Florida’s Trevon Grimes opts out of 2020 Cotton Bowl, will enter 2021 NFL Draft

Florida Gators wide receiver Trevon Grimes will opt out of the 2020 Cotton Bowl and plans to enter the 2021 NFL Draft, he announced Monday on Twitter.

For Grimes, just like Kyle Pitts before him and Kadarius Toney after him, this opting out comes on the heels of one of his best collegiate games.

No, his four catches for 78 yards against Alabama weren’t career-best marks in either category — but the touchdown he scored was world-class, a demonstration of Grimes’s excellent body control, ball skills, and ability to run after the catch that also happened to come against future NFLer Patrick Surtain II.

Grimes made highlight-reel plays as a habit in 2020, regularly skying to secure tough catches over defenders, and generally living up to the hype as a possible big-play machine that made him a five-star recruit who picked Ohio State out of high school before transferring to Florida.

In his three years in orange and blue, Grimes steadily produced on his targets without ever really becoming a preeminent star — his 26 catches for 364 yards and two touchdowns in 2018 would rise to only 38 catches for 589 yards and nine touchdowns in 2020, though the latter numbers came in just 11 games. His trajectory is that of a likely mid-round NFL Draft pick, albeit one with the talent to surprise both his team and his opponents.

And we wish him the best of luck in doing so at the next level.