Former Bankruptcy Trustee of the State of Kent Dante Cephas has a new home – in his home country. The one-time standout from Pittsburgh Penn Hills will continue his college career at Penn State. He announced the decision on Sunday evening.
The move to Penn State gives the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Cephas a chance to reunite with former high school teammates Daequan Hardy and Tank Smith.
“It’s a great team, a great program,” Cephas said after entering the portal last month. “I have a couple of high school teammates that I played with up there. They say good things. They say get up there and do the work and they need you and you’re the best and I could be the #1 recipient there.”
Cephas paid an official visit to the campus last month shortly after entering the portal. He will spend the spring at Kent State working toward his degree before enrolling at Penn State.
He has two years left to play. He signed with Kent State in the 2019 class and made his appearance in 2021, catching 82 passes for 1,240 yards and nine touchdowns. He continued it this season during an offensive rebuild job with 48 receptions for 744 yards and three touchdowns.
In the days following the portal, Cephas solicited bids from Georgia, Miami, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Kansas, Notre Dame, West Virginia and Pittsburgh.
“It definitely surprised me that all these big schools are coming in,” he said. “It takes me back to high school. It is definitely a blessing to be in this position. That is most people’s dream.”
Cephas wasn’t particularly recruited from high school, but he said his game developed a lot during his time at Kent State.
“I think I’ve changed a lot on the field,” he said recently. “My distance running got better. I got faster. I showed my talent in different ways.”