Dante Stills is already a special player. The Fairmont native was one of the most-coveted players in the state of West Virginia in quite some time.
He could have gone to a host of top Division I schools, but he chose to stay home and use his elite talent for the betterment of the WVU football team. Stills recently played in the Rivals All American Game and was one of the most impressive defensive players out there.
Stills was a four-star recruit, which is a ranking that doesn’t come around too often for prep prospects in West Virginia. Stills comes from good stock as his father, Gary Stills, was a WVU football legend and saw some time in the NFL. With Stills on the team, his Fairmont Senior squad immediately became one of the top programs in Class AA in West Virginia.
Stills helped his All America team, Team Highlight, pitch a shut out in the first half of the All-Star Game. Not only did stills make a name for himself nationally with a strong performance, he also showed all the doubters that West Virginia can produce some excellent talent on the gridiron.
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According to Rivals.com, Stills is the most highly-ranked recruit out of West Virginia since 2004. That year, Martinsburg’s Brandon Barrett was a can’t-miss prospect. He appeared in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd and arrived on campus with a whole host of potential.
Barrett never lived up to the expectations and flamed out rather quickly. Stills knows he has a lot riding on himself and he seems to be the type to grind it out on the practice field. His older brother, Darius, took that step and he earned some solid playing time as a freshman in 2017.
The younger Stills already looks the part of a Division I player. Ever since the Fairmont Senior season ended against Bluefield, he has worked on getting bigger and stronger. He matched up well with the best players in the nation in that All-Star Game and has proven that he can match any challenge thrown at him with strong authority.
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Watching Stills’ career blossom with the WVU football team will be special over the next few years. He has already proven he will be a reliable player and he could end up as a Mountaineer legend.