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Printer-Friendly ModeDiGiorgio breaks SVSU tackle record
September 26, 2005 —
If it were not for a broken leg, John DiGiorgio may not be at SVSU right now. And if it were not for John DiGiorgio, SVSU's defense may not be one of the best in the nation this season.
DiGiorgio, the 23-year-old, fifth-year senior out of Eisenhower High School in Shelby Township, is now SVSU's career leader in tackles after a 12-tackle, two-sack performance at Hillsdale Saturday night. Needing just two tackles going in, he broke the record early in the second quarter with a tackle of Chargers' tailback Phil Martin.
One of two inside linebackers on the nation's top-ranked scoring defense, the 6'2", 225-pound DiGiorgio was voted a preseason Division II All-American by Don Hansen's Football Gazette.
As a running back and linebacker at Eisenhower, DiGiorgio, along with his younger brother, Joe, led his team to the state championship game in both his junior and senior years. However, the elder DiGiorgio broke his leg early in the third quarter of his final game, ruining his chances to play Division I football.
"After that, I didn't know what was going to happen," he says. "I didn't know if I was going to get recruited."
DiGiorgio says before his injury, he was being recruited by several Mid-American Conference (MAC) schools, including Western, Central, and Eastern Michigan.
"They stopped calling after I broke my leg," he says. "Basically all the GLIAC schools contacted me after that."
He visited several interested schools in addition to SVSU, including Wayne State, Ferris State, and Grand Valley State. But SVSU just had something DiGiorgio could not pass up.
"I liked all those schools, but something just told me I had to come here," he says. "I liked the buildings, the facilities, the coaching staff, and they had won the GLIAC championship the year before (in 2001), so that kind of persuaded me to come here."
Coming off the broken leg, DiGiorgio redshirted his freshman year to fully recover. It was not long into his redshirt freshman year that he was starting, as linebacker John Kava was injured midway through the season. DiGiorgio was up to the task, as he had a defensive touchdown in each of his first two games on the first team defense.
Regardless of his early success, DiGiorgio did not have his mind on any records.
"I never even really looked at the record or anything like that," he says. "I didn't even know if they kept track of that stuff. My main focus was just to try to be the leader on the team in tackles, and go from there."
DiGiorgio finished with 72 tackles that year, when he played in 11 of 12 games and started six. The following year, the Cardinals' undefeated GLIAC season, he started all 13 games and had 138 tackles. With the Cardinals not making the playoffs last year, he racked up 110 tackles in 10 games.
The DiGiorgio brothers
Throughout his high school and college career so far, DiGiorgio has been able to share both his highs and lows with his younger brother Joe, who is about one year younger. During their high school days, quarterback Joe would hand off to running back John.
"In high school, you'd always hear about the 'DiGiorgio brothers,'" John says. "It was just a cool thing to hear about."
Joe led Eisenhower to a third state championship game after John graduated, and like his older brother, had the opportunity to play in the MAC. Joe chose to go to the University at Buffalo. The Bulls, however, went 1-11 in Joe's first year, and he was not happy there. Meanwhile, SVSU was building a national championship contender.
"I knew he wasn't very happy there," John says. "We kept in contact all the time throughout the week, and I would just tell him that we had a lot of good things going on around here."
Joe had moved to the defensive side of the ball at Buffalo, where he played safety. Conveniently, SVSU's strong safety, Pat Cavanaugh, had used up his eligibility, leaving the door open for Joe to come in and compete for playing time at the spot. Joe thought about the idea of playing with his brother again, and transferred to SVSU.
"It's a great feeling to know that someone you've grown up with your whole life is on that field with you battling on every play," John says.
"The best linebacker in the country"
Following the Cardinals' 29-3 win over Wayne State on Sept. 10, senior linebacker/defensive lineman Dan Fodrocy called his teammate DiGiorgio "the best linebacker in the country." The two were workout partners over the summer, and Fodrocy said he felt he could be more aggressive with DiGiorgio making tackles all across the field.
"That's a great compliment from a guy like Dan Fodrocy," DiGiorgio said after hearing of the comment. "It's always been my goal to be the best linebacker in the country."
The two made a bet before the season began, with the thought in mind to be the best two linebackers in the country. According to DiGiorgio, the two made up ideal numbers for themselves: six sacks for Fodrocy and 130 tackles for DiGiorgio. If one could not meet the number, he would have to take the other to dinner. Of course, if each meets his individual number, then both are being treated.
With 49 tackles for DiGiorgio and four sacks for Fodrocy, both are on pace to be paying each other's bill by the end of the season.
The Cardinals' 5-2 defense, in which DiGiorgio and junior Brent Rogers play inside linebacker, allows the linebackers to run more free from sideline to sideline to make plays versus a more traditional 4-3 defense. It does not hurt, DiGiorgio adds, to have a 6'6", 325-pound nose tackle in junior Damion DeRosia nor defensive tackles like 6'1", 285-pound senior Chad Steele or 6'4", 280-pound sophomore Josh Miller.
"A lot of my success comes from the guys up front, the front five," DiGiorgio says.
Underappreciated
In addition to being selected to the Football Gazette's All-American team, DiGiorgio was also selected second-team All-American by D2Football.com and to the second team All-Underappreciated team by Consensus Draft Services (CDS).
The All-Undera-ppreciated Team is composed of players that play beyond the recognition they are getting, CDS says, and includes all NCAA divisions. DiGiorgio is joined on the Second Team by Michigan linebacker Pierre Woods. Other notables include USC tailback Lendale White, on the First Team and Ashland linebacker Devin Conwell.
DiGiorgio heard of the news from coach Randy Awrey.
"It was kind of a shock to me," he says. "Just to see some of those guys on there, it's hard for me to believe that my name is out there with some of those guys that are exposed to TV and radio. It was just a great experience for me."
CDS set up a message board for each of the player selected to the team, where fans and anyone else interested in communicating with the players can do so.
"It's great," says DiGiorgio, who actually had not been able to respond to any messages because he forgot his password to access the site. "It's great that there are fans out there and people that actually care, even though I play Division II football, what it's like out here."
Not only does DiGiorgio get football-related questions, but also questions about classes, the environment at SVSU, and how many credits he's taking - 16 this semester.
After this semester, DiGiorgio, a physical education major, needs to student teach in the winter to graduate. While he says he hopes to have a connection that allows him to teach near Shelby Township, he is not completely sure where he will end up.
DiGiorgio is not sure if teaching would interrupt any possible preparation for the NFL Draft in April.
"That's one of my dreams," he says in response to a question about the Draft. "I'm not sure exactly how it's going to work out. The main focus is on the season, because if you don't have the film, they aren't going to look at you."
DiGiorgio says his main focus is on getting his credits done and playing the season to the best of his ability.
"I'll let it work itself out at the end of the season," he says. "I'll talk to the coaches and see what they think."