Hens recruited to Richmond by Rocco enjoy playing for him now
http://delonline.us/2xbrPLe
As a Highland Springs (Va.) High senior,
K.C. Hinton sat in a college football coach’s office, thrilled with the idea of playing for that man.
He got the chance a few years later.
The coach was Danny Rocco, who was then at the University of Richmond and was recruiting Hinton, as were most of the other schools in the Colonial Athletic Association.
As impressed as he was with Rocco and Richmond, located 45 minutes from his home, the school didn’t offer the major that the brainy Hinton sought, civil engineering.
The University of Delaware did, so it was the Blue Hens’ football scholarship he accepted.
“Í chose Delaware over Richmond because of engineering,” Hinton said after practice this week.
And then, last December, Hinton began getting hints from friends, former teammates, and opponents who play for Richmond suggesting he was going to like
Delaware’s new football coach.
“Everybody was texting me, like, ‘You’re lucky,’ ” Hinton said. “I was, like, ‘What are y’all talking about?’ They were, like, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’ll find out.’
“Then, when we made the announcement [Dec. 13] I thought, OK, cool. I was excited. I was confident. I knew it was gonna be a positive change for the program. I told people, too. ‘We’re in good hands.’ ”
The Richmond football team Rocco left plays the Delaware football team Rocco now coaches at 3:30 p.m. at Delaware Stadium Saturday. It’s the Blue Hens’ homecoming. But Rocco will enjoy numerous reunions himself, though he pledged this week to pour all his focus into football while knowing Saturday will stir sentiments.
“We had a lot of success together and I’ll forever be grateful for their commitment,” Rocco said of Richmond’s players.
Delaware head coach Danny Rocco watches his team early in the first quarter at LaValle Stadium Saturday. (Photo: William Bretzger, The News Journal)
The 11th-ranked Spiders (4-2 overall, 2-1 CAA) present quite a challenge for unranked, but improving, Delaware (4-2, 2-1).
Hinton is one of several Delaware players who had been recruited to Richmond by Rocco, including freshmen lineman David Kroll and wide receiver Thyrick Pitts who changed their commitments from Richmond to Delaware after Rocco’s move.
Others include fourth-year starting center Brody Kern, starting tight end Brandon Whaley and Ryley Angeline, who played tight end the last two years before being switched to running back and then linebacker this year.
(Photo: WILLIAM BRETZGER/THE NEWS JOURNA)
Angeline was a Downingtown East (Pa.) High teammate with Richmond’s All-CAA quarterback Kyle Lauletta, who showed Angeline around during his visit.
“I liked it a lot. I thought they had a great coaching staff. It was a tough decision to make but I’m glad I came here,” said Angeline, who valued Delaware’s tradition, brotherhood among players and closeness to home.
Angeline had been particularly impressed by Rocco and his coaching staff and was thrilled when he came to Delaware in December.
“At first I didn’t believe it,” Angeline said.
Hinton has been a valuable reserve defensive back, a position he never played before college, and special teamer for Delaware while appearing in all 28 games the past three seasons. He was actually shifted from safety to cornerback this week because of the wrist injury suffered in last week’s 17-0 win over William & Mary that has sidelined Tenny Adewusi.
Hinton was one of a UD record 35 football players who received Colonial Athletic Association All-Academic recognition, which requires a 3.0 grade-point average or better, after last season.
“I enjoy studying. It’s not too hard for me because I’m a math guy,” said Hinton, whose mother, Pamela, is an engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Hinton visited Richmond without a scholarship offer but left with one, while knowing he was unlikely to end up there after learning the school didn’t have engineering. But he came away impressed with Rocco.
“He was very confident, had an awesome pitch. I was sold,” Hinton said of Rocco. “But I’d already been taking JUCO engineering classes my junior and senior years at Highland Springs in their engineering center so I already had some credits. I was thinking about changing it because I wanted to go, so this ended up being a blessing in disguise because I wanted to play for him.”
With Rocco coming to Delaware, Hinton added, “I knew what we were getting into. I knew that winning was his passion.”
Never was aware that we offfered Hinton.News to me.
