Background

Dontay "The Godfather" Corleone grew up in West Cincinnati, Ohio, roughly 11 miles from the University of Cincinnati campus, and attended Colerain High School, where he compiled 137 career tackles, 19.5 sacks, and 3 forced fumbles, earning Division I First-Team All-Ohio and Greater Miami Conference Defensive Athlete of the Year as a senior. A three-star recruit, he committed to Cincinnati on October 19, 2019, with defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman as his primary recruiter, and redshirted in 2021 before exploding as a redshirt freshman in 2022 with 45 tackles, 5.5 TFL, 3 sacks, and PFF's highest defensive grade in the nation, earning AP Third-Team All-American and First-Team All-AAC. When Luke Fickell left for Wisconsin, Corleone stayed. Then, in June 2024, while playing pickup basketball, he noticed difficulty breathing, and a CAT scan at UC Medical Center revealed a pulmonary embolism, blood clots in his lungs. He said at the time that he did not know if he would ever play football again, let alone how his life would look afterward. Cincinnati connected him with Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith, who had dealt with a similar condition at Tennessee. After consulting specialists at UNC, Corleone received clearance for contact less than three months later. He finished 2024 with 26 tackles and 3.5 sacks, earning First-Team All-Big 12. An ankle injury limited his 2025 senior season to 14 tackles without a sack, though he still earned Second-Team All-Big 12, his fourth consecutive all-conference selection. He earned his bachelor's degree from Cincinnati in December 2024 before declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Physical Attributes

Dontay Corleone would never leave the cannoli. He is 6'0" and weighed in at 340 lbs. For someone his size, he moves incredibly well. His feet are fast enough, and his second and third steps offer great acceleration. When he finally hits his top speed he is moving, but good luck to him stopping it. His lateral agility along the line is solid, and his play strength is inconsistent.

Data and Tape Analysis

If you are unfamiliar with my DT radar charts, you can find more information here

Corleone is a pure nose tackle. You can see in his alignment, that he was almost exclusively over the center or in the A gap in Cincinnati's 3-3-5 system. As a run defender, he anchored what turned out to be a pretty poor Bearcats run defense. I do not want to think how much worse it would be without him.

Corleone was tasked with eating double teams and trying to hold the point of attack for the defensive line. He kept great gap integreity except on a few specific occasions. Against double teams, sometimes his base would narrow, and he would easily be pushed out of the way. Outside of that, he was a difficult man to move and even got pushback on a lot of snaps. He even showed an ability to shoot gaps and get into the backfield early enough to cause some chaos for the offense to sort out, even if he never had the athleticism to close it out himself.

Corleone's pass rushing though:

The lack of athleticism let's him down greatly here.

Grade and Outlook

The Godfather is someone you can rely on, someone you can trust. He is not afraid to get his hands dirty, but do not expect him to make plays quickly, he is there to be a steadying force and would not ever want to come off as irrational. You would still rather have him on your side than going against you, even if it does come with downsides.

Grade: 4.3 (4th Rounder)