Looks like Pitt has attracted another Special Recruit!
Trib Article:
Every other weekend for five months during the spring and summer of 2013 and '14, Thomas MacVittie Sr. and his son Thomas Jr. climbed in the family car in Cincinnati and drove to St. Louis, 350 miles and nearly 5 1⁄2 hours away. There, young Thomas, the quarterback recruit in Pitt's Class of 2016, worked with trainer Skip Stitzell with an eye on two prizes: the starting job at Moeller High School and a scholarship to an FBS school. Father and son couldn't find a trainer closer to home before Stitzell, who has worked with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert and others, was recommended by a friend. “Thomas gave up hanging out with the boys on the weekend and all the stuff some of the high school kids do,” Thomas Sr. said. “And my wife didn't like me being gone, either.”
Mary MacVittie understands the athlete's mindset — she was a world-class swimmer in high school and played soccer at George Washington — but Thomas Sr. wondered. “I said, ‘No way in heck are we going to drive 350 miles every other weekend,' ” Thomas Sr. said. “But once Thomas said, ‘I have a dream ... ' ” Thomas Sr. couldn't resist doing the math: about 20 weekends, with three- and four-hour sessions Saturday and Sunday at $75 an hour, plus hotel and meals.
“I got about $15,000 invested in Skip,” Thomas Sr. said of the man who eventually became known as Uncle Skip to his son. “(The travel) was great from a bonding point of view.” It paid off in another big way when Pitt offered Thomas Jr. a scholarship. Former Pitt offensive coordinator Jim Chaney previously worked with Stitzell, and Chaney asked him to recommend someone.
MacVittie Jr. committed in March, and he remained solid even after Chaney, with whom he had developed a close relationship, left for Georgia two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi has kept in constant contact with the family. MacVittie and his entire family left Christmas Eve for Annapolis, Md., where they will attend Monday's Military Bowl. The twist to the story is Pitt offered MacVittie (6-foot-4 1⁄2, 218 pounds) after watching limited game video: the little he played as a Moeller backup during his junior season. Stitzell sent a 30-minute workout video to Chaney, who also watched in person as MacVittie ran drills at Moeller.
MacVittie played quarterback as a junior-varsity sophomore, but he was a wide receiver — just like the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger — during his junior year, making a series of acrobatic catches for the varsity team. “It made me realize how hard those wide receivers work,” he said. “I was dog tired running those routes.” Finally, he became the starting quarterback this past season.
“Yeah, (Pitt) took a chance,” said Rivals.com recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt, “but it was a good chance to take. He brings a unique skill set to the table.” Thomas Sr. said his son, who hasn't started shaving yet, ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash a year ago at a University of Cincinnati camp. “As a quarterback, he's raw,” Helmholdt said. “But he definitely has that athleticism and that ability to do something with the football in his hands.” He also has the intangibles that attract college coaches.
After earning the starting job this past summer, MacVittie tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Moeller's opener against Indianapolis Central. That started a six-day-a-week rehab program that cost MacVittie “a pretty good amount of school,” he said. He still maintained a 3.6 grade-point average.“Rehab would get tiring and repetitive, but I pushed through it,” he said.
MacVittie didn't require surgery, but doctors took blood from his arm, spun it in a centrifuge for 10 minutes to enrich the platelets and injected it into two places in his knee to hasten the healing process. MacVittie returned to the lineup after missing only two games, leading the Greater Catholic League with 22 touchdowns while throwing for 1,896 yards. Moeller (5-5) played the third-toughest schedule in the nation, coach John Rodenberg said, but MacVittie tackled it while wearing a knee brace. Initially, he was limited, but he eventually was throwing for 300 yards in some games.
“Really showing what he is capable of doing,” Rodenberg said. In 211 attempts, MacVittie threw only one interception, and that wasn't until the eighth game. “Most of it were pre-snap reads, and half of it was just receivers getting open,” he said.
MacVittie isn't enrolling early at Pitt, but he'll keep busy this winter and spring. He no longer plays basketball — “It was more of a hobby,” he said — but he wants to enjoy the senior experience. He is planning to go on a religious retreat, and he also will take a class that involves working in a homeless shelter and day care.
Meanwhile, Thomas Sr. said the family will continue to divert the advances of other schools trying to flip his son's commitment. It helps that Rodenberg doesn't allow schools to recruit his committed players. “I'm very, very hard core,” he said. MacVittie has offers from Miami (Ohio), Cincinnati, Toledo and Ohio, but he would have had more had he stayed uncommitted, Helmholdt said.
Most schools tagged him as an athlete, but that's not good enough for MacVittie. “One of the reasons I committed,” he said, “was Coach Chaney said, ‘You're a quarterback.' ”
When former Toledo coach Matt Campbell was hired at Iowa State, that school suddenly started calling. MacVittie always was partial to Northwestern and visited the campus six times over the years, but its coaches didn't get serious until after he committed to Pitt. He quickly rejected both schools.
“Loyalty has been my highest principle when I raised my family,” Thomas Sr. said. That's good news for Pitt, which has lost two quarterbacks in the past two classes on the eve of signing day. Perhaps MacVittie wants to treat Narduzzi, who has a contract through 2021, the way he believes the coach will treat him. “He gives off a feeling of comfort,” MacVittie said, “like he's always going to be there for you.”
