Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
From scout team to starter: How true freshman Nick Vattiato helped lead the Blue Raiders to their first bowl championship since 2017
12/28/2021 6:00:00 PM | Football
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon sent the play to the huddle. With 6:24 left in the fourth quarter of the Bahamas Bowl, the underdog Blue Raiders were hanging on to a slim 21-17 lead. Freshman quarterback Nicholas Vattiato called the play in, looking in the direction of senior wideout Jarrin Pierce for a moment before they broke the huddle.
Recognizing the coverage was exactly what he'd seen when they practiced this play, Vattiato's mind raced before the ball was snapped. While the 18-year old quarterback's mind might've been racing, his demeanor and even-keeled personality is what led both him and his team to this moment.
As the 2021 season began, Vattiato's role was like other true freshmen quarterbacks in the college football landscape. He was relegated to the scout team, taking reps against the starters on defense while doing his best to help conduct the offense of the Blue Raiders opponent that week. With veterans Bailey Hockman, Chase Cunningham and Mike DiLiello in front of him, Vattiato was destined to be redshirted. Not only to develop himself on the field, but to give him a chance to continue making gains in the film room.
"Being a scout team quarterback, I got to go against the first-team defense every single day in practice," Vattiato said. "Our defense is one of the best in the country between the playmakers we have and the scheme that [defensive coordinator Scott Shafer] runs, so that helped prepare me for what ended up happening later in the season."
Following the loss to UTSA, Hockman left the program and Chase Cunningham took over as the starter. Vattiato began seeing less time with the scout team and more time splitting mental reps with DiLiello behind Cunningham throughout the middle of the season.
"Early on in the year, Nick didn't get a chance to have many reps in practice, so where he had to really take advantage of the reps he had was in the classroom," Dearmon said. "(Vattiato) always asks great questions and is always in the building getting extra work. He's here before me some mornings. You can tell from the amount of work that he put in off the field that it would give him a chance to be pretty good."
Fast-forward to the Blue Raiders' eighth game of the season and Middle Tennessee found itself back to the .500 mark on the year after a 1-3 start following a blowout win on homecoming against Southern Mississippi. That win, however, would come at a cost, as the Blue Raiders learned that the knee injury that Chase Cunningham suffered in the game was season-ending. With just Vattiato and DiLiello remaining as the only quarterbacks on the roster that had taken any snaps during the year, albeit with most of DiLiello's coming from a wildcat package and Vattiato's in a mop-up role at the end of games, it left Dearmon and the Blue Raider coaching staff in a bind.
A day prior to the game at Western Kentucky, Dearmon told Vattiato that he would be the starting quarterback for Middle Tennessee. Just nine weeks prior, the Plantation, Florida, native was buried on the depth chart behind a host of veterans and was now going to make his first career start on the road against his team's biggest rival.
"The day before the game, Coach Dearmon pulled me aside in the gameday room and said, 'We're going to start you, so be ready,'" Vattiato said. "I was excited. Even though I started the year on the scout team, my goal was to always be the starter, because I believed in myself. My teammates and coaches did a lot to help me out and get me ready, but I wanted to get going."
It wasn't the cleanest of games by any stretch of the imagination. Middle Tennessee fell to 4-5 with the 48-21 loss and Vattiato tossed five interceptions in the game. Though two of the interceptions were off tipped passes, one came when he was getting sacked and the other was a pass thrown in the direction of a receiver that ran the wrong route, it was still a rough debut.
"To steal from the movies, (Vattiato) had a series of unfortunate events in the WKU game," Dearmon said.
Vattiato's completion percentage of 58.5 was his lowest output of any start during the year and most importantly, Middle Tennessee could only lose one more game if it was going to have a chance to return to a bowl game for the first time since the 2018 season.
Like he did last year with the youngest starting quarterback in the country in Jalon Daniels at Kansas, Dearmon was going to have to formulate and help boil down what the most effective part of the Blue Raider offense was to tailor it to both Vattiato and DiLiello.
