'Big Citrus': Iowa State defensive anchor Domonique Orange plays at 325 pounds after topping 400 in high school
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Domonique Orange's weight got out of control
"The highest I ever got in high school, my senior year, was 408 pounds," Orange said.
When Orange was a freshman at North Kansas City High School, he impressed the Iowa State coaches at a football camp. The coaches, however, were also worried about his weight. Orange weighed 300 pounds in ninth grade.
"One thing we told him when we met him when we offered him is, 'You got to watch your weight. You have to watch your weight.' And it got him. It did. COVID got him," said ISU assistant coach Eli Rasheed.
"I was one of the people that COVID really hit," Orange said. "I got to the point where I was just eating, eating for fun. I got up to 400 pounds in high school.
Over the years, his weight went up and his number of offers went down.
"I had top 10 teams in the country knocking at my door, but when they found out I had got to 400 pounds, I lost those," Orange said.
Orange signed with Iowa State and then got to work.
"I talked to Coach (Matt) Campbell when I got here. The big emphasis was me getting on the field. He worked with me. He understood I had the ability. We lost weight when I got here," Orange said.
"The buy-in factor has to be from you," Rasheed said. "You can do everything right at this facility and then go home and eat 13 pizzas and ruin it and start over. He had to commit to that full-time, and that's what he did."
All that hard work is paying off. Nicknamed "Big Citrus" he is now a 325-pound junior and an emerging star on the Cyclones defensive line.
"He's got agility you just don't see with a guy his frame," Rasheed said.
"For me to go from 400 pounds to 325, that's a blessing," Orange said.
ISU hosts Arkansas State Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.