Coaches weren’t sure what to do with him. Anthony Castonzo could play football, but where would he line up at the collegiate level? That’s a question that can plague a handful of top tier athletes on the gridiron, and in Castonzo’s case, Fork Union helped to solve that problem.
Participating in a football camp at the University of North Carolina in 2006, Castonzo was battling this so called ‘tweener’ status as it wasn’t clear whether he was meant to play linebacker, defensive line or offensive line. However, when Fork Union post graduate football coach John Shuman got a look at Costanzo, he knew he could help the Illinois native.
Shuman worked with the Lake Zurich High product at both offensive and defensive tackle that fall. By the end of 2006, Castonzo was weighing a handful of offers from BCS schools looking to aquire him as a lineman. As an excellent student, Castonzo wanted to enroll in college for the spring semester in 2007. Boston College, a school notorious for funneling lineman to the National Football League, wound up being the choice for Castonzo.
In the fall of 2007 Castonzo earned a starting job on the offensive line for the Eagles as a true freshman and was named to the Sporting News’ 2007 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman team as a right tackle. As a sophomore, Castonzo made the switch to left tackle and was All-ACC second team.
In 2009, he continued to excel, starting every single game for the third straight year and earning a fistful of accolades including first team All-ACC, Sport Illustrated’s All-American honorable mention and ESPN’s All-Academic District first team.
Now as he starts his senior season at 6-foot-7 and 295 pounds, Castonzo’s name carries a lot of buzz as scouts from NFL teams eye the former Blue Devil as a potential top-tier left tackle. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. has pegged Castonzo as a first-round pick in his 2011 NFL mock draft.
From tweener to one of the best collegiate lineman in the country, Castonzo’s been on quite a journey, and if the last five years serve as any barometer, there’s still a lot left ahead. It’s hard to imagine that any of that was up in the air before he came to Fork Union.
