Ricky Stanzi began his football career as a junior high signal caller for the St. Mary’s of Mentor Knights, and he will continue that career as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The local Lake Catholic High School product, and former Iowa Hawkeye Quarterback, was taken with the fourth pick of in the 5th round yesterday, 135 overall.
If Stanzi’s ability to continue the marked improvement he demonstrated over his four year career in Iowa continues, the ESPN future documentary “The Stanzi Seven” is not out of the realm of possibilities.
With four QB’s off the board at the conclusion of the 1st round on Thursday, three more were selected before KC ended up nabbing Stanzi.
Stanzi heads to KC now and will look to compete for the back-up spot behind former 7th Round pick Matt Cassel. Cassel never started a game during his college career at USC, and recently signed for major dollars to be the Chiefs starter after successfully filling in for Tom Brady during a stretch with the Patriots a few seasons ago.
As a senior at Iowa, Stanzi threw for 3004 yards, 25 TD’s, and posted a passer rating of 157. His biggest improvement over the season before was in the turnover department, throwing only 6 INT’s in his senior campaign as opposed to 15 as a junior. [Read more...]
