3-star TE Dante Barone flips to Pennsylvania from Rutgers
Princeton (N.J.) Hun School three-star tight end Dante Barone flipped his commitment from Rutgers to Pennsylvania on Sunday. He announced the news over social media.
Barone is the No. 1,585 overall prospect and No. 76 tight end in the 2023 class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 29 player in New Jersey.
“I want to send a special thank you to coach Schiano and Coach Campanile for believing in me,” Barone wrote in a statement published to social media. “I have the highest degree of respect and admiration for what they’re building at Rutgers. Special thanks to a special role model Coach Smith for also believing so highly in me. Although this was one of the toughest decisions of my life, I am redirecting my focus and committing to the University of Pennsylvania.”
Following his decision, the Scarlet Knights’ 2023 recruiting class ranks No. 59 in the 2023 On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Rankings and No. 13 in the Big Ten. The group is led by Union City (N.J.) three-star interior offensive lineman JaSire Peterson, the No. 495 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus. Rutgers still has a tight end pledge in Barone’s high school teammate, Princeton (N.J.) Hun School three-star Logan Blake.
Meanwhile, Barone is now the highest-ranked prospect in the Quakers’ 2023 class. Pennsylvania currently holds commitments from six prospects.
A 6-foot-3, 245-pound prospect, Barone has an On3 NIL Valuation of $6K. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.