Clemson commit impresses

CLEVELAND – Madison, Ohio, tight end Nic DiLillo had nothing else to prove.

With scholarship offers from all over the country from schools like Clemson, Purdue, Virginia, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Maryland, Nebraska and Pittsburgh, he was already thought of as one of the top 15 players in Ohio. He also recently made a commitment to Clemson back on April 7 after an unofficial visit to Death Valley.

So why was he at the Elite Skills Camp on Tuesday at the Cleveland Browns Stadium?

"I'm going to Clemson now, but I wanted to come to something like this so I can look good when I'm going down there," DiLillo, who continues to add more good weight to his 6-foot-5, 219-pound frame, said."I just want to catch some balls and prove I still got it. Now that I'm committed to Clemson, I'm not going to be going to many combines or camps, so I still want to show I can play ball.

"It's just another chance to show people like you guys at Rivals where I should be ranked at."

He proved it all day long.

In a relatively small tight end group at the Elite Skills Camp, DiLillo was one of the standouts for sure. He displayed solid hands and ran good routes. He said the experience of going up and competing with and against the top college prospects in the state was something he really enjoyed.

"It's a rush," he said. "I'm going doing it in a couple of years anyways, so I might as well get used to it now."

DiLillo said he ended the process a lot earlier than he honestly thought he would have. He admits he did watch Clemson growing up, but never thought he would have already made a college commitment. But now that the pledge is done with, he couldn't be any happier.

"A lot of pressure is off my shoulders," DiLillo said with a white Clemson Tiger hat turned backwards. "Every day it was insane with all the coaches and now I get to play football and not worry about anything else. I've always liked them since I was younger. I've been to Ohio State. I've been to Michigan. But the second I stepped on the campus at Clemson, it felt like home to me. I just had that feeling that it was the place.

"I'm still talking to coaches a little bit, but I'm 99 percent sure I'm going to Clemson."

DiLillo said a big reason why he committed to the Tigers was the efforts of Clemson ace recruiter Billy Napier.

"He's a cool guy," DiLillo said. "Talking to him is like talking to an older brother. He's real down to earth and like 'how you doing, what's going on.' The other thing I like about him is that I can talk to him about anything. We can talk about more than football. We can talk about anything."

DiLillo said his parents were at first a little disappointed that he was going to be going that far from home to play in college, but his mother was with him on the unofficial visit to Clemson and she also saw the same things he did.

"They're saving up right now to buy some tickets," he said. "They're kind of upset, but they know it's the place for me. My mom was with me, and she knew it was the right place for me. It was just a feeling. My mom said it was just like that wedding dress that she always wanted. She said, 'when you know, you know.' And she was right. It was the same thing with me, but I'm not wearing a dress."