More on Stanzi
When talking about the recruitment of Ricky Stanzi on Tuesday, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Stanzi was a late offer, definitely “not a USC offer,” he said. Stanzi said the coaching staff told him they had to see some throws his senior year before they were ready to offer.
Anyway … here are some other bits on Stanzi that I picked up in the reporting for the story on his aunt we ran earlier this week. (Click here if you didn’t see that story)
- According to his father, Joe, Stanzi was a better basketball player early on in high school. He started getting recruiting letters from D-I schools for hoops when he was a freshman. When he was a sophomore, he decided he wanted to focus more on football, but he still played basketball throughout his high school career.
- Stanzi’s dad said Stanzi took a lot of abuse from opposing fans when he was in high school. The abuse got worse after he committed to Iowa. Sounded like he dealt with it pretty well. I imagine that’s not a totally unique thing for guys who go D-I, a lot of animosity/jealousy out there.
- Stanzi grew up idolizing Tom Brady, which is interesting because, while he isn’t to that level yet, his rise from the depths of the depth chart somewhat mirrors what Brady did at Michigan. Whether or not he’ll go on to win the Super Bowl MVP … I’ll wait to predict that one until after I’ve seen him play a real Division I team. Joe Stanzi said his son read biographies of Brady, Johnny Unitas and John Elway. That’s the demeanor he wants to emulate, his dad said.
- Stanzi didn’t start until his junior year at Lake Catholic High School in Mentor, Ohio. Before that, he played everywhere from linebacker to receiver to defensive back to special teams. He was stuck behind a guy who won a state championship — much like Christensen in that regard. The guy he played behind at QB was Mark Petruziello. Petruziello initially went to Ohio U, before transferring around and landing at John Carroll, a Division III school in Cleveland. Saturday, as Stanzi made his debut, Petruziello completed 21 of 22 passes for 242 yards and five touchdowns in a 41-14 win over Thomas More. Good day for Lake Catholic alums … not such a good day for Lake Catholic. Saturday night, Stanzi’s little brother, Vinnie, and his teammates suffered the worst loss — 36 points — in the history of the program.
- I met a guy this summer who played against Stanzi in high school. At that point, I didn’t know how much of a factor Stanzi would be this fall. I e-mailed the guy the other day after Stanzi’s coming out party against FIU. Here was his reply: “I’m telling you, he is the goods. He’s got a big ole’ pair of nuts that could save Kirk his job!!” This was a guy who played against him in high school and went on to play in the MAC. Take it for what it’s worth.
Like Ferentz said Tuesday, I, too, am not ready to crown Stanzi king. He has looked very good against inferior competition, but he has a lot to prove against ISU this weekend. I do think he’s capable, but he’s not going to look as good this Saturday as he did against FIU. It’s going to be a growing process throughout the season. I’m interested to see how the coaching staff is going to handle having Stanzi as the starter. I mean, are they going to have him looking over his shoulder? Or is it his job for a set number of games, say six, and then they’ll evaluate where he and the team are at? After seeing how they handled Christensen last year, giving him the entire season to grab hold of the position, I suspect we’ll see mostly Stanzi from here on out. But, like I wrote on Tuesday, Ferentz was noncommittal, at best, in confirming Stanzi as “the guy.”
Oh, and I asked Stanzi’s dad … for those of you wondering, it is Ricky, not Rick.