With Vattiato's skill-set as a passer making him able to highlight the strength of the Blue Raider offense, the receiving corp, along with DiLiello's ability to come in and spell Vattiato as a runner, Middle Tennessee finished 2-1 down the stretch and earned a trip to the Bahamas Bowl for a date with the Toledo Rockets.
What stood out during that stretch? Following the five-interception game against Western Kentucky, Vattiato posted the highest completion percentage of any of Middle Tennessee's four quarterbacks and went 66-of-93 for 556 yards with three touchdowns and just one interception. Against Old Dominion, he set program records for completions (34), attempts (49) and passing yards (304) for a true freshman.
"After the WKU game, I understood the offense better and understood better ways to protect the ball," Vattiato said. "We have special guys in our offense and getting more snaps in game situations helped me really understand things more."
After leaving the game with a bruised hip pointer in the FAU game, Vattiato's counterpart DiLiello took the reins and guided Middle Tennessee the rest of the way to it's sixth win, giving Vattiato a shot to help Middle Tennessee to it's first bowl win since the Camellia Bowl win over Arkansas State in 2017.
Without leading receiver Jimmy Marshall, speedy DJ England-Chisolm and starting offensive tackle Jacqui Graham, the already-depleted Blue Raider offense would have to win the game with a once fourth-string quarterback. But for Vattiato, the Bahamas Bowl was just another game. That calm, even-keeled demeanor was a steady presence in the huddle throughout the day as the young quarterback took advantage of the opportunities the Blue Raider defense gave him and had his team ahead heading into the game's pivotal moment.
"It's really kind of funny, because we ran the same play in practice all week and Jarrin was so wide open I missed him," Vattiato said of the play that Dearmon called with 6:24 left.
As the ball was snapped, Pierce defeated the corner who was left on an island with him in man coverage, slipping behind the safety and into the open field. Vattiato lofted the ball deep into the Bahamian sky as Pierce raced underneath to catch up with it.
While both young guys and veterans alike held their breath while the pass was in the air, Vattiato was breathing easy as the pass found Pierce for a 59-yard touchdown strike that put Middle Tennessee up 28-17.
"When we got to the sidelines, I smiled and grabbed (Pierce) and told him 'I wasn't going to miss you that time,'" Vattiato said.
Pierce laughed and a few short moments later, the Blue Raiders had completed the upset of Toledo with the same guy that was running the scout team earlier in the year at quarterback.
"I went 15-0 and won a state championship in my first year coaching my former high school, was at Auburn in 2013 for those special games and returned to my alma mater Bethel and won a conference championship in my only year there," Dearmon said. "This year, not only with what Nick did but what we did as a team, ranks up there with those years."
Vattiato's effort in leading his team to the Bahamas Bowl Championship earned him the game's Offensive MVP award as he finished 23-of-35 for 270 yards, a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. The 59-yard touchdown pass from him to Pierce was the longest play in bowl history for MTSU.
"Coming from the scout team and leading these guys to a bowl win, there's no way I could've done it without any of my teammates," Vattiato said. "I couldn't have done it without those reps against the first team defense, the o-line always lifting me up and just all of my teammates. It was awesome."
With the accomplishments he made in 2021, it'll be hard for any first-year player, not only at Middle Tennessee, but around the country to top the journey that Vattiato took to get to where he is today. The days between being the quiet kid who was taking his lumps on the scout team to the stage in Nassau holding up the Prime Minister's Trophy felt as long as that 59-yard bomb to Jarrin Pierce.
But, just like the anticipation of that pass to Pierce, it was all well-worth the wait for number 18 in blue and white.
Anthony Fiorella is a writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @a_fiorella74 and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
Recognizing the coverage was exactly what he'd seen when they practiced this play, Vattiato's mind raced before the ball was snapped. While the 18-year old quarterback's mind might've been racing, his demeanor and even-keeled personality is what led both him and his team to this moment.
