'I'm Buying A House' - Dontay Corleone, Joe Royer Detail Desire to Run it Back With Bearcats Football in 2025

 Cincinnati natives and impactful returnees took to the microphone for UC football on Thursday. Star defensive tackle Dontay Corleone and tight end Joe Royer are ready to finish what they started at this school.

They want to win in their hometown before realizing their professional dreams.

"Staying home and just building your foundation here, building a mark, building a legacy for here," Corleone said. "This offseason, I'm buying a house. Even with my dreams of going to the next level, I'm always gonna have a home here. And I just love this place. So I try to tell them [other players], like, 'You necessarily don't have to leave to go to the NFL. You can go to the NFL from Cincinnati.'"

Corleone had to deal with blood clots interrupting his summer and start to his 2024 season. Now, he gets to show his full strength on and off the field for his UC swan song that he spent a week thinking about before landing on a return.

"That's one of the main reasons why I came back, obviously, is to prove to everybody that I can play at a high level," Corleone said about the ailment he fought through. "What I had dealing with last year and going through a full offseason, and having a plan ... I do different types of extra work to be in top shape because I can't do some of the things necessarily. So he's [ the training staff] keeping me in top shape."

Royer would've had NFL interest as well, but he was almost always set on returning to Cincinnati in 2025, even before the 2024 campaign ended.

"It was a tough decision for a little bit, but I kind of knew right away this is where I wanted to be coming back for another year," Royer noted. "Just weighing my options out a little bit. But yeah, like Dontay said, as well. It was a no-brainer. And only being here for one year this past season, I wasn't ready to move on, and I wanted to give it another shot."

Royer set a UC single-season record by a tight end with 50 catches in 2024. He turned those into 522 receiving yards and three touchdowns. It amounted to a 65.4 overall PFF grade across 657 snaps.

Both players will be crucial parts of any Cincinnati football success this fall.