Winston DeLattiboudere III didn't plan to make his college football commitment on Super Bowl Sunday, but what could make it more memorable?
The Howard defensive end, The Baltimore Sun's Defensive Player of the Year last fall, received the offer from Minnesota he was hoping for Sunday afternoon, so he wasted no time accepting it.
"It was just a coincidence," DeLattiboudere said with a laugh. "When I thought about, I was like, 'Wow, wouldn't that really help me remember the commitment that I made?' I knew as soon as they offered me, it was the school for me.
"I loved it when I went up there, but unfortunately, they couldn't offer right off the bat, because I came into the race kind of late, but once they got down to offering me, I took it."
DeLattiboudere visited Minnesota two weeks ago and was just about sold on the Golden Gophers from the moment he set foot on the Minneapolis campus.
"I'd never seen facilities like that in my whole life," DeLattiboudere said. "It was something out of a dream, a football player's dream. I'm walking in and I see the big TCF Bank Stadium, I see the locker room.
"It's like 80 yards long, and then I talk to the guys, and I'm like I can really get along with these guys and talking to the other recruits, and I'm just like I can see myself here, and I know they say when you can envision yourself someplace, then that's the place for you to go."
Recruited as a weak-side pass-rushing defensive end, DeLattiboudere isn't sure whether he will have to redshirt a year. Considered undersized for a defensive end -- something that likely cut down the number of coaches who recruited him -- he said he's trying to add weight to his 6-foot-3, 217-pound frame.
DeLattiboudere, who just turned 17 two weeks ago, thought at one point he might have to go to prep school for a year or spend a couple years at a junior college to give himself time to grow, but he wanted to move on to an Football Bowl Subdivision program. Now, he's hitting the weight room and eating lots of peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches to try to put on the pounds to try to get onto the roster without a redshirt year.
"They said it all depends on how much weight I put on and how I transition from the high school mentality to the college mentality, but right now [Howard coach Bruce Strunk] is helping me put on weight, so hopefully we can eliminate that," DeLattiboudere said. "They just want me to be able to come in and play football at a weight that will protect me. If I need to redshirt, it wouldn't be a bad thing, because it would give me time to develop.
"Coach Strunk and all those [Minnesota coaches] were on the same page about it, but I'm hard-headed and competitive, so I just want to come in and do as much as I can."
Last fall, DeLattiboudere led No. 5 Howard (12-1) to its first state semifinal since 1999. An aggressive player with a fiery leadership style, he blasted off the end for a team that allowed just 7.5 point per game and shut out five opponents. He made 101 tackles, including 42 for a loss, and also had 17.5 sacks and 38 quarterback hurries.
Despite his dominating play, his recruiting took a while to get going. He had an offer from Idaho before his emailed video caught the eye of the Minnesota coaching staff. In addition to visiting Minnesota, he took an official visit to Buffalo last weekend but didn't receive an offer until Monday when it was too late.
DeLattiboudere never thought he would get the chance to play Big Ten football.
"I honestly thought I was going to make the [Atlantic Coast Conference] at best. I'm sitting here and I'm starstruck and it's like God is so good," DeLattiboudere said. "I'm just going to work my butt off and l'm just going to start off as the underdog like I did in high school and hopefully, I'll come out on top."
Although he will sign his national letter of intent Wednesday, DeLattiboudere said he won't have a signing ceremony until several of his teammates are ready to sign with Division II or III schools, so they can all celebrate together.
"I'm still part of a team," DeLattiboudere said. "I didn't want this whole signing day thing to be about me. I really love my bros and we've been through a lot, so I want to share this moment with them."