As the 2021 season began, Vattiato's role was like other true freshmen quarterbacks in the college football landscape. He was relegated to the scout team, taking reps against the starters on defense while doing his best to help conduct the offense of the Blue Raiders opponent that week. With veterans Bailey Hockman, Chase Cunningham and Mike DiLiello in front of him, Vattiato was destined to be redshirted. Not only to develop himself on the field, but to give him a chance to continue making gains in the film room.
"Being a scout team quarterback, I got to go against the first-team defense every single day in practice," Vattiato said. "Our defense is one of the best in the country between the playmakers we have and the scheme that [defensive coordinator Scott Shafer] runs, so that helped prepare me for what ended up happening later in the season."
Following the loss to UTSA, Hockman left the program and Chase Cunningham took over as the starter. Vattiato began seeing less time with the scout team and more time splitting mental reps with DiLiello behind Cunningham throughout the middle of the season.
"Early on in the year, Nick didn't get a chance to have many reps in practice, so where he had to really take advantage of the reps he had was in the classroom," Dearmon said. "(Vattiato) always asks great questions and is always in the building getting extra work. He's here before me some mornings. You can tell from the amount of work that he put in off the field that it would give him a chance to be pretty good."
Fast-forward to the Blue Raiders' eighth game of the season and Middle Tennessee found itself back to the .500 mark on the year after a 1-3 start following a blowout win on homecoming against Southern Mississippi. That win, however, would come at a cost, as the Blue Raiders learned that the knee injury that Chase Cunningham suffered in the game was season-ending. With just Vattiato and DiLiello remaining as the only quarterbacks on the roster that had taken any snaps during the year, albeit with most of DiLiello's coming from a wildcat package and Vattiato's in a mop-up role at the end of games, it left Dearmon and the Blue Raider coaching staff in a bind.
A day prior to the game at Western Kentucky, Dearmon told Vattiato that he would be the starting quarterback for Middle Tennessee. Just nine weeks prior, the Plantation, Florida, native was buried on the depth chart behind a host of veterans and was now going to make his first career start on the road against his team's biggest rival.
"The day before the game, Coach Dearmon pulled me aside in the gameday room and said, 'We're going to start you, so be ready,'" Vattiato said. "I was excited. Even though I started the year on the scout team, my goal was to always be the starter, because I believed in myself. My teammates and coaches did a lot to help me out and get me ready, but I wanted to get going."
It wasn't the cleanest of games by any stretch of the imagination. Middle Tennessee fell to 4-5 with the 48-21 loss and Vattiato tossed five interceptions in the game. Though two of the interceptions were off tipped passes, one came when he was getting sacked and the other was a pass thrown in the direction of a receiver that ran the wrong route, it was still a rough debut.
"To steal from the movies, (Vattiato) had a series of unfortunate events in the WKU game," Dearmon said.
Vattiato's completion percentage of 58.5 was his lowest output of any start during the year and most importantly, Middle Tennessee could only lose one more game if it was going to have a chance to return to a bowl game for the first time since the 2018 season.
Like he did last year with the youngest starting quarterback in the country in Jalon Daniels at Kansas, Dearmon was going to have to formulate and help boil down what the most effective part of the Blue Raider offense was to tailor it to both Vattiato and DiLiello.
With Vattiato's skill-set as a passer making him able to highlight the strength of the Blue Raider offense, the receiving corp, along with DiLiello's ability to come in and spell Vattiato as a runner, Middle Tennessee finished 2-1 down the stretch and earned a trip to the Bahamas Bowl for a date with the Toledo Rockets.
What stood out during that stretch? Following the five-interception game against Western Kentucky, Vattiato posted the highest completion percentage of any of Middle Tennessee's four quarterbacks and went 66-of-93 for 556 yards with three touchdowns and just one interception. Against Old Dominion, he set program records for completions (34), attempts (49) and passing yards (304) for a true freshman.
