What’s Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin like? Cocky? Arrogant? Maybe he thinks he’s the next Joe Flacco?
Not exactly.
The humble Delaware quarterback received the honor of being named the high school quarterback of the decade for Southeastern Pennsylvania by the Philadelphia Inquirer, and his high school coaches think he’s deserving of the award.
“You could tell at a young age that [Devlin] was going to be a great one,” Downingtown East High School athletic director Jack Helm, said. “He understands where he came from and he’s not afraid to give back.”
The junior quarterback still gives back to his high school alma mater in various ways. During the Delaware football team’s bye week, Devlin went home and counseled the current quarterback at Downingtown East, who had a bad game the night before.
“Beyond all the football, he’s just a one-of-a-kind kid,” said Mike Matta, Devlin’s high school football coach at Downingtown East. “He took it upon himself on his Saturday off, the only Saturday he had off all season to go to this young man’s house, reach out to him and help him through a bad outing.”
Devlin started practicing with the varsity team at Downingtown High when he was in eighth grade (the school later split into Downingtown East and Downingtown West). He was on the varsity squad all four years and started at quarterback for three years. Devlin broke the Pennsylvania state record for single-game passing yards in October of 2003 when he threw for 511 yards in a game. He also holds the Pennsylvania state record for career passing yards with 8, 172 yards.
“My first impression of him was how mature and focused the kid was,” Matta said. “He never seemed to look out of place, looked like he belonged from the beginning.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer ranked the top ten quarterbacks of the decade, and Devlin beat out several notable players, including last year’s NFL Rookie of the Year, Matt Ryan, who played at William Penn Charter School and was ranked number two on the list.
“It’s a great honor, and you know obviously Matt is an unbelievable player,” Devlin said. “I still remember him coming to practice when I was a freshman at Downingtown. It’s great to have guys like him from your hometown that you can look up to when you’re growing up.”
Devlin’s college life includes three schools. He initially made an informal commitment to the University of Miami before they made an off-season coaching change. Devlin rescinded his commitment to Miami after the coaching change, and then committed to Penn State, where he played for two years. He transferred to Delaware last spring and is enjoying a good first season at Delaware, averaging 225 yards per game, atop the CAA.
As for his future after Delaware, his high school coaches believe he has NFL potential, but the finance major has other plans.
“I’m looking forward to getting a degree,” Devlin said. “At Penn State, I really thought I wanted to be a [financial] analyst, and now that I’m at Delaware it’s more banking focused I guess you would say. I’m kind of in transition of looking at what I really want to do.”
By the time he was a senior in high school, Devlin had made quite the impression on his coaches. Matta and the coaching staff at Downingtown East allowed him to call all the plays for the offense senior year. Despite playing well throughout his career, Devlin attributes much of his success on the field to his coaches and teammates.
“I was blessed to have a coach like coach Matta, and a coach like coach Ellis (former offensive coordinator at Downingtown High),” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates in high school.”
On the contrary, Matta believes someone else deserves credit for Devlin’s success.
“He’s a very down-to-earth kid,” Matta said. “A lot of that credit goes to his parents. They raised a very, very mature kid, who was able to handle all the accolades that went with being one of the top kids in the country. It never went to his head, same Pat Devlin.”
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