GO TRIBLIVE:
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
Trib Article:
Every other weekend for five months during the spring and summer of 2013 and '14, Thomas MacVittie Sr. and his son Thomas Jr. climbed in the family car in Cincinnati and drove to St. Louis, 350 miles and nearly 5 1⁄2 hours away. There, young Thomas, the quarterback recruit in Pitt's Class of 2016, worked with trainer Skip Stitzell with an eye on two prizes: the starting job at Moeller High School and a scholarship to an FBS school. Father and son couldn't find a trainer closer to home before Stitzell, who has worked with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Blaine Gabbert and others, was recommended by a friend. “Thomas gave up hanging out with the boys on the weekend and all the stuff some of the high school kids do,” Thomas Sr. said. “And my wife didn't like me being gone, either.”
Mary MacVittie understands the athlete's mindset — she was a world-class swimmer in high school and played soccer at George Washington — but Thomas Sr. wondered. “I said, ‘No way in heck are we going to drive 350 miles every other weekend,' ” Thomas Sr. said. “But once Thomas said, ‘I have a dream ... ' ” Thomas Sr. couldn't resist doing the math: about 20 weekends, with three- and four-hour sessions Saturday and Sunday at $75 an hour, plus hotel and meals.
“I got about $15,000 invested in Skip,” Thomas Sr. said of the man who eventually became known as Uncle Skip to his son. “(The travel) was great from a bonding point of view.” It paid off in another big way when Pitt offered Thomas Jr. a scholarship. Former Pitt offensive coordinator Jim Chaney previously worked with Stitzell, and Chaney asked him to recommend someone.
MacVittie Jr. committed in March, and he remained solid even after Chaney, with whom he had developed a close relationship, left for Georgia two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi has kept in constant contact with the family. MacVittie and his entire family left Christmas Eve for Annapolis, Md., where they will attend Monday's Military Bowl. The twist to the story is Pitt offered MacVittie (6-foot-4 1⁄2, 218 pounds) after watching limited game video: the little he played as a Moeller backup during his junior season. Stitzell sent a 30-minute workout video to Chaney, who also watched in person as MacVittie ran drills at Moeller.
MacVittie played quarterback as a junior-varsity sophomore, but he was a wide receiver — just like the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger — during his junior year, making a series of acrobatic catches for the varsity team. “It made me realize how hard those wide receivers work,” he said. “I was dog tired running those routes.” Finally, he became the starting quarterback this past season.
“Yeah, (Pitt) took a chance,” said Rivals.com recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt, “but it was a good chance to take. He brings a unique skill set to the table.” Thomas Sr. said his son, who hasn't started shaving yet, ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash a year ago at a University of Cincinnati camp. “As a quarterback, he's raw,” Helmholdt said. “But he definitely has that athleticism and that ability to do something with the football in his hands.” He also has the intangibles that attract college coaches.
After earning the starting job this past summer, MacVittie tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Moeller's opener against Indianapolis Central. That started a six-day-a-week rehab program that cost MacVittie “a pretty good amount of school,” he said. He still maintained a 3.6 grade-point average.“Rehab would get tiring and repetitive, but I pushed through it,” he said.
MacVittie didn't require surgery, but doctors took blood from his arm, spun it in a centrifuge for 10 minutes to enrich the platelets and injected it into two places in his knee to hasten the healing process. MacVittie returned to the lineup after missing only two games, leading the Greater Catholic League with 22 touchdowns while throwing for 1,896 yards. Moeller (5-5) played the third-toughest schedule in the nation, coach John Rodenberg said, but MacVittie tackled it while wearing a knee brace. Initially, he was limited, but he eventually was throwing for 300 yards in some games.
“Really showing what he is capable of doing,” Rodenberg said. In 211 attempts, MacVittie threw only one interception, and that wasn't until the eighth game. “Most of it were pre-snap reads, and half of it was just receivers getting open,” he said.
MacVittie isn't enrolling early at Pitt, but he'll keep busy this winter and spring. He no longer plays basketball — “It was more of a hobby,” he said — but he wants to enjoy the senior experience. He is planning to go on a religious retreat, and he also will take a class that involves working in a homeless shelter and day care.
Meanwhile, Thomas Sr. said the family will continue to divert the advances of other schools trying to flip his son's commitment. It helps that Rodenberg doesn't allow schools to recruit his committed players. “I'm very, very hard core,” he said. MacVittie has offers from Miami (Ohio), Cincinnati, Toledo and Ohio, but he would have had more had he stayed uncommitted, Helmholdt said.
Most schools tagged him as an athlete, but that's not good enough for MacVittie. “One of the reasons I committed,” he said, “was Coach Chaney said, ‘You're a quarterback.' ”
When former Toledo coach Matt Campbell was hired at Iowa State, that school suddenly started calling. MacVittie always was partial to Northwestern and visited the campus six times over the years, but its coaches didn't get serious until after he committed to Pitt. He quickly rejected both schools.
“Loyalty has been my highest principle when I raised my family,” Thomas Sr. said. That's good news for Pitt, which has lost two quarterbacks in the past two classes on the eve of signing day. Perhaps MacVittie wants to treat Narduzzi, who has a contract through 2021, the way he believes the coach will treat him. “He gives off a feeling of comfort,” MacVittie said, “like he's always going to be there for you.”
GO TRIBLIVE:
Jerry DiPaola is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at jdipaola@tribweb.com or via Twitter @JDiPaola_Trib.
