Last Saturday was a tremendous day in the life of one of my excellent QBs. That is Johnny Caprella my 6’3†195 lbs star from Lima Shawnee HS in Lima Ohio.
On Friday John and Jackie (Johnny’s parents) and Johnny all met at my house at about 4 pm and by 5 we were on the road to Pittsburgh. We arrived in Pittsburgh around 8 pm and were directed to the beautiful Distrkt Hotel in fabulous downtown at the corner of the three Rivers. All these arrangements were made by John’s cousin Tina Caprella Thompson (and what a hostess she was) as she and her husband Chris met us and showed us around downtown and took us to a really neat Restaurant with great food and drinks.  Tina had also arranged for the rooms and they were very European in design, but fashionable and a great place to spend the night. Tina is the head of the leukemia Society for the city of Pittsburgh and is so connected at Pitt with the Athletic Director and all the coaches that she brings her own built in fan base. A Big thanks goes to Tina and all her connections for making this trip one, not to forget.
Saturday was up early as we had to be at Pitt by 7 am for the 7:30 am practice. As we arrived we were met by the coaching staff and Pat Narduzzi the Head Coach. Coach Narduzzi took Jonny and I into the QB meeting with my buddy Shawn Watson OC and Johnny was very impressed with the pre-practice details. When we were invited to watch practice we did not know that there was going to be an actual scrimmage nor did we know that it would be held at the famous Heinz Field (home also  to the Pittsburgh Steelers). The other thing we did not know, was it would be held outdoors in 30 degree weather with the wind whipping through the stadium and none of us were dressed properly.  Johnny and I ‘sucked it up’ and stayed for the entire practice of 3 hours but MAN DID WE GET COLD.   Johnny knew a couple of the players that are on the Panthers squad as they were from schools in Lima, Ohio area and they were very glad to see him as they had been competitors or team mates over the years.
Shawn was a great host as always and is looking forward to visiting Ohio to see several of our outstanding Athletes including Johnny next month during the open period. Pitt put on a very good and enthusiastic scrimmage so from a football stand point it was an awesome day. Next in line for Johnny and one of my outstanding wide receivers Lucas Pierce from Newark Catholic is, next Thursday visiting the University of Kentucky and their practice. Thanks for the invitations from Darren Henshaw the OC and QB coach for the Wildcats.
Johnny Caprella is an incredible athlete and QB and he has just started his road to success in this sport so we are looking forward to watching his continued development as one of the top QBS in the country.