This was the beginning of my conversation – verbatim — with Penn State football co-captain Dom DeLuca on the Beaver Stadium playing field during the team’s media day on Sunday:
Me: “Did I see you hold for snaps at practice the other day?”
Dom: “You might have. Yeah.”
Me: “Were you also handing out Gatorade bottles and then cleaning up afterwards?”
Dom: “Of course.”
Me: “Is there anything you won’t do?”
Dom: “I’ll do whatever I need to do for this team to succeed. I’m going to be on defense. On special teams. Punt. Kick return. Kick-off. If they need me, holding. I’ll do whatever they want me to do. Anywhere they need me.”
Dominic Carl DeLuca, son of Ree Ree and Carl DeLuca of West Pittston, Pa., is not kidding.
Shohei Ohtani wishes he were as versatile as Dom.
Johnny Cash thought that he had been everywhere, man. He never met Dom DeLuca.
IT’S A LONG LIST
Here’s a litany of what Dom did for the 11-2 Nittany Lions last season, while making 29 tackles (18 of them unassisted):
“I ran down on kick-offs. That was one of my main jobs,” he says, reciting the list. “I did kick return. I didn’t really do punt; that was more of (since-graduated Jonathan) Sutherland, though I was in or him a couple of times. Punt return. I’m one of the middle guys. We call that Bomb. I was on kick return as well. I was a front-line guy.”
Hands?
“Yeah,” he concurs with just a little giggle, “I do.”
Both hands, in fact. A natural righty, Dom is a bourgeoning practitioner of ambidexterity.
“I can bat lefty. I can play lacrosse lefty,” he says. “I just started throwing the football lefty to see if I can do it.” (Huh, I bet he can. Now, think about him rolling left as the holder on a fake field goal attempt.)
He’s a special guy. No doubt. But DeLuca also plays a bunch at linebacker for D-coordinator Manny Diaz. “The main one is outside (Sam), but I can play all of them.”
Of course.
And now, early into the 2023 preseason, DeLuca is also spending that aforementioned time as DeHolder for place-kicks.
“I used to hold in high school, and the coaches here found out about it,” he says. “So they asked if I could do it and help out.”
Don did more than hold for kicks in high school. He did everything but play the trombone at Wyoming Area High School. He was in student council. He was on the executive board. He lettered in basketball, lacrosse and track and field. As well as football.
And very well, indeed. Dom was a four-year starter and three-time captain for football coach Randy Spencer. He led Wyoming to its first-ever state championship as a senior, a 21-14 win over Central Valley in the PIAA Class 3A title game. He threw two touchdowns. Engineered a comeback. And did it with a torn ACL.
Of course.
“In high school, I was the holder,” he admits. “And the punter. The punt returner. I was the kick returner. I was the quarterback. And I was the safety.”
Off the field at Penn State, his major is agribusiness. “Couldn’t be just one,” I told him. “You gotta be agriculture and business? It fits your M.O.”
In the community, he is a volunteer extraordinaire, having performed such duties back home in the Wyoming Valley and in State College as cutting grass, shoveling snow, speaking at banquets, coaching kids and bagging groceries.
And for good measure, he took up golf just last year. Now he routinely breaks 100. Of (golf) course.
HIS MOST IMPORTANT ROLE
DeLuca is redshirt sophomore, so he expects to be around for a while. Perhaps the singular role that he is most proud of heading into 2023 is that of captain. He, Keaton Ellis and Olu Fashanu were named co-captains back in the spring. More may follow, but you can bet lots of guys on the team are already following DeLuca.
“I’m just thankful all my brothers gave me the opportunity to lead the team,” he says, “and that they trust me. I’m just happy I can do it. I hope I show leadership, the right way to go about it, and follow the process that Coach (James) Franklin always preaches.”
Even though he’s a man of many talents and many hats, DeLuca could end up a big fat zero – as in jersey number 0 – this fall.
One of Franklin’s newest traditions is awarding the number 0 to his squad’s special teams leader. Sutherland, a four-time captain, wore zero.
Maybe DeLuca is next. But just so you know: Even if he does get that jersey from ST coordinator Stacy Collins, Dom is anything but a zero.
