Son of Italy, D’Angelo’s time to be “the guy” on CCU football team has come

Shortly after Lorenzo D’Angelo took a leap of faith and left his native Rome, Italy, to enroll at Coastal Carolina, he realized the football being played at the Division I college football level was vastly different than what was being played in his young adult league back home.

“Once I got here I understood this level is not what I was used to,” D’Angelo said. “Like back home I was the guy, like ‘Just give the ball to Lorenzo, he’s going to do something.’ I came here and realized it’s a whole other league. It took some time.”

D’Angelo hasn’t been the guy at Coastal for the past three years, but he has remained undeterred and committed to the team and his place on it.

He was deemed ineligible for athletics in his first year at the school because of admissions complications, and has spent the past three years as a walk-on, predominantly playing the role of scout team tight end in practices to help the starting defense prepare for opposing offenses.

His time as the guy finally came last month, when his commitment and diligence were rewarded with the awarding of a full scholarship for his final season during a surprise ceremony in front of the entire team.

“Seeing him from Day 1, he’s definitely a hard worker. He works his tail off,” said senior linebacker Kerron Johnson, who has often gone against D’Angelo in practices over the past few years. “He goes above and beyond. Even when we tell him to calm down, he’s like, ‘No, I’m going.’ He really works hard and he deserves it.”

D’Angelo has worked his way onto every special teams squad this season with the exception of the field goal and extra point block teams. He also began getting reps on offense in spring practices and is now third on the depth chart at tight end behind Max Kjosa and Laquay Brown.

“Hopefully I’ll get some reps [in games] on offense. But as far as I care, I love it,” D’Angelo said. “I’m playing a lot because on every special team I get at least 20 to 25 snaps every game and that’s all I can ask.”

D’Angelo is believed to be the only Italy native playing Division I football.

He transitioned from basketball to American football at age 14. He said high schools in Italy don’t have athletic teams, they only have the equivalent of a physical education class.

So he joined a teenage team, then the Lazio Marines American Football Team comprised mainly of adults at the age of 17. Italy has a few football leagues, though the sport is not nearly as popular as soccer, rugby or basketball. “But it’s growing,” D’Angelo said.

One of D’Angelo’s first head coaches was former Missouri and NFL player Brock Olivo, who would become his connection to Coastal.

Olivo, who is now the special teams coordinator for the Denver Broncos, was hired by Joe Moglia to be an assistant coach with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League before Moglia was hired as CCU’s head coach in 2012 and brought Olivo to be his running backs and special teams coach.

Olivo contacted D’Angelo. “When he came here he said, ‘Do you want to come,’ ” D’Angelo recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, why not? Of course, that’s my dream.’ ”

D’Angelo got all of his international student paperwork in order and enrolled at Coastal, but by the time he arrived Olivo had accepted a job with the Kansas City Chiefs.

So D’Angelo had to try out for the team, but he said he was deemed ineligible for athletics his freshman year because he hadn’t taken an SAT or ACT college entrance exam, which he was unfamiliar with. He believed all that was required was an international language test, which he passed. “Nobody knew because they almost never have international students playing football,” D’Angelo said.

D’Angelo, who is 6-foot-1 and 230 pounds, invited a few friends and former teammates to join him in the U.S. but none would come. “I think I was the only one serious about it,” he said. “I know there is a lot of talent back there, just people don’t believe they can make it. I have friends that had a chance to come, but they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of far, what if this happens, what if that happens, what if I have to go home?’ Like, there are too many what ifs. Just do it and don’t worry about it.”

D’Angelo admitted frustration set in over a couple years of practicing without ever seeing the playing field. “Of course sometimes I was mad,” he said. “I’d try really hard but I’m just standing on the sideline all game. But I knew sooner or later my time would be coming.”

He was surprised by the scholarship offer near the end of preseason camp. He’s believed to be the only Italian player other than a kicker to receive an NCAA Division I college football scholarship. “It was pretty exciting. It’s awesome,” he said.

The team gathered for a meeting and a video was played on a large screen. In the video, tight ends coach Nick Jones and linebackers coach Ryan Goodman are tossing a football on the beach and come across two bottles washed ashore with messages in them.

The two coaches then walked into the meeting room with the bottles. D’Angelo and linebacker and fellow walk-on James Heft were called to the stage to pull the letters from the bottle. D’Angelo’s letter was said to be from Rome. The letters stated they were being granted scholarships, which was also displayed on the large video screen, and their teammates went bonkers, cheering and engulfing the players with group hugs.

“We went crazy because we know how hard he works, and to finally get that chance, that recognition, and what you’re working for,” Johnson said. “Any athlete that doesn’t have a scholarship, that’s ultimately what they’re working for, and he finally got it after all that work.”

Football and his teammates have enhanced D’Angelo’s U.S. college experience.

“The bond that I created with these guys, we’re all like a big family,” D’Angelo said. “This sport creates something that it’s hard to find somewhere else. I have friends outside of here, but these guys are just my brothers. After four years I see them every day. It builds up something that is hard to create somewhere else.”

The discipline of being a football player under coach Moglia has also benefitted D’Angelo. “That has changed me a lot,” he said. “Waking up at 5, like be here, do your things. I think it helps us grow. Once I leave here I hope I’ll be like a man. I was a young kid, I came here to just have fun and play a game.”

D’Angelo’s girlfriend from Italy has followed him to the Grand Strand and she attends Horry-Georgetown Technical College.

D’Angelo said he never considered going back to Italy. “I had to do this,” he said. “My parents put some money in it. It’s not for free, especially if you’re not American. I had to pay out of state [tuition]. So they’re helping me out to like follow my dream, so I’ve got to try. I’m doing it for them at first, now I’m doing it for me a little bit because I love this, but I’m doing it pretty much for them.”

D’Angelo aspires to remain in the U.S. once the season and his schooling is complete, though there will be a process for him to try to remain here legally.

He earned a biology degree in May and is now pursuing a master’s degree in marine and wetland studies, which he expects to earn within 18 to 24 months. “If nothing else happens,” he said.

As unlikely as his earning of a scholarship at Coastal was, D’Angelo would be beating much higher odds if he played professional football. But he’ll tell you stranger things have happened. “When I first came here a lot of people were like, ‘You’re never going to make it. You’re just wasting your time and your money,’ “ D’Angelo said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know. I’ll try. I’ll give it a shot.’ ”

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Son of Italy, D’Angelo’s time to be “the guy” on CCU football team has come."