Yale coach Reno’s son bound for the SEC
He stood on the Yale sidelines when he was 7. He sat in on the quarterback meetings when he was 12. A few years later, there he was picking the brain of Kurt Rawlings, Ivy League offensive player of the year.
Yet when it came time for Dante Reno to make his choice where to play college football, he made it clear he was a Columbia man.
That would be Columbia, South Carolina, man.
“When he started picking up offers, at some point you’ve got to let the process go, be a dad and let him chase his dreams,” Yale coach Tony Reno said. “He is driven to play quarterback and play at a Power Five level. Obviously, it’s a reality. Now go chase it.”
From among the more than 20 scholarship offers the four-star quarterback received, seven caps sat on a table in front of Reno and his family as CBS Sports HQ streamed his announcement on July 2 from their home in Fiskdale, Massachusetts.
Dante picked up the Yale cap — dad and son smiled at their little joke — and put it back on the table. He quickly put the South Carolina cap on his head and became the first commit of Shane Beamer’s 2024 class.
There has been some speculation about reclassifying to 2023. Yet as we talked Thursday, Dante said, “As of right now, it’s 2024.” He is about to enter his junior year at Loomis Chaffee in Windsor.
Boston College was the first to talk to him. Iowa was the first to offer him a scholarship in February 2021. Along the 18-month journey, schools from all Power Five conferences, plus Cincinnati and Houston, made offers. UMass and UConn made their pitches. The other five caps on the table were Virginia, Kentucky, NC State, Wake Forest and Purdue, although Dante had quietly let Beamer know his plans days earlier.
South Carolina’s offer had come directly in the
middle of offers. Yet it became clear to Dante — 6foot-1, 195 pounds — who wanted him most and who he felt was most genuine.
“The way (South Carolina) recruited me was being real with me, being honest,” Dante said. “A lot of people will try to sell you, it’s like a car dealership, but things they’re saying are a lie when you get there. A big thing for me, too, was to talk to the players, get to know them.”
Initially, his only tie to South Carolina was Loomis coach Jeff Moore’s friendship with associate head coach/special teams coordinator Pete Lembo. That would change. Dante would make multiple trips to Columbia, official and unofficial. Tony got to know Beamer. Dante forged relationships with Lembo and particularly offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield. Three coaches were in on recruiting the kid, talking to him multiple times each week.
“They’re all really good people,” Dante said. “My dad and my mom trust them, too. The way Coach Beamer talks to me is very similar to the way my dad talks to me about football. Coach Satterfield got to know me more than just as a football player, which is special to me. Football is a huge thing, but when you’re down there on a Tuesday night, you’ve got to be happy. He made me feel really comfortable.
“He is really good friends with Carolina Panthers coach Matt Rhule. His offense is going to be spectacular. What they’re going to do with Spencer Rattler this year I think is going to shock people. They run a pro-style offense, which I think college football is kind of headed toward.”
Dante started playing tackle football in the third grade. He turned to flag football in Worcester for a couple of years before returning to tackle in the eighth grade. He started out as a running back before becoming a quarterback and as a freshman helped lead a veteran, run-heavy Tantasqua Regional team to the 2019 Division 4 state semifinals.
“He always has been athletic, a kid who could throw a baseball, a football,” Tony Reno said. “But to say you sat there when he was 10 and you knew (he’d be a major college quarterback), I’d say absolutely not.
“He went from the opportunity to be a good high school player to where he is now through his hard work really during COVID. He grew probably three inches during COVID. He hit the weights. He started developing his acumen as a football player, watching film.”
Loomis finished 9-1 last season and went on to capture the NEPSAC Todd Marble Bowl with a 21-3 victory over Milton Academy. Reno, who hit 22 of 35 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns in the championship, finished the season with 2,507 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and a 66 percent completion rate. Loomis had six players rated at least three recruiting stars.
“COVID was a factor that played into the decision (to transfer to Loomis), but our league is really good. Our team was really good. To be able to have a college atmosphere in high school, the boarding school, the way we treat our offseason. We lift at 5:45 in the morning.
“You’re with your best friends all the time. During free periods, we’ll just watch film. To have all that in my back pocket when I get to college, I’m more polished. It won’t be new to me.”
So how much did Tony, who played safety at Worcester State, involve himself in Dante’s recruitment? It turns out his wife, Toni, and Dante managed it through the majority of the process.
“My dad let me do my thing when all the offers were coming in, let everything happen,” Dante said. “He answered questions. As it got to the end, he put a lot of his knowledge into the decision. He didn’t want me to make a wrong decision. Obviously, I didn’t want to, either.”
Tony Reno answered the involvement question this way:
“I didn’t want him there thinking I wanted a different experience,” he said. “Last summer, gosh, they might have seen 12 schools. He saw more this past spring. As he narrowed it down, I started getting involved a little bit. Talking through things. The biggest thing for me is you want to go somewhere they are going to develop you in all areas of your life. As a person, as a leader, as a football player.
“Even beyond that, the one thing I kept saying to him was you are going to find out who you really like being around. Like he said, on a given Tuesday night. When things go bad, that’s when it matters. When you’re throwing for 75 percent, it’s easy to be your coach. When you threw three interceptions in your last five passes, that’s when you really need the guy. He really looked at that. I think the way we run the team, where we’re so player-relationship driven, player-led driven, he was looking for that. He found it in South Carolina.”
Dante is a huge football fan. Games like AuburnAlabama and South Carolina-Clemson are a staple. He calls the SEC “basically a super conference.” As far as the quarterback he admires most, he settles on Aaron Rodgers, because he is so accurate, his release so quick, has done it for such a long time and has changed with the game. “Pretty spectacular,” Dante said.
One of Reno’s best attributes is a quick release. Off the field?
“I think the thing we’re proudest as a dad and mom is he is constantly trying to get better,” Tony said.
Dante talks about leadership, playing for your teammates, winning your team over as a quarterback, the little conversations that build relationships. You can hear Dad in his son’s voice.
“My dad’s impact has been huge,” Dante said. “With him, my mom, my uncle (Domenic) is the head strength coach at Purdue, I probably had the best support system in the country. My dad taught me everything I know about football. Him and his offensive coordinator Kevin Cahill.
“My mom (a nurse) was immense during COVID. I remember when she didn’t come for three, four days straight.”
There, too, is the benefit of being around the Yale team as a kid. Traveling to away games. Walking the sidelines. Hanging around the players’ lounge. Tyler Varga taking him to grab a sandwich for lunch. With conflicting games on Saturday, Tony has missed most of Dante’s games, but he points to a blessing of having three kids (Vince and Angelina along with Dante) growing up around the program.
“He has been fortunate to have great role models like Kurt Rawlings, who’s also a mentor,” Tony Reno said. “He has seen our highs. He has seen our lows. He has seen how guys handle it. He has heard me talk about great examples of how to and how not to do things.”
Soon enough, he’ll take all that to Columbia.
“Right now, I’m happy not to have to worry about recruiting,” he said as he drove with his younger brother to a throwing session. “I can just worry about my team now.”
Because that’s what leaders do.