After 'whirlwind' two weeks, Durant QB Nick Fabrizio picks Navy

PLANT CITY—When his season ended Nov. 18 in the first round of the playoffs, Durant quarterback Nick Fabrizio had zero college offers. After he turned in a career-best 128 yards passing, MVP-winning performance at the Hillsborough County senior all-star game Dec. 10, colleges realized that the option offense-based quarterback could throw, too.

And when his film wound up in the hands of the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the Naval Academy, Ivin Jasper, in town to visit St. Petersburg’s David Jones, it kicked off a two-week recruiting frenzy that left his entire family a bit bewildered.

“The last two weeks have been a whirlwind,” his father, Rob Fabrizio said. “I don’t know how a heavily recruited kid figures it out.”

In the end, Fabrizio was won over by Navy, the first school to offer him.

“There will be opportunities for me when I come out, and all the football, D-I, they’re going to the Big East, and then the Army-Navy game,” said Fabrizio, listing off what attracted him to Navy. “I watched the Game of Honor, this Showtime special, and it just really was like, ‘wow, this is pretty awesome, I really want to do this.”

Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo called Fabrizio directly after stepping off the podium to announce the Midshipmen’s move to the Big East in 2015, telling him, “we need you now.” The Citadel, though, made a strong pitch, sending quarterback coach (and Navy alum) Craig Candeto on a Thursday just to make sure Fabrizio was all set for his 8 a.m. departure to the Charleston, S.C., campus the next day. When he landed back in Tampa at 1 a.m., he received a text: head coach Kevin Higgins would be at Durant at 11 a.m. Higgins visited at him at home, too, staying past midnight to play Xbox.

Despite The Citadel’s efforts (and those of Wofford and Georgetown as well), Navy had the strongest pitch.

“They gave him a whole thing about ‘we want you to come play Notre Dame, Penn State, Rutgers, and then how would you like to play USF, who didn’t give you a scholarship?  And UCF?’” Rob said. “At the end, you’re sitting there going, ‘it’s done, it’s over.’”

That delivery, and a chat with current Navy freshman (and former Newsome star) Joe Worth, was all Fabrizio needed to hear.

“I’m not scared of the challenge,” he said. “It’s something I could see myself doing.”

His coach, Mike Gottman, concurred.

“He’s tough, mentally and physically,” Gottman said. “I can’t tell you how many times I ran the film back, thinking, that was a cheap shot or a late hit, and every play, he would get up.”

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