Hog Futures: Daytrieon Dean

A working plan

End getting ahead by thinking ahead

Fort Smith Northside defensive end Daytrieon Dean (5) rushes Greenwood quarterback Reid Wheeler during a game Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, at Mayo-Thompson Field in Fort Smith.
Fort Smith Northside defensive end Daytrieon Dean (5) rushes Greenwood quarterback Reid Wheeler during a game Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, at Mayo-Thompson Field in Fort Smith.

The second in a series profiling newcomers on the 2015 Arkansas Razorbacks football team.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Daytrieon Dean said reading was a struggle when he began elementary school.

Frequent trips to the library with his mother, Valerie, fixed that.

At a glance

NAME Daytrieon Dean

CLASS Freshman

POSITION Defensive lineman

HEIGHT/WEIGHT 6-3, 265

AGE 17 (Born June 30, 1997)

HOMETOWN Fort Smith

HIGH SCHOOL Northside

NOTEWORTHY Enrolled at Arkansas in January and rehabbed after undergoing surgery on his left shoulder Dec. 10 to repair a torn labrum. … Was able to take part in the last few spring practices. … Recognized as the 2014 Dan Hampton Award winner given to the Arkansas high school defensive lineman of the year by the Little Rock Touchdown Club. … Turned down offers from Ole Miss and Oklahoma State to sign with Arkansas. … Had 73 tackles as a senior at Northside, where he was a 4.0 student. … First Northside player to sign with Arkansas since Austin Eoff in 2007. … Parents are Donald and Valerie Dean. … Majoring in industrial engineering.

"My mom took me to the library every weekend, sometimes every day, and the next thing I knew I was reading these thick Harry Potter books," Dean said. "My grades started going up.

"Things just changed academically for me and I realized I am a smart guy and I can do things in the classroom that the other kids do. I realized I can be comfortable being myself and I don't have to be a follower. I don't have to be a class clown. I can be a leader."

That transformation helped Dean become a 4.0 student at Fort Smith Northside, where he also excelled as a defensive lineman and became part of Arkansas' 2015 signing class.

"He's got his stuff together," said Barry Lunney Jr., Arkansas' tight ends coach who recruited Dean. "Coach [Bret] Bielema talks all the time about looking for guys that are uncommon, and Daytrieon is an uncommon type of football player and person.

"Great GPA, great character. His work ethic is almost scary it's so good. So you take all of that with his body and the tools he's got, and we think he's going to make a real nice player for us down the road."

Dean, recognized as the 2014 Dan Hampton Award winner given to the Arkansas high school defensive lineman of the year by the Little Rock Touchdown Club, enrolled at Arkansas in January.

"I've seen a lot of guys have out-of-this-world talent, but they don't have the academics so they can't play anymore after high school," Dean said. "That wasn't going to happen to me."

In addition to getting a jumpstart on his college career, being on campus enabled Dean to rehab with Arkansas' training staff after he underwent left shoulder surgery in December to repair a torn labrum.

"Daytrieon has been learning from day one," Razorbacks defensive coordinator Robb Smith said during the spring. "He's a sharp guy. He catches onto things."

After being medically cleared, Dean went through the last few spring practices.

"It's a different game from high school with a lot more intensity and speed, so it was a big learning curve in the spring," Dean said. "A lot of it also was listening, watching and trying to absorb all the information I could.

"The coaches don't want to lose a rep in practice. Everything happens now. It's very specific in the way it's run."

Dean said he decided during his junior year at Northside he wanted to enroll in college early to help speed his adjustment. He talked to his teachers and counselors to make sure he did what was necessary with his classes to graduate early.

"There aren't many young people that I'm around anymore that are as mature and have a plan like Daytrieon had to get to college," Northside Coach Mike Falleur said. "He thinks everything out, what he wants to accomplish and how he's going to do it.

"I don't see other guys think about their futures quite as much as what Daytrieon has. He didn't do a lot of the typical high school things because he was always going to class to be able to graduate early and working out extra with the trainer so he'd be able to go up to Arkansas and compete as a freshman."

Dean is majoring in industrial engineering and said he had a 3.0 GPA in the spring semester.

"I love learning," he said. "I'll study, study, study until I get it."

Dean, 6-3, 265 pounds, helped Northside to a 10-4 record and advance to the second round of the Class 7A playoffs last season when he had 73 tackles, including two sacks. As a junior he had 50 tackles and six sacks.

"Nobody really could block him," Falleur said. "A lot of teams had to double-team him. He drew a lot of attention."

Dean said he was recruited by Ole Miss and Oklahoma State, but when Arkansas' scholarship offer came he quickly accepted. He grew up a Razorbacks fan.

"I told my mom in my ninth-grade year I was going to get a scholarship to Arkansas," Dean said. "At that time, I don't think she believed me. I didn't know exactly how I was going to do it, but I went to work and now I'm here.

"Coming to play at Arkansas has a bigger picture outside of football. The fans love it when the Arkansas kids stay home, and you've got to think about that after your playing career is over.

"If you go to Arkansas, it's set up where you're going to be successful job-wise and in life after football."

Dean said he worked at defensive end in the spring, but coaches have told him he could play tackle. He understands he may redshirt.

"Either way it goes, it's going to be a great year for me," Dean said.

The summer work the Razorbacks put in with strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert hasn't been a shock to Dean, who Falleur said not only went through the 2 1/2-hour summer workouts in the morning at Northside but would work another 2 to 3 hours with a personal trainer in the afternoon.

"He put on 30 pounds from his junior year to his senior year," Falleur said. "He improved every part of himself physically going into his senior year. It was relentless.

"Work does not bother Daytrieon at all."

Dean turns 18 on June 30 and said he'll add a few more pounds of muscle before the start of preseason practice in August.

"I think Arkansas is getting a guy that's just now starting to touch what he can be," Falleur said. "Because he's so young, he's going to mature a lot physically the next couple of years.

"The sky's the limit for him."

Sports on 06/28/2015

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