43
Former Canfield star Italiano brings brains to KSU defense
Former Canfield
star Italiano
brings brains
to KSU defense
By Joe Scalzo
When Kent State senior Jordan Italiano was named college football’s smartest player by NFL.com earlier this summer, his teammates couldn’t have been nicer about it ... for the first 30 seconds or so.
“Pretty much everyone has said, ‘Wow, I’m so happy for you, that’s a great accomplishment,’” said Italiano, a Canfield High graduate. “Once that’s out of the way, they take turns ragging on me. They’re like, ‘Oh, you got that wrong. How can the smartest player in college football mess that up?’”
Italiano, a pre-med/biochemistry major with a 3.978 grade point average, added two more honors to his r sum last week, joining the watch list for the Wuerffel Trophy (“College football’s premier award for community service”) and the All-State American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team (given to student-athletes who best balance academics and athletics while helping others and bettering their communities).
But it’s the NFL.com award that gets the most attention.
“Oh, man, they give him a hard time about that,” Kent State safeties coach Jeff Burrow said. “He hates it, too. He would really rather be unnoticed, just go play instead of getting a lot of attention and notoriety.”
Italiano’s lone blemish in the classroom came as a freshman, when he got a B-plus in College Writing 2.
“To be honest, I didn’t think anything of it at the time,” said Italiano, who had a 3.9 cumulative GPA at Canfield. “Of course I wanted straight-As, but a B-plus is not bad.”
Italiano’s smarts extend to the field, where he impressed Burrow in the first days of training camp as a true freshman. One play in particular stands out. Italiano was playing nickel back against a three-receiver set split to the left. Kent State was playing a zone quarters defense (also known as Cover 4) and Italiano’s responsibility was the No. 2 receiver, who was running a quick out. The No. 1 receiver was running an outside go route, while the No. 3 was running a deep out. The play was designed to clear out the defense, so quarterback Spencer Keith could hit tight end Casey Pierce coming from the back side.
“Jordan’s responsibility was to expand to the flat and break on the quarterback’s throw, but as soon as I saw the play, I thought, ‘Oh crap, I didn’t go over this with him,’” Burrow said. “So he expanded to the flat and as soon as Spencer’s eyes went to Casey, Jordan took off toward center field. I was like, ‘Where is he going?’ He jumped in front of Spencer’s throw and intercepted it. I was like, ‘Holy crap, how did he know to do that?’
“The guys all mobbed him. It was one of those points where you gain the guys’ respect. They think, ‘This guy can play.’”
Italiano (5-10, 207) saw action in Kent’s first game that season, recording three tackles in a win over Towson, and broke into the starting lineup on Oct. 20, picking off a pass against Western Michigan.
“When it comes to freshmen, you don’t bank on them playing,” Burrow said. “You kind of want camp to sort it out. But when young guys are making plays, it’s kind of hard to hold them back.”
Italiano credits Luke Wollet for his early success. Wollet, a Poland High graduate, also started as a true freshman safety at Kent in 2010. He was a junior in 2012 — Italiano’s freshman year — when Kent went 11-3 and advanced to the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
“He kind of took me under his wing and taught me almost everything I know,” Italiano said. “I owe him a lot of credit. He did the extra work and he was always watching film. I owe him a lot. He’s a good dude.”
There was one downside, Burrow said.
“Jordan was so clean-cut and straight-laced when he got here, but then Luke started growing his hair out and it gravitated toward Jordan,” Burrow said. “I blame Luke for that [Italiano’s long hair].”
Italiano has started all 23 games over the last two seasons for Kent State, finishing third on the team in tackles (76) in 2013 and second last season (96). But Kent has gone just 6-17 over that stretch, something he wants to change this fall.
“Obviously, the No. 1 goal is to win the MAC [Mid-American Conference] and go to a bowl game,” Italiano said.
Italiano plans to enter medical school after college, although he’s not sure yet of a specialty.
“Everyone says you find out what you really want to do once you’re in medical school,” he said.
Before then, he’d love to make a run at the NFL.
“That’s always been a dream of mine,” he said. “If the opportunity came, I’d definitely take advantage of it.”
Will he get that opportunity?
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Burrow said. “There’s not going to be one coverage concept in the NFL he won’t understand. It just depends on if he’s durable enough and if he has the athleticism they’re looking for. But his desire won’t be lacking and his understanding of the system won’t be lacking.”