This is a story I did in 2006 when the Lions played the Owls.
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By Cory Giger
cgiger@altoonamirror.com
Adam DiMichele changed his mind, Penn State called him on it and the two sides parted ways.
It was somewhat of a messy divorce that changed DiMichele's future, but two-and-a-half years later, he holds no grudges.
"There's obviously no hard feelings," DiMichele, Temple's starting quarterback, said. "What happened is in the past, and that's how I look at it."
DiMichele, an all-state quarterback at Sto-Rox High School near Pittsburgh, signed to play football as a defensive back at Penn State in 2004. Also a standout baseball player, he decided a few months later to pass on the Nittany Lions in favor of a college baseball career.
Penn State opted not to let DiMichele out of his scholarship commitment, so he couldn't play football or baseball at another Division I school.
"I can understand that," DiMichele said. "They were expecting me to come there, and I backed out of my commitment."
DiMichele, an outfielder and pitcher, ended up going to Okaloosa-Walton College in Florida. He hit .305 as a freshman, then was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 38th round of the Major League Baseball draft in June of 2005.
Toronto picked him as a draft-and-follow player, meaning it wouldn't sign him right away but instead would hold his rights for one year. DiMichele batted .364 his sophomore season but injured his oblique, hurting his chances of playing minor league baseball.
At that point, the WPIAL's career passing leader (6,471 yards) decided to give football another shot. One of the first people he called was Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, who recruited him in high school.
"We've always had a good relationship," DiMichele said.
"I realize they had their quarterback situation settled, and I was just letting him know maybe if he could contact any other schools that maybe were interested in a quarterback."
Bradley held no hard feelings about DiMichele backing out of his scholarship offer.
"Adam and I are actually probably good friends," Bradley said. "We texted each other periodically when he was playing baseball.
"At the time we didn't have any grants available for a quarterback, and that's what he wanted to play. He asked did I know of anybody else that may be interested and could he let people know he was thinking about coming back and playing football."
DiMichele's younger brother, Alex, is a walk-on fullback at Temple, so he also decided to go with the Owls. Adam DiMichele signed to play both football and baseball at Temple, and he hopes to continue to pursue a pro baseball career in the future.
"It's definitely something I still want to do," he said.
For the next two years, though, DiMichele wants to continue improving as a quarterback. He's thrown for 1,392 yards, 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 64.3 percent of his passes this season.
Along with football and baseball, DiMichele was a standout basketball player at Sto-Rox. He led the team to the 2004 PIAA Class AA state title, averaging 13.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists and earning the state's AA Player of the Year distinction from The Associated Press.
DiMichele's impressive resume also includes twice being named the Pittsburgh area's Male Athlete of the Year by both the Post-Gazette and Tribune-Review.
"For us to have him here is just tremendous," Temple coach Al Golden said. "It's the break that this program needed.
"He's playing his best football right now."
DiMichele might have developed into an impact player at Penn State, but instead he's trying to help Temple climb out of the college football doldrums.
"I haven't talked to him really about going back to Penn State," Golden said. "I don't know if he's anxious right now, if he's excited or what. But I'm sure he'll be ready to go. He's a fiery kid."
DiMichele said he is excited, not just for himself to be playing against Penn State, but also for his teammates.
"I think it's a great opportunity for our program," he said.
