Former Maryland two-sport star Dante Trader Jr. is excited to hear his name called during the NFL Draft in April after having chosen football over lacrosse as the sport he would pursue.
Standing at 5-foot-11 and 202 pounds, Trader was a safety on the Maryland football team from 2021-2024. He recorded 190 tackles, 15 passes defensed and 5 interceptions in 47 games during his four years as a Terp. Trader also was a midfielder for the lacrosse team in 2023, picking up 17 ground balls, causing 13 turnovers and scoring 5 goals in 15 games.
Trader knew by 2022 that football was his likely path.
“I had a pretty good coming-out year, solid for the first year of starting,” Trader said on Glenn Clark Radio Feb. 12. “And I’m like, ‘OK, you played against C.J. Stroud and all these great teams. You’re going against the best competition in the Big Ten, Michigan and all these teams. I’m balling in these big games.'”
“Then going to lacrosse season … your body is like, ‘OK, you’ve got to make a decision,'” he continued. “You always had a dream of going to the NFL and now that it’s looking promising, I’ve got to go.”
Trader, now preparing for both the NFL Scouting Combine, just participated in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. The Senior Bowl allows prospects who have completed their college eligibility to showcase their talents to NFL talent evaluators.
“I came so far. I never would’ve thought I’d be here, but my process and the trajectory that God allowed me to go to where I am, like, ‘I did it, I’m here. I’m really here,'” Trader said. “Looking back on your journey, they don’t know what I went through and the valleys and the peaks just to get here.”
Trader even had a pinch-me moment before the Senior Bowl.
“It’s crazy because I was trying to wonder before I went down there when that moment was going to come,” Trader said. “It was on the plane. You get to the airport and you’re seeing guys with school backpacks and everybody’s taller. We’re all funneled to the same boarding group. They’re all going to Alabama. These are all the guys I’m going to be on the team with or competing against.”
Trader believes that growing up in Delaware, transferring to McDonogh ahead of his junior year and playing two sports at Maryland helped him become the person he is today.
“I gained endurance and resiliency from those years,” Trader said. “That’s what this whole process is. Teammates [said], ‘Oh, this is going to be the longest year of your life. You go from the fall to this process to another season. You don’t have a break until around this time come next year.’ … Now I’m in this process and you realize, ‘I’m well-balanced in a lot of things because of my process from high school to college.'”
Trader hopes the leadership skills he learned at Maryland, such as being vocal in team meetings, translates to the NFL. He credits former Terps defensive coordinator Brian Williams, current strength coach Ryan Davis and current inside linebackers coach Zac Spavital for helping him develop as a leader.
“Coming into school, I’m looking at how leaders are leading and I’m wishing I had someone I could truly follow. This was early Maryland,” Trader said. “So I was like, ‘When I get a chance, it’s going to be by fire and I’m going to figure it out and I’m going to learn every individual and how I could push them,’ because that’s how I wanted to be [led].”
For more from Trader, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox