Ohio State's Loss, Auburn's Gain: Jamel Dean Taking Advantage of Second Chance

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Auburn CB Jamel Dean (No. 12)

AUBURN, Ala. — Jamel Dean thought his college football career was over before it even started.

Dean was on track to play at Ohio State, where he would be part of a team looking to defend a national title. But a pair of knee injuries late in his high school career jeopardized his future. The 4-star cornerback was then told he wasn’t healthy enough to play for the Buckeyes.

However, a year after fearing the worst, Dean is back on the football field and taking full advantage of his second chance at Auburn.

“It felt real great to be out there [in spring practices] and experience it knowing my knee is still holding up,” Dean said. “I feel like it’s going to be a great season for me. … It just seems like I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

In his junior season of high school in Cocoa, Florida, Dean committed to play for Urban Meyer and Ohio State. That same year, the athletic 6’2″ cornerback tore his ACL and meniscus. A year later, in the final game of his high school career, Dean re-tore the meniscus in the same knee.

But Dean still arrived at Ohio State in January 2015 to enroll early. A few months later, Eleven Warriors reported the Buckeyes medical staff didn’t clear him to play. He was then offered a medical hardship, which would allow him to stay in school with an academic scholarship.

Dean’s high school coach, John Wilkinson, told Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com he believed the Buckeyes were forcing the young corner out because they oversigned in their 2015 class.

Ohio State denied the accusation, and Meyer later said he would give his staff an “A-plus” for how they handled Dean’s situation, per Lesmerises.

Dean sought a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews, the world-renowned sports surgeon. According to Lesmerises, Andrews told Dean he would be able to resume full football activities by the summer of 2015.

With Andrews’ second opinion in hand, Dean looked for a way out of Columbus. A month later, Dean announced he was transferring to Auburn, joining then-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and then-defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson, who once recruited him to play at Florida.

At first, things didn’t go according to plan for Dean at Auburn. He sat out the 2015 season with a redshirt due to the NCAA’s transfer rules, so he never got a chance to play in a game for the coaches who recruited him.

Despite Muschamp‘s and Robinson’s departures to South Carolina in December, Dean still turned heads as Auburn prepared for the Birmingham Bowl against Memphis. When practices resumed this March, Dean picked up right where he left off with the Tigers.

“He has a lot of talent,” Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said. “He can run. He’s a physical guy. He really caught our attention in bowl practice when we did some scrimmaging, and he’s carried it over into spring.”

In the year since his situation with the Buckeyes came to light, Dean’s outlook has changed.

He told David Jones of Florida Today last summer Ohio State’s coaches “really didn’t care” whether he stayed in Columbus or not and that he would have “a lot of anger built up” if Auburn ever played Ohio State.

That wasn’t the case this spring.

“I don’t hold any grudges,” Dean said. “I wanted to try something new, and I wanted to be back in the South. I thought [Auburn] was the best fit for me just because of the defense they run.”

Michael Chang/Getty Images

Auburn CB Jamel Dean (right)

Dean is focused more on his future with the Tigers, which looks bright. He adjusted to a new defensive coaching staff—which runs a system similar to the one he signed up for with Muschamp—and battled with Javaris Davis for a starting cornerback spot opposite 2015 breakout star Carlton Davis.

By the end of spring camp, Dean was lining up with the first team almost exclusively and drawing the praises of coaches and teammates alike.

“The guy I’m really excited about is Jamel Dean,” new Auburn defensive backs coach Wesley McGriff said. “What a big corner that’s explosive with speed. We have some tools on the outside that’s going to give us a chance to line up, be able to play man, play zone and be able to keep the football in front of us.”

Standing at 6’2″ and 205 pounds, Dean’s size and physical nature make him a perfect match for All-SEC freshman Carlton Davis, who is 6’1″ and 190 pounds.

“We’re both about the same,” Dean said. “Both of us can cover. Both of us have length, and both of us are strong.”

The two represent a gradual change in philosophy at Auburn, which has recruited bigger defensive backs in recent classes to combat the larger receivers who dominate the SEC.

“It gives the receiver a hard time at the line of scrimmage,” Dean said. “Throws off the offense’s rhythm.”

While the battle between Dean and Javaris Davis is expected to continue into fall camp, the redshirt freshman appears to have the early advantage. But even if Javaris Davis commands a top spot on the depth chart by the season opener, new defensive coordinator Kevin Steele still projects Dean as a key player.

“In this league, to sustain it through the long haul, you’re going to have to have 18-plus guys that are really starters,” Steele said. “If you’ve got less than that, it’s going to be hard sometimes. We tell them not to worry about that, and when your name is called, just go play, and they’ve done a nice job with that.”

With his physical gifts and hunger to play again, Dean has the opportunity to be a game-changing defensive back in the Auburn secondary for years to come.

Although it was thrown into doubt this time last year, Dean’s football career is far from over. It’s just getting started.

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting rankings are courtesy of 247Sports.

Justin Ferguson is a National College Football Analyst at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.