The Patriots had been understandably laser-focused on Mike Gesicki’s soccer acumen after they offered the veteran tight end a one-year contract. He’s large (6 ft 6, 250 kilos), he’s quick, he can catch the ball, and he’ll be working with offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, who years in the past recruited him to play at Penn State however moved on to educate the Houston Texans earlier than Gesicki arrived on campus.

That Gesicki is the all-time main scorer for his highschool basketball group was in all probability not taken into consideration by the Patriots. And it seemingly didn’t transfer the needle a lot that in 2014 Gesicki was named New Jersey High School Volleyball Player of the Year after already committing to play soccer at Penn State.

But in an age when it’s not unusual for promising younger athletes to direct all their energies to the one sport they consider offers them the perfect likelihood at a university scholarship and/or professional profession, Gesicki was old-school at his old style. He didn’t merely play soccer, basketball and volleyball at Southern Regional High in Stafford Township, N.J. He performed these sports activities with a single-minded willpower, as if the others didn’t exist.

Consider what occurred the evening of Jan. 7, 2013, when Gesicki scored his 1,000th profession level in Southern’s 72-67 basketball victory over Brick Memorial. “I’ve been thinking about scoring my 1,000th point since I first walked into the gym and saw the banner with all the guys’ names on it,” he stated after the sport, in keeping with The Press of Atlantic City. “To know now that I’m part of that group is pretty unbelievable.”

This wasn’t only a child taking part in basketball to maintain in form for soccer.

And if the volleyball a part of Gesicki’s resume will get forgotten from time to time, a easy cellphone name to Southern Regional High will repair that. I dialed up the college the opposite day to get some background on Gesicki’s exploits throughout his time with the Rams however barely obtained the phrases “football” and “basketball” out of my mouth earlier than Barbara Martin, who has labored for the college in numerous capacities for 36 years, broke in with: “And volleyball. I’ve known him since he was a nudgy little boy in the ninth grade. He’s friends with my grandson. They were teammates in volleyball.”

Then once more, anybody who watched Gesicki play for Penn State — or for the Miami Dolphins over the previous 5 seasons — is probably going conscious of his volleyball background.

“How many times has Mike gone up and made a catch when the announcer said something about him having been a volleyball player in high school?” stated Eric Maxwell, who coaches girls and boys volleyball at Southern. “Mike will often credit volleyball and how all the work he did carried over to his other sports.”

What’s much more outstanding is that, by all accounts, Gesicki’s highschool coaches didn’t merely indulge their star athlete’s need to be a three-sport athlete. They inspired it.

“Too many kids go into one area either because they think that’s where they’re the best or someone’s told them that’s what they need to do,” stated Chuck Donohue Sr., 74, the longtime soccer coach at Southern. “We really push kids to play multiple sports.”

Gesicki didn’t want the push. He was taking part in a number of sports activities as early as center faculty, to a level that when he obtained to Southern, he had to decide on between volleyball and monitor and subject for his spring fling. He selected volleyball. “He was county champion in two or three track events in middle school,” Donohue stated. “If he stayed with it in high school, he would have won state titles in the 400, the high jump and the long jump.”

Maxwell, having coached Gesicki’s older sisters Ashley and Kelsey in volleyball, was not unaware their brother, nonetheless in center faculty, had an curiosity within the sport. “I knew he was a good athlete,” he stated. “And, yes, I was hoping at some point I could get him to play a little volleyball. And as it turns out, he was a natural. He just stepped on the court and was a dominant, dominant force as a blocker, as a hitter.”

In soccer, Gesicki was largely a large receiver. And he was only a sophomore when the big-boy school applications started exhibiting as much as watch him play. Rutgers did the precise factor and supplied a scholarship to this native son of New Jersey. Penn State and Ohio State got here by way of with presents.

As did Wisconsin.

