UNT quarterback Giovanni Vizza to transfer

by David A. Lucio of North Texas Daily

When UNT head football coach Todd Dodge received a phone call on Jan. 10, he said the last thing he expected was the departure of his starting quarterback.

The call was from the father of Giovanni Vizza, UNT's starting quarterback since the Dodge era started two years ago. Vizza decided to leave the school and the football program without any prior notice, coach Dodge said.

"The first thing is, I guess I was upset," coach Dodge said. "We'd sat down to talk to him like we do all the seniors at the end of the semester, and had all impressions that he would be coming back. It was a surprise to get a call a week before we start from his father saying he was transferring. I was upset about it."

At the end of each season, the coaching staff organizes exit interviews, coach Dodge said. Coach Dodge said that during those interviews the team's position coaches sit with each athlete and talk about what their strengths, areas in need of improvement and academic plans for the next semester are, so that each player knows where they stand before the break.

Since Vizza was on scholarship, UNT athletics director Rick Villarreal had to approve Vizza's request to break the contract. Villarreal said he discussed the situation with coach Dodge, and they agreed to let Vizza leave on the condition that he cannot play for another Sun Belt Conference team or any non-conference team UNT will play within the next three years.

"It's not uncommon for a college team to set that kind of stipulation," coach Dodge said. "In the Big 12, if you transfer to a school still in the conference, you lose two years of NCAA eligibility…What we gave him, then, was the opportunity to transfer anywhere in the country, except for those schools."

According to NCAA rules, any player in the Bowl Division- formerly Division I - that transfers schools automatically loses a year of athletic eligibility if they stay in the Bowl Division. Since Vizza never used his redshirt at UNT, his future team would have the opportunity to use it in order to give Vizza two remaining years of eligibility starting in 2010.

According to an article in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Vizza had plans to transfer to Texas A&M University. Alan Cannon, A&M associate athletic director and head of media relations, said the university was not aware of Vizza's intentions.

"I've checked with admissions, and at this point they do not have a young man by the name of Vizza enrolled at the university," Cannon said. "We cannot comment further until he has signed a financial agreement or enrolled at Texas A&M, at which point he could possibly walk-on."

Vizza's family declined comment to the NT Daily.

Last season, Vizza threw for 2758 yards and 15 touchdowns, as well as rushing for two additional touchdowns. No other UNT quarterback has a touchdown to his name.

"I can't imagine why any player that sees 20 starts in his first two years would want to leave a school," coach Dodge said. "I think a player would want to stay and finish out. We put two years of experience and 20 starts into him - but we do have two quarterbacks in Nathan Tune and Riley Dodge."

Tune is a sophomore in the program and Riley Dodge is a freshman. Coach Dodge also said that freshman Chase Baine - who played wide receiver last season - agreed to move to the quarterback position for the offseason.

"What they don't have in the experience that Giovanni had, they make up for in knowledge of this team's offense," coach Dodge said.

Coach Dodge said he doesn't feel that Vizza's departure was a setback. He said that he plans to make no changes his offensive strategy, and with the addition of the team's new strength coach Aaron Ausmus expects that the team is moving in a positive direction for next season. He and Villarreal both said that the loss of Vizza is not a reflection of the football program's direction.

"We're having a really good recruiting year," Villarreal said. "Academically the squad did as well as it's done in 10 years this past semester. Things are moving in the right direction. People make decisions for their own reasons. This was not an indictment of the program. It was merely somebody who felt like they needed to be somewhere else."

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