Quick Hits

POSITION: Offensive line (tackle)

HEIGHT: 6-foot-4

WEIGHT: 280 pounds

HOMETOWN: Woodstock, Ga.

HIGH SCHOOL: Etowah

247 COMPOSITE SCORE: .8397

NATIONAL RANKING: 1383

POSITION RANKING: 111

STATE RANKING: 131

OTHER OFFERS: Appalachian State, Harvard, Rutgers

MORE: 247 Sports | Hudl | Twitter

Background

D’Antonio was an unranked prospect when Northwestern became his first Power Five offer back in April. He committed to the Wildcats soon after visiting Evanston and taking in Ryan Fieldhouse. Both Rivals and 247Sports.com have him as a three-star prospect right now, and there’s a lot to like about the Georgia native’s size. D’Antonio was a baseball player growing up — he’s got a Perfect Game profile that displays solid pop times and throw velocities for a catcher. According to WildcatReport.com, D’Antonio didn’t even play organized football until 2017, which could explain his low-key recruitment.

However inexperienced D’Antonio may be, his Hudl tape shows impressive physicality against much smaller players, along with the ability to pull from the tackle spot. He’ll need to be able to move around in Mick McCall’s zone blocking scheme.

D’Antonio doesn’t have a highlight tape from his senior year, so take a look at his 2017 highlights:

Outlook

With a host of multi-year starters graduating from the offensive line, Northwestern has a glut of younger lineman who will be itching to get a shot at the vacancies left by Blake Hance, Tommy Doles, and J.B. Butler. Guys like Nik Urban, Gunnar Vogel, and Sam Gerak figure to get the first crack, but there are a host of other 2016, 2017 and 2018 linemen with more experience than D’Antonio and his 2019 classmates. Moreover, D’Antonio is very green for a football player (seriously, can anyone remember an NU recruit who committed to the ‘Cats less than a year after beginning their organized football career?). He could very well continue to develop rapidly, but there’s a good chance he needs some more technical training before he’s ready for game action.