Nine freshmen have made an impact in the Ducks’ first three games this season, a record for a team coached by Mike Bellotti, and none has made a bigger impact than freshman defensive tackle Tonio Celotto, who has played in all three games and tallied seven tackles, one quarterback hurry, one pass breakup and two tackles-for-loss.
Celotto was recruited as a defensive end after his senior season at Piedmont High in Oakland, Calif., a season in which he was credited with 87 tackles and 18 sacks and was ranked the No. 12 defensive line recruit in the state. He had eight schools recruiting him heavily, including Michigan and Oklahoma according to Celotto, but he was sold on Oregon by the climate and the coaches.
“I love the weather, I love the area, and the facilities are great,” said Celotto. “But meeting the coaching staff was just awesome. They were instantly like family to me, like second dads.”
And though the “second dads” Celotto found here on the Oregon coaching staff are crucial to the next phase of his career, his path to the present was first inspired and then supported by his real dad, former NFL linebacker Mario Celotto.
Mario Celotto played linebacker for USC in the mid-’70s, including the Trojans’ 1974 national championship team, and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 1977 NFL Draft. In 1980 he was traded to the Oakland Raiders, where he was a member of the Raiders’ 1980 Super Bowl Championship team. Tonio Celotto’s mother, Julia Lendl-Celotto, was a track and volleyball standout at USC and played professional volleyball in the Women’s Professional Volleyball Association from 1994 to 1997. This gives their son an ideal athletic pedigree.
But Julia and Mario Celotto divorced, and after living with his mother in Simi Valley, Calif. for the first three years of high school, he decided to move to the Bay Area to live with his father.
“I just needed to be near my pops, you know,” said Celotto. “We’d been apart for a few years and I just wanted to live with him and learn from him. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Celotto came into Oregon at his roster-listed 252 pounds, but over the summer he beefed up to his current 282 pounds. This provided him the opportunity to step in at tackle when the need arose.
“After last season I just hit the weight room like no other,” he said. “So when they decided to put me in the middle I’ve been able to hold my own and do pretty well.”
Celotto has been playing as much as anyone on the interior defensive line as part of a strategy to keep veterans fresher, deeper into the season, and to further develop young talent in case of injuries, which have haunted the Oregon football team the last few years.
The defensive tackle position takes more punishment than any other position on the field, according to defensive line coach Michael Gray, and if a young player can be inserted for a significant amount of snaps without a drop in line play, the entire defense will benefit.
“Tackles have a tough duty inside, and if you can find three or four guys that can play inside and be solid, I think that helps the defense overall, period,” said Gray. “In the pre-season I like to get my guys some experience, quality reps, and maybe somewhere down the road if somebody gets hurt they’ve got the experience. I like that. I don’t like throwing a kid in there cold, who’s never played in a game, and hoping they’ll do something productive because most of the time they won’t.”
Of course there is a simple reason that Celotto is getting significant playing time as a freshman – he has earned it.
“Right now he brings energy, and he’s unknowing so he has no limitations,” said Gray. “These older guys can be too smart now. They’ve been in the college game for a few years and they see something developing and they slow down sometimes. Tony doesn’t slow down.”