A hometown crowd for Garoppolo debut
Before Jimmy Garoppolo was a potential franchise quarterback, he was chasing quarterbacks as a sophomore at Rolling Meadows High School in suburban Chicago.
The 15-year-old was promoted to the varsity as an underclassman because of his athleticism, but he didn’t yet have the size to match his skills. The result: The lanky 175-pound outside linebacker had a constant question for his position coach, Scott Otahal.
“Jimmy would always ask in film sessions, ‘Hey, coach, how big is that guy that might come out and block me?’ ” Otahal said. “Honest to God truth, we used to laugh about it all the time. We’d just lie to him sometimes: ‘Nah, nah, that guy’s not going to block you. You’ll never have to worry about him.’ But it never mattered come game time. He did a lot of great things for us at linebacker, and I wish I could have had him longer. But it was obvious he was going to
be our quarterback.”
Indeed, 11 years later, Garoppolo is all grown up and poised to take over a big-boy position that’s been manned previously by Joe Montana and Steve Young: On Sunday, in the first step of his bid to become the 49ers’ next decorated QB, Garoppolo will make his starting debut for his new team against the Bears at Soldier Field.
The Arlington Heights, Ill., native will play 28 miles from Rolling Meadows, and as many as 15 former coaches and teachers will be on hand to see him in person. His starting debut has made the meeting between two going-nowhere teams — the Bears and 49ers have a combined 4-18 record — a mustattend event around his hometown.
“I’m a Bears season-ticket holder,” said Tony Wolanski, Garoppolo’s defensive coordinator at Rolling Meadows High. “But I haven’t been to a game in five or six years.”
Charlie Henry, Garoppolo’s high school offensive coordinator, can attest that there’s been a local buzz since the quarterback came off the bench to throw a final-play touchdown pass in last Sunday’s 24-13 loss to the Seahawks. Less than 24 hours later, it was a topic at the YMCA in Des Plaines.
“On Monday, I’m on the elliptical machine,” Henry said, “and the guy next to me is talking about Jimmy Garoppolo and the touchdown pass.”
Garoppolo’s much-discussed leading-man features suggest he’s a glamour-boy quarterback, but his looks belie his grit. It’s a quality that’s allowed him to persevere during a career spent largely out of the spotlight: He received three nonDivision I scholarship offers, started in obscurity at Eastern Illinois and spent his first threeplus NFL seasons making two starts and throwing 94 passes as Tom Brady’s backup in New England.
The product of a middle-class family — his dad, Tony, is a union electrician, and his mom, Denise, is a cook — Garoppolo is the second-youngest of four football-playing sons. And his older brothers, Tony Jr., an offensive lineman at Rolling Meadows, and Mike, a middle linebacker who played at Western Illinois from 2007-11, helped instill toughness.
“Man, Mike was tough as nails,” Otahal said. “He was one of the better and meaner players we’ve had here.”
His background could explain why Garoppolo wanted to make something clear during the week. Those questions as a sophomore outside linebacker? They were asked to strategize and weren’t posed in fear.
“Going into the game I would always ask coach how much does this guy weigh?” Garoppolo said. “I knew I wasn’t big enough to just man him up. I would have to think of other ways to get creative with them. Certain techniques were different, and it really helped me. To be 175 and be an outside linebacker is tough.”
Garoppolo also played safety as a senior, but there was no doubt about his primary position.
Wolanski, who is in his 21st year at Rolling Meadows, said he’s only predicted two players from the school would reach the NFL. Linebacker Joe Okon, who played at Southern Illinois, didn’t make it. But he was right about Garoppolo, whose intangibles set him apart.
“For a high school kid, he was a very good athlete,” Wolanski said. “But he has that personality. He conducted himself well and nothing bothered him much. Jimmy wanted to be great.”
The problem: No Division I schools saw greatness in him.
Garoppolo’s only other scholarship offers were from Montana State and Illinois State, and the lack of interest perplexed Henry, who then wondered whether he was biased about his player.
However, he found coaches who confirmed his assessment when he sent video to Montana State, whose head coach, Rob Ash, had coached Henry at Drake University. In addition, Montana State’s coordinators were Henry’s former college teammates.
“Those guys looked at the tapes, called me back and said, ‘He hasn’t signed anywhere?’ ” Henry said. “I said, ‘He’s barely getting recruited.’ They had not met Jimmy, had not talked to Jimmy and they said ‘OK, we’re going to offer him.’ That’s when I said ‘OK, that just doesn’t happen.’ Montana State doesn’t just offer kids from Illinois because they don’t recruit here.”
Said Otahal: “We were all surprised. The Eastern (Illinois) guys kept calling us: ‘Is anyone in on him? Is anyone else going through there?’ ”
Since Garoppolo left Rolling Meadows, his coaches have followed his career closely. They saw a few of his games at Eastern Illinois, located about 200 miles away in Charleston, where Garoppolo threw for 5,050 yards and 53 touchdowns as a senior and won the Walter Payton Award, the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy.
Of course, since he entered the NFL, there haven’t been many chances to see him play. Last year, when Garoppolo was poised to start the first four games while Brady served a suspension, Henry purchased plane tickets for him and his son to watch the Patriots host the Bills in Week 4. However, Garoppolo hurt his shoulder midway through his second start and the trip never materialized.
Garoppolo’s lack of playing time in the NFL has added to the excitement for Sunday’s game.
In early November, a few days after Garoppolo was traded to the 49ers, Henry went online to buy two Garoppolo jerseys. On Sunday, he’ll present a jersey to his son, Joe, before they make the short drive to Soldier Field.
“I dropped a couple hundred (dollars), but I thought, ‘Whatever, I’m buying them,’ ” Henry said. “It’s worth it to support Jimmy. I wouldn’t be shocked see quite a few No. 10 jerseys in the stands.”
“For a high school kid, he was a very good athlete . ... Jimmy wanted to be great.” Tony Wolanski, Jimmy Garoppolo’s defensive coordinator, Rolling Meadows High School