Receiver Deangelo Antoine thrives quietly at USF.
As Nyqwan Murray takes in all the publicity at FSU, Deangelo Antoine, his former teammate at Orlando Oak Ridge High, sits back and watches in near anonymity at USF.
But DLo, the nickname for the Bulls redshirt sophomore receiver, holds no ill will or jealousy or even envy toward his friend. He’s happy for his buddy.
Heck, Antoine even has better stats than Murray this season.
Through three games for 4-0 USF — Antoine missed the Temple victory this past Thursday due to an ankle injury — he has six catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. He also has 46 yards rushing on three carries.
Murray, also known as Noonie, has eight catches for 58 yards and no touchdowns during two games for the Seminoles.
When the pair return to Orlando during offseason breaks, they’re always kickin’ it, and don’t think they don’t chide each other about who’s better. They also never miss a chance to reminisce about the old days, like that night when they whooped Apopka.
Now they are intent on making new memories.
DLo and Noonie are cut from the same cloth. They come from similar backgrounds. Noonie was raised by his grandmother, DLo by adoptive parents. They’re both talented, fast, quick-cutting college football receivers. They used to run the streets of Orlando. Now they run the fields of college football stadiums.
Noonie has always been flashy, in your face. DLo has always been a bit more subdued, letting his play speak for him.
Coming out of high school, Murray had height on his side. He was 5-foot-11 and could catch a football like his hands were made of glue. Once he got the attention of FSU’s Central Florida area recruiter, Rick
Trickett, the Seminoles offensive line coach, Murray was all in with FSU.
For Antoine, the path has been a bit of a longer route; parts of which he cannot control — like being only 5-foot-9 — and parts of which have been his own undoing — his arrest for possession of a controlled substance (Xanax) during his freshman season in 2015.
He was the star in the making, the kid who made varsity at Oak Ridge as a freshman because of his strong build, tough nature and ability to overcome what he lacked in height. He received his first offer that year from Louisville.
Everybody loved DLo. He was faster than fast and even ran a 4.3-second 40-yard dash at an FSU camp one summer.
He was so fast the first time that they figured the clocking must have been wrong. They made him do it again. Same result, 4.3 seconds. Still no scholarship offer.
He eventually picked up a number of scholarship offers, but none from the big-time schools. He really wanted to be a Florida Gator and had strong camp showings in Gainesville. Antoine, however, never grew. He was probably about 5-foot-8 as a freshman at Oak Ridge and he left at 5-9.
Teams backed off, but not USF. They wanted him and former Bulls coach
Willie Taggart fell in love with the kid upon seeing him at the Bulls Sling & Shoot 7-on-7 Tournament during the 2014 summer. They offered him a scholarship that week. He accepted four days later.
Antoine is listed at 5-foot-10 on the USF roster. He might have worn heel lifts the day they measured. His abilities on the football field and what he has overcome in life, however, cannot be measured by height.
One guy who knows both players better than most is former Oak Ridge coach Elijah Williams, who is now head coach at Orlando Jones.
They both still hit up their old coach for advice or just to chat. But Antoine didn’t call Williams the night of his arrest. That didn’t sit well with the coach.
“Me and DLo, we got a great relationship and he knows he can tell me anything,” Williams said. “I was a little upset because I heard it from the coach before I heard it from him. I was kinda ticked off at first.
“But then he called me and said, ‘Yeah, coach, I knew you was going to be disappointed,’ and this and that, but I didn’t really focus on that. I just said, ‘Hey, now you made a mistake. You see what it can do to you.’ ”
And he told Antoine that he could move on from it and learn something from it or let it dictate the rest of his life.
“I think every kid at some point gets into something in college. It’s just that most of them aren’t publicized, but every kid hits a bump,” Williams said.
Antoine has stayed the course ever since his brush with the law.
He’s pumped to be a part of a prolific USF offense. The Bulls are ranked No 18 in the country and have won nine games in a row dating to last season.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to be part of this offense, part of this team,” Antoine said. “This offense, we have electric players that can come out and make plays at any point in time and to be part of that is a great feeling.”
FSU dropped out of the rankings this week after starting the season 0-2 for the first time since 1989.
Think DLo will let his friend Noonie hear about it? Count on it.