“Wisconsin is what did it for me,” stated Southern athletic director Chuck Donohue Jr., son of Chuck Sr. “When you start getting offers from schools outside your time zone, that’s huge. That’s when I knew he was going to be a national recruit in football.”

Gesicki additionally acquired basketball presents from a number of faculties, amongst them Colgate and Bucknell.

“Basketball was his No. 1 sport growing up,” Southern boys basketball coach Eric Fierro stated. “I remember he and I having a conversation after his freshman year, and I said, ‘What’s your dream school, Mike?’ He said he wanted to play basketball at North Carolina. But it changed during his sophomore season in football when he just exploded on the scene.”

Fierro didn’t examine Gesicki’s burgeoning soccer abilities within the morning paper. He’s additionally an assistant coach on the soccer group.

“We had some really big games that year, and Mike had some really big catches in those wins,” Fierro stated. “The attention he got that season from big-time college football programs really locked him in.”

And lest we obtain a mild reminder from Ms. Martin within the entrance workplace, school volleyball coaches confirmed curiosity in Gesicki, too. That none of them supplied a scholarship was solely as a result of the phrase was out that Gesicki deliberate to play school soccer. But one Division I males’s volleyball program did greater than kick the tires, Maxwell stated. Interestingly, it was Penn State, which, Maxwell stated, may make one thing occur ought to an epiphany arrive at Gesicki’s doorstep that guided him to desert soccer.

Plenty of three-sport highschool athletes nonetheless exist. What’s uncommon is after they get the eye of Division I school applications in all three sports activities. But there seems to be unanimity at Southern Regional High that taking part in three sports activities makes for happier, more healthy and extra well-rounded athletes.

“First of all, you don’t burn out,” Maxwell stated. “That’s a big piece of it. Mike always said how much he enjoyed playing volleyball. It was fun. It’s something he didn’t do the other part of the year.”

Another means to take a look at it’s to contemplate how farmers use crop rotation to keep away from burning out the vitamins within the soil. In different phrases, taking part in one sport 12 months a 12 months, as some younger athletes do, can overdo sure muscle teams.

As Fierro put it, “avoiding wear and tear on the body by playing multiple sports, rather than working on one sport year-round, can help an athlete excel in different seasons.” Fierro speaks from expertise: He’s a three-sport coach who, again within the day, performed three sports activities at Southern.

Another issue is competitors. If you’re simply taking part in soccer and spending the remainder of your time within the weight room, you’re lacking out on some alternatives to maintain the aggressive juices flowing.

“It’s important to always be competing,” Donohue Jr. stated. “That’s my philosophy; that’s my father’s philosophy.”

Donohue Sr. added but yet one more benefit: If you’re a university recruiter scouting highschool prospects, it may be revealing to see them play different sports activities.

“Recruiters looking for Mike to play football could have seen the talent in his volleyball,” Donohue stated. “It was all there: size, athletic ability to jump, changing direction, tremendous hands, hand-eye coordination.”

Ultimately, it was Penn State — that’s, the Penn State soccer program — that obtained a verbal dedication from Gesicki.

But on Jan. 2, 2014, as Gesicki was in the course of the Southern basketball season, O’Brien left Penn State and was unveiled as the brand new head coach of the Texans.

On Jan. 11, 2014, James Franklin, head coach at Vanderbilt for 3 seasons, was launched as O’Brien’s successor at Penn State.

Just one week later, on Jan. 18, 2014, Franklin was within the stands at Southern Regional High to look at Gesicki rating 22 factors within the Rams’ 65-58 loss to powerhouse St. Augustine Prep. Franklin had proven curiosity in Gesicki whereas at Vanderbilt, however now the whole lot was completely different. So Franklin obtained into his automobile and drove to Stafford Township. He would later say he was “blown away” by what he noticed.

Gesicki’s provide from Penn State was in all probability by no means doubtful. But it didn’t damage to exit and rating 22 factors in opposition to a group with a 9-1 file on an evening when your potential new soccer coach was sitting within the fitness center.

(Top picture: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)