The countdown to the 2018 college football season is on. Four FCS teams are in action Aug. 25 as Duquesne takes on UMass, Prairie View faces Rice and North Carolina A&T and Jacksonville State square off in ESPN’s FCS Kickoff.
[divider]
MORE FCS FOOTBALL:
FCS Home | FCS Rankings
Compare FCS Teams | Compare FCS Players
[divider]
HERO Sports is coutning down each day by highlighting the best player in FCS football who wears the jersey number of the number of days to kickoff. You can find the running list of top players here.
*Note: Jersey numbers are from the 2017 season.
[divider]
22: Michael Dean, Junior Wide Receiver — Idaho State
There's no shortage of talented pass-catchers in the Big Sky, so you might have overlooked Idaho State's Michael Dean. The Cali kid is worth paying attention to, though, as the Bengals offense is no aerial slouch.
Dean, a SoCal product who caught five touchdown passes as a true freshman in 2016, is Idaho State's version of Tavon Austin. The five-foot-six played primarily as a tailback for Chaffey High School in Upland, where he set the Inland Valley record for rushing yards in a regular season. When he got to Pocatello, the Bengals converted him to a receiver.
The move paid off. Dean posted 52 receptions for 754 yards and eight touchdowns in 2017, and he does still run the ball from time to time.
Both Dean and classmate Mitch Gueller earned all-conference honors as receivers in 2017, all while Idaho State posted the 23rd-ranked passing attack in FCS Football. With two years of eligibility left, Dean (and Gueller) should continue to carve up Big Sky defenses. With a year of massive conference parity on the horizon, don't overlook the Bengals and their talented receivers.
[divider]
FCS Kickoff Countdown: The Best Player in FCS Who Wears Each Number, 1-99
CFB Countdown: The Best Player in FBS Football, 1-99
