played against each other.
Fowler thinks he might be able to run a 4.5 or 4.6 second 40-yard dash and right now, his 10-yard split pace is 1.58 seconds, on-par with phenom Jadeveon Clowney.
His biggest focus is upper body strength, because he says the NFL is a “grown man’s game,” and if he wants to play early, he needs to be ready.
He will surely be invited to Chicago April 30 and have his name called that Thursday evening. He’ll walk across the stage and shake commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand, put on a hat and start a new chapter in his life.
When? That decision will be made by a combination of what he’s put on film, what he shows in the next three months both in interviews as well as drills and ultimately, what team calls his name.
“To be honest with you that’s the way I always train myself to be,” Fowler said. “I’m not gonna lie, I always wanted to be the number one guy, the top person in my caliber and I felt you know that’s the type of person that I was and just to see the recognition by Mel (Kiper Jr.), just seeing GMs and scouts, I’m just glad to see that my work is being recognized now.”
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @Ragjuf
Dante Fowler Jr hypes up the crowd during Florida's 28-20 win in the Birmingham Bowl against East Carolina on Jan. 3 at Legion Field.
