Dontay Corleone, recovering from blood clots, returns to Bearcats football practice

A welcome sight at the Cincinnati Bearcats opening football practice for the 2024 campaign was wearing a different-colored jersey Wednesday morning.

As it turns out a 320-pound Outland Trophy and Bronko Nagurski Award candidate is hard to hide. In the corner of the endzone where defensive line coach Walter Stewart was running through drills was Dontay Corleone, the only lineman not wearing a black defensive jersey.

He participated in all of the individual drills and some formations on the field, but not in any team offense vs. defense scenarios. The team began their work Wednesday at Nippert Stadium in helmets, shoulder pads and shorts.

Cincinnati Bearcats defensive tackle Dontay Corleone participated in drills during UC’s first football practice before the season.

Reason for optimism for Dontay Corleone?

Considering the well-decorated Corleone was hospitalized for blood clots in his lungs in mid-June, seeing “The Godfather” on familiar turf was a positive sign. The only hitting he did was to a blocking sled and a tackling dummy.

“There’s some things he jumped in and was able to do,” UC head coach Scott Satterfield said. “Leaning on what the trainers will allow him to do, he’s going to able to do that. He’ll work through that as we go through camp. I’m excited to have him out here. The reps he’s not getting he’s doing a lot of coaching, so he’s certainly staying involved mentally.”

During the team competitions, Corleone occupied himself running or pounding the practice pads on the sidelines. The plan is to take it day by day. As he mentioned at Big 12 media days, Satterfield received a call from West Virginia coach Neal Brown in June who had a Mountaineer with a similar ailment play last year.

“We had a player that went through the exact same situation a year ago,” Brown said last month in Las Vegas. “We really leaned on…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/dontay-corleone-recovering-blood-clots-204757437.html

Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-07-31 20:47:57

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