"After the WKU game, I understood the offense better and understood better ways to protect the ball," Vattiato said. "We have special guys in our offense and getting more snaps in game situations helped me really understand things more."
After leaving the game with a bruised hip pointer in the FAU game, Vattiato's counterpart DiLiello took the reins and guided Middle Tennessee the rest of the way to it's sixth win, giving Vattiato a shot to help Middle Tennessee to it's first bowl win since the Camellia Bowl win over Arkansas State in 2017.
Without leading receiver Jimmy Marshall, speedy DJ England-Chisolm and starting offensive tackle Jacqui Graham, the already-depleted Blue Raider offense would have to win the game with a once fourth-string quarterback. But for Vattiato, the Bahamas Bowl was just another game. That calm, even-keeled demeanor was a steady presence in the huddle throughout the day as the young quarterback took advantage of the opportunities the Blue Raider defense gave him and had his team ahead heading into the game's pivotal moment.
"It's really kind of funny, because we ran the same play in practice all week and Jarrin was so wide open I missed him," Vattiato said of the play that Dearmon called with 6:24 left.
As the ball was snapped, Pierce defeated the corner who was left on an island with him in man coverage, slipping behind the safety and into the open field. Vattiato lofted the ball deep into the Bahamian sky as Pierce raced underneath to catch up with it.
While both young guys and veterans alike held their breath while the pass was in the air, Vattiato was breathing easy as the pass found Pierce for a 59-yard touchdown strike that put Middle Tennessee up 28-17.
.@canesqb11 and @jarrinpierce3 combine for the longest pass play in Middle Tennessee Football bowl history.
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) December 17, 2021
This 59-yard strike puts the Blue Raiders up two scores. pic.twitter.com/n5L68le4Uj
"When we got to the sidelines, I smiled and grabbed (Pierce) and told him 'I wasn't going to miss you that time,'" Vattiato said.
Pierce laughed and a few short moments later, the Blue Raiders had completed the upset of Toledo with the same guy that was running the scout team earlier in the year at quarterback.
"I went 15-0 and won a state championship in my first year coaching my former high school, was at Auburn in 2013 for those special games and returned to my alma mater Bethel and won a conference championship in my only year there," Dearmon said. "This year, not only with what Nick did but what we did as a team, ranks up there with those years."
Vattiato's effort in leading his team to the Bahamas Bowl Championship earned him the game's Offensive MVP award as he finished 23-of-35 for 270 yards, a pair of touchdowns and no interceptions. The 59-yard touchdown pass from him to Pierce was the longest play in bowl history for MTSU.
Your 2021 @TheBahamasBowl Offensive Player of the Game is Nick Vattiato (@canesqb11).#BuildBlueNow | #EATT pic.twitter.com/68Gc2j3C2e
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) December 17, 2021
"Coming from the scout team and leading these guys to a bowl win, there's no way I could've done it without any of my teammates," Vattiato said. "I couldn't have done it without those reps against the first team defense, the o-line always lifting me up and just all of my teammates. It was awesome."
With the accomplishments he made in 2021, it'll be hard for any first-year player, not only at Middle Tennessee, but around the country to top the journey that Vattiato took to get to where he is today. The days between being the quiet kid who was taking his lumps on the scout team to the stage in Nassau holding up the Prime Minister's Trophy felt as long as that 59-yard bomb to Jarrin Pierce.
But, just like the anticipation of that pass to Pierce, it was all well-worth the wait for number 18 in blue and white.
Anthony Fiorella is a writer for goblueraiders.com. Follow him on Twitter @a_fiorella74 and also follow @MTAthletics for more on the Blue Raiders.
From fourth string QB to Bahamas Bowl Offensive MVP.
— Middle Tennessee FB (@MT_FB) December 20, 2021
Freshman quarterback Nick Vattiato (@canesqb11) had a turn at the mic on Friday afternoon.#BuildBlueNow pic.twitter.com/c5hXYPuHSG
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