If Navy quarterback Craig Candeto had agreed to give up baseball three years ago, there's a good chance he'd be playing football for Georgia Tech right now.
The Yellow Jackets, you see, wanted him badly after he finished his standout career at DeLand High School in Orange City, Fla., where he gained more than 6,500 yards of total offense. But Candeto wouldn't let go of his dream to play both sports in college. On a recruiting trip, Navy assured him he'd be able to play football in the fall and baseball in the spring. Tech wasn't sold on that idea, and it made the decision easy. Navy all the way.
Fast forward to 2001. Life took one of those quirky twists, and Candeto, as a sophomore, ended up as quarterback of the Mids during a 70-7 home defeat, which just happened to come courtesy of ... Georgia Tech.
The 63-point margin was the worst loss in school history. So it's worth asking the question: Any regrets?
"None," said Candeto, now a junior. "I know this is where I'm supposed to be. It definitely hasn't always been easy, but I've grown a lot here. I know it's the right place."
So right, in fact, that Candeto is willing to be downright optimistic about Navy's chances this year. True, he did spend most of last season on the bench, starting the first two games only because senior Brian Madden was suspended for disciplinary reasons. But he's not keeping the spot warm until someone else returns anymore.
This is Candeto's team. He has a new coach (Paul Johnson) and a new offense (the spread option) to work with, and the Mids will have a clean slate tomorrow night when they face SMU in Dallas. Last season's 0-10 campaign is little more than a distant memory.
"What we did last year doesn't affect this year," Candeto said. "That's the great thing about football. If you win 14 games, or if you lose every one of them like we did, you still get to start the year with a record of 0-0."
To be honest, not every part of the 2001 campaign is worth forgetting. The first two losses, to Temple and to Georgia Tech by a combined score of 115-33, matter if only because they served as Candeto's baptism by fire into the world of big-time college football. Growing up, Candeto and his father, Larry, spent countless Saturdays playing imaginary football games in their back yard.
So when Candeto tossed two touchdown passes against Temple in his first collegiate start, it was no great shock. After all, he'd done it in his head thousands of times.
