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Sports Network Column on Garoppolo
Eastern Illinois All-American quarterback
Jimmy Garoppolo became just the fifth quarterback ever selected from the Ohio Valley Conference when he was drafted No. 62 overall (second round) by the New England Patriots.
He is the first OVC quarterback to be selected since Middle Tennessee's Jonathan Quinn went in the third round to Jacksonville in 1998.
Garoppolo is also one of just five players ever selected in the the second round of the NFL Draft from the OVC (the OVC has also had four first round selections), and first since 1996.
Garoppolo, the Walter Payton Award winner as the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) National Player of the Year, was the first player from the FCS selected in this year's draft.
Garoppolo put together the finest season by an OVC quarterback in smashing virtually every OVC season and career record while leading his team to a 12-2 overall record, second-straight OVC Championship and berth in the FCS Playoff quarterfinals. In 14 games he completed 375-of-568 passes (66.0%) for 5,050 yards and 53 touchdowns (against only nine interceptions) while also rushing for four touchdowns and catching a touchdown pass.
His 53 touchdowns were the fourth-most in FCS history (three behind the record) while his 5,050 yards was second all-time, just 26 behind the record set a year ago; he is one of just two players in FCS history to eclipse 5,000 passing yards in a season.
In FCS career history his 118 touchdowns rank sixth, his 13,156 passing yards are seventh and his 13,089 yards of total offense ranks 10th.
Garoppolo also ranked first nationally this season in passing yards/game (360.7), second in points responsible for/game (25.3), third in total offense (365.1 yards/game), third in passing efficiency (168.3) and fifth in completions/game (26.79).
He directed Eastern Illinois to the No. 1 ranked offense nationally in terms of both total offense (589.5 yards/game) and scoring offense (48.2 points/game). He and teammate Shepard Little became the first FCS duo to every throw for 5,000-plus yards in a season and rush for 1,000-plus yards (Little ran 1,548 yards) in the same season.
Garoppolo, who was named the OVC Offensive Player of the Year and FCS ADA National Offensive Player of the Year, put up the stellar numbers despite the fact his team won games by an average margin of 30.8 points/contest and he was often taken out in the second half of games when his team had huge leads (25 of his 53 touchdowns came in the first quarter and 37 were in the first half this season), Garoppolo threw for 400 or more yards in five contests, including a season-high 480 yards (to go along with seven touchdowns) in a victory over rival Illinois State. In six other games he had over 300 yards passing and he threw multiple touchdowns in all but one game this season.
He played some of his best games against Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams, including 361 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-19 win over San Diego State and 450 yards and six touchdowns in a four-point loss at nationally-ranked foe Northern Illinois (in a game EIU led 20-0 in the first quarter).
Garoppolo was named FCS National Player of the Week three times during the season and OVC Player of the Week a record-tying seven times (bringing his career total to nine, which also tied the OVC all-time mark). He was also named a consensus All-American, being named to all eight major FCS team released.
OVC Quarterbacks Drafted by the NFL
1979 - Phil Simms, Morehead State (1st Round, No. 7 overall) - New York Giants
1981 - Mark Reed, Morehead State (8th Round, No. 207 overall) - New York Giants
1997 - Mike Cherry, Murray State (6th Round, No. 171 overall) - New York Giants
1998 - Jonathan Quinn, Middle Tennessee State (3rd Round, No. 86 overall) - Jacksonville Jaguars
2014 - Jimmy Garoppolo, Eastern Illinois (2nd Round, No. 62 overall) - New England Patriots
OVC Players Selected in the Second Round
1973 - Jim Youngblood, Tennessee Tech (No. 42 overall) - Los Angeles Rams
1989 - Jessie Small, Eastern Kentucky (No. 49 overall) - Philadelphia Eagles
1996 - Fred Thomas, UT Martin (No. 47 overall) - Seattle Seahawks
1996 - Jaso Dunn, Eastern Kentucky (No. 54 overall) - Philadelphia Eagles
2014 - Jimmy Garoppolo, Eastern Illinois (No. 62 overall) - New England Patriots