Romain Gatorade Player of the Year

Every year in the business you see prospects that are deemed “great high school players”, however are not always looked at as great prospects at the next level. This seems to be the case for some programs in regard to Don Bosco Prep running back Dillon Romain, who just led his team to their third straight state championship win, a feet never done by any other team at the prestigious school.

Dillon Romain has to be wondering what he has to do to earn the respect of college recruiters after the performance he had this season and in past seasons for Don Bosco Prep at this point. The 5-foot-11, 210-pound running back boasts a 4.46 40-yard dash and while he wanted to play safety this season, he was unable to because of injuries to junior Tony Jones which forced Romain to carry the load for the Ironmen.

Whether Romain’s future is at running back or safety at the next level remains to be seen, but one selling point is the production he put up against an extremely tough schedule at Don Bosco this season. He carried 14 times for 104 yards against Ohio powerhouse St. Xavier, 24 times for 152 yards and a touchdown against California power De LaSalle and then put up 136 yards and four touchdowns on a St. Joseph’s Montvale team that hadn’t allowed a rushing touchdown all season, not even to Notre Dame commitments Nyshier Oliver and Theo Riddick.

“Right now I’m not focused on all of that and am just talking to the schools that are interested in me,” Romain explained. “I really wanted to play safety this season and show schools how versatile I was, but Tony went down and the team really needed me to be in the backfield full-time as we were short-handed, so that’s what I did. I have been hearing from a ton of I-AA schools right now and some I-A programs as well. Pittsburgh came to see me recently, Akron is coming out and I am also hearing steadily from Hofstra, Northeastern and Rhode Island.”

Romain was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of New Jersey as a senior and finished the season with 1435 yards and 25 touchdowns on 206 carries. He also returned a fumble for a touchdown when he was playing safety early in the season.