Debose posts mixed results at UF pro day
GAINESVILLE — One minute, Andre Debose teased NFL teams. The next moment, he tested them.
During the span of 60 minutes Tuesday at the Gators’ pro day, Debose offered a snapshot of his long career at UF — a mix of highlightreel touchdowns, seasonending injuries and, ultimately, unfulfilled promise.
With representatives of all 32 franchises on hand in the Swamp, Debose turned heads with a time of 4.38 seconds in the 40-yard dash. A little while later, Debose was off to the side testing a tight right hamstring, which would limit him the rest of the day.
In the end, Debose believed he had done enough to earn a chance to fulfill his lifelong dream.
“This was a great day, man,” he said. “I showed I can run, showed I can catch the ball a little bit. I felt good running around, other than tweaking my hamstring a little bit.
“Other than that, it was a great day.”
It also was an eerily predictable day for Debose.
Ever since he arrived at UF in 2009 as a five-star recruit from Sanford Seminole High, Debose has been a bit snake-bitten, balancing out every high with a low.
Debose tied for third alltime in the SEC with five combined return touchdowns, but also missed two seasons with injuries — a hamstring in 2009 and a torn ACL in 2013. In 2011 as a sophomore, Debose caught four touchdowns of 64 yards or longer, but he finished 2012 with three catches for 15 yards.
Through Debose’s ups and downs, no one ever questioned his explosiveness or playmaking potential. When the NCAA granted Debose a sixth season for a medical hardship, former coach Will Muschamp welcomed him back, even though Debose was coming off an ACL injury and due to turn 24 early in the 2014 season.
Debose returned to become one of the nation’s top punt returners, highlighted by a 62-yard touchdown return against LSU. He then prematurely ended his Gators career by skipping the team’s bowl game in Birmingham.
“It was just merely me deciding not to play and getting my mind right for my future,” Debose said Tuesday, making his first public comments since the decision to skip the bowl.
Debose’s future is much more cloudy than he ever imagined it would have been six years ago. Back then, former UF coach Urban Meyer dubbed Debose the “next Percy Harvin” after a brilliant high school career.
These days, Debose, who turns 25 in September, just wants a shot to prove himself in an NFL training camp.
“I just want to get an opportunity,” Debose said. “I just want to get into the door and make a team.”
He will have to come in the back door to do it.
Debose was not among the 323 players invited to the scouting combine, but his 40 time on Tuesday was faster than all but four wide receivers who ran at the NFL draft’s showcase event.
Debose’s speed surely will convince some NFL team to take a chance with a lateround pick or free-agent invitation, despite his injury history, inconsistency and bizarre move to skip his final college game.
Debose said he has worked out for the Houston Texans and Oakland Raiders. He is scheduled to visit the Chicago Bears Monday and the Cincinnati Bengals three days later.
He realizes his No. 1 selling point is his return skills, but he still hopes to make it as a wide receiver despite catching just one pass in his final season.
“I want to be a primary receiver, a top-notch receiver in the NFL,” he said. “That’s my dream. That’s my goal.”