University of Massachusets Athletics
Making Most of New Beginnings
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Oct. 21, 2002
On the sidelines of Massachusetts' Sept. 28 football game at North Carolina State, senior wide receiver Adrian Zullo gave Head Coach Mark Whipple a status report of what he saw on the field. He told his coach that he was beating N.C. State's defensive back over the top. Needing to score more points against the Wolfpack, the Minutemen took Zullo's advice and gave him the ball.
"Coach (Whipple) told me to run the comeback, which is like a stop-and-go pattern, and it got the defensive back flat-footed," Zullo said. "I just got over the top of the defender and Jeff (Krohn) threw a good ball into the end zone and just gave me a chance to make the catch."
Zullo made the catch, giving UMass a much-needed touchdown.
This is the new Zullo.
After sitting out a year and a half with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, Zullo is back this season for the Minutemen as a smarter, deeper player. While spending his time on the sidelines for the last season and a half, Zullo focused on the mental side of football, improving his ability to read the field while developing a deeper understanding of the game.
"He hasn't missed a beat. He is better than he has ever been, more experienced," Whipple said of Zullo before the start of the 2002 season.
Zullo also admits that he is a better player this season.
"(Sitting out for almost two seasons) was a good opportunity for me to get more of the mental part of this game down," Zullo said. "I could see what was happening on the field more clearly, and I even got a little bit of coaching skills."
While Zullo is grateful for his deeper level of football intelligence, he will also never forget that day in October 2000, when he suffered his injury against Northeastern.
"I was going up the sideline for a jet-route and reaching for the ball and the safety came up out of the corner," said Zullo as he remembered his injury. "As I was planting my left foot he grabbed the back of my shoulder pads, causing my body to go one way, and then since my foot got stuck in the carpet, my knee went the other way. Everything tore and I didn't take another step for another two and a half months."
The injury kept Zullo on the sidelines for a season and a half. While Zullo used this time to learn more about the mental game of football, he also underwent extensive rehabilitation on his knee.
The senior worked on the flexibility of his knee by performing bends, he worked on conditioning through walks that gradually increased to runs and then finally he worked his way up to being able to perform cuts.
During this time Zullo was never absent from his team. While he was enduring his rehabilitation, the 5-7 wide receiver ran the scout team at practices.
"I was really just looking to help out my team in any way possible," Zullo said. "So in a way my being out for so long was good for both me and the team, yet it was also very bad for both of us, too."
While it was hard for Zullo to not be part of the competition, it was harder for the Minutemen to be without Zullo. When Zullo was injured, his yardage was sidelined as well. In Zullo's last complete season with the Minutemen, 1999-2000, UMass averaged 248.5 passing yards per game. In the 2001-02 season Massachusetts averaged 211.9 passing yards per game, about 37 yards less than with Zullo in the lineup.
Zullo's absence also meant that the Minutemen were playing without their record-breaking receiver. In his first two and a half seasons at UMass, Zullo soared to the top of the school's receiving records charts. He currently holds school records in seven different receiving categories at Massachusetts, including career receptions (166), career receiving yards (2,623) and career receiving touchdowns (30). Yet don't look for the Pompano Beach, Fla., native to get a big head over his accomplishments.
"It feels good, it's something I can tell my kids about someday, whenever I have kids, but I was able to break those records more because of Coach Whipple's coaching style than anything else."
Zullo credits Whipple's fondness for the passing game for his record-breaking career at UMass, but it also took hard work on Zullo's part, as well.
That work ethic paid off this year when Zullo was finally able to recover from his injury and rejoin his team on the field. Receiving a medical redshirt from the NCAA last season, Zullo was able to get one more year of eligibility to distance himself even further in the UMass record books.
"I was really excited to get back into camp this year, just really anxious," Zullo said.
This anxiety showed the night before UMass' season-opener against Central Connecticut State.
"When the first game came around I was up at 4 o'clock in the morning having anxiety attacks," Zullo said. "I couldn't believe it was finally here. I was just so excited."
During that first game Zullo returned in solid form. The senior led UMass with six receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown.
And if there was any question if his injury had slowed him down at all, he silenced his critics with a career-long 59-yard kickoff return on the game's first play.
Zullo performed well in the Minutemen's other five games this season. Through six games, Zullo has 31 catches for 493 yards and seven scores.
With six solid performances, Zullo is pleased with his play since coming back from his injury.
"I'm still knocking off some of the rust I have," Zullo said. "I can see some of the mistakes I make when I watch tapes. But I am getting back into the groove of things and I definitely feel better than that guy I was in the 1999 and 2000 seasons. I am just definitely smarter. It's my last year and I am just trying to make the best of it."
For the duration of this season, Zullo's goals are not aimed at setting more records or tallying more individual yards. For right now the senior is focused on getting his degree and winning a team championship.
But that doesn't mean the wide receiver is not focused on performing well or preparing himself for a future in football after UMass.
"Playing professional football has always been a dream of mine ever since I started playing football when I was 10 years old," Zullo said. "So I definitely want to give it a shot. I don't want to go through life thinking 'what if'. If I don't make it at least I can tell myself that I gave it a shot. And if I do make it, great."
Until Zullo gets his chance to showcase his talents at the next level, he'll be content using his new football knowledge to help UMass complete a successful season, and to also just be able to play the game of football once again.