Six minutes into Tommy DeVito’s first published highlight tape, he grabbed each lineman and whispered into their ears. Without a huddle, 11-year-old DeVito orchestrated the pre-snap call. Once settled into the shotgun, he dropped one step back, bounced forward and rifled a pass about 27 yards down the seam.

The clip, which has more than 20,000 views, was the first public display of DeVito’s football knowledge and talent.

“It was the culmination of the training and everything,” said Leon Clarke, DeVito’s longtime quarterback coach and creator of the highlight film. “You just saw it right there it was like ‘Bang here it is’ … You just were amazed at him, but you know this kid would be something.”

His father, Tom, calls his son a prodigy. Most recruiting experts ranked DeVito a four-star recruit. In his three-touchdown performance during a double-overtime victory over North Carolina, his deep passes looked effortless. But he’s not a natural. For Syracuse’s (5-2, 2-2 Atlantic Coast) redshirt freshman quarterback, the art has been ingrained in him over time.

At 6, DeVito linked up with Clarke, a personal quarterback coach and founder of Clarke Sports. Before middle school, DeVito knew coverages and how to deceive them. He shuffled his feet in the pocket. When receivers’ heads swung out of a route, DeVito’s passes met them.

Clarke and DeVito often competed against each other. At 8 or 9 years old, DeVito baffled Clarke for the first time. The two were throwing the ball around in the backyard during a DeVito family gathering. After catch grew tiresome, they broke into a pickup game. When DeVito juked at Clarke, a former Cincinnati and Southern Connecticut State quarterback, the coach fell to the ground. His back in the grass, Clarke laughed.

“You got to get that kind of feeding when you’re young — when you’re 6 — because ultimately you’re raw,” Clarke said. “At that point you don’t know anything.”

DeVito started his first full season at Don Bosco Preparatory (New Jersey) High School as a junior. Then-offensive coordinator Mike Teel entrusted DeVito with at-the-line play adjustments.

“As we started to talk and I started to implement a new system, you could see kind of his football intelligence,” said Teel, now the Don Bosco head coach. “You could see that he was going to have a chance to let us do a lot of different things because he was able to handle a lot.”

DeVito audibled from run to pass plays depending on how many safeties teams have or how close the defense played to the line of scrimmage. DeVito checked with the coach beforehand on four to five plays, while six or seven others were strictly his decision based on reads. Teel, who played quarterback at Rutgers and bounced around the NFL, said Don Bosco’s offense was one of the most sophisticated he’d ever been a part of.

At 17, DeVito did “all the things college coaches asked their quarterbacks to do,” Teel said.

After committing to head coach Dino Babers’ first full recruiting class, DeVito was described as “special” by Babers, who noted the quarterback was better than how others evaluated him. A redshirt season in 2017 kept him out of the public eye. A lackluster first appearance against Western Michigan tempered expectations. But 144 passing yards and a touchdown in a two and half quarter-showing against Florida State, coupled with his heroics against North Carolina, sped the narrative.

Headed into Saturday’s game against North Carolina State, DeVito and four-year starter Eric Dungey, who DeVito relieved last weekend, weren’t made available to the media. Babers said the starting decision will be “kept in house.”

Devito’s progression throughout the season put Babers in this position. On his first pass against North Carolina, a 50-yard vertical route to Jamal Custis along the sideline, DeVito barely stepped. Clarke said DeVito’s long throws aren’t a product of his arm strength, which he clarified DeVito has. It’s a snap of the wrist. Clarke, a lefty, said his wrist naturally pronates better than someone who is right-handed, such as DeVito, because of its position when writing with a pen. Since he started coaching DeVito so young, Clarke made flicking the wrist part of DeVito’s muscle memory.

“He’s been through it so many times,” Tom said, “and he’s been taught it so well by (Clarke), it’s just second nature almost.”

The 50-yard dime dropped into Custis’ palms because of DeVito’s release point. “It’s a natural arc,” Clarke explained before comparing DeVito’s throws to a rainbow. Marking DeVito’s release point and the point of reception, the space between mimics the arc of a rainbow.

On Devito’s 42-yard touchdown pass to Nykeim Johnson late in the fourth quarter, the quarterback’s right leg followed through with his arm. Clarke compared that piece of the throw to a boxer following through on his punch, noting the coaching is always to punch through and beyond someone, not stop at the point of contact.

Two touchdown throws later, DeVito darted to the end zone to celebrate the overtime victory with his teammates. Clarke wouldn’t have to make his highlight tape this time. DeVito’s success went viral.

“When he’s out there on the field and I’m watching him,” Clarke said. “I’m happy because I know that the years of what we did together is ultimately what everyone is seeing now.”

Published on October 24, 2018 at 9:44 pm

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