When he was growing up first in Pennsylvania and then New Jersey and later in Florida, Chris Favoroso heard the stories of how close his dad, Charles, came to turning his days as a standout prep catcher into a career in the MLB before a knee injury erased those chances.
Not wanting to take the same chance with his hopes of playing in the NFL, Chris made the decision to further his football career at the place he felt would give him the best shot. Weeks after taking his official visit to Montana, Favoroso called Bob Stitt and committed to play for the Grizzlies.
“The end goal for me is to go to the NFL and I want to go to a college that put me in the best position to do that,” Favoroso said Saturday night after becoming the 14th commit of the Grizzlies’ 2017 class.
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Favoroso, a 6-foot-4, 255-pound defensive end from Arizona Western with three years to play, became Montana’s 14th commitment of the 2017 class. As a junior college transfer, Favoroso can — and will — sign his scholarship papers sometime after Dec. 14, making him eligible to join the Grizzlies for spring practice when the session gets underway in March.
Montana’s coaches can not comment on Favoroso until he puts his name on the dotted line.
Montana will be the third school to have Favoroso’s name on its roster, but hardly the only one to have interest in the active defensive end. After racking up 51 sacks in two season at Florida’s Jensen Beach High, numerous FBS schools courted him. Then after a year at Arizona Western, more FBS schools came calling, but Montana stood out for a very specific reason.
“I truly believe in Montana, out of every offer I had, every school that was talking to me, that I would be able to get to the NFL from Montana the easiest,” said Favoroso, who spent his redshirt freshman season with Appalachian State before transferring west.
Since 2008, Montana has placed 30 players in NFL camps with nine of them getting to the next level through the draft. Just a year ago, Tyrone Holmes, who played in the spot Favoroso will assume, won the FCS Defensive Player of the Year award before Jacksonville drafted him in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Holmes is now with Cleveland after Jacksonville cut him. A year before Holmes, Zach Wagenmann finished a record-setting career at defensive end and then signed with the Arizona Cardinals. And it’s possible that Caleb Kidder, the athletic end who filled in for Holmes and drew the attention of scouts throughout the season, will continue the streak.
“If I do make it to the league I probably won’t be big enough to be a D-end,” said Favoroso, who had an offer from FBS Buffalo and drew interest from Fresno State, Kentucky and Michigan State. “ … I’ll probably be a standup backer and that’s where Montana wants me to play.”
With about seven weeks remaining before National Signing Day on Feb. 1, Montana’s 2017 class is evenly split between defense and offense. Favoroso, recruited to compete for the spot created by Kidder’s graduation, was the second defensive end to commit to the Griz after Hillsboro (Oregon) High’s R.J. Nelson verbally committed in September. A third joined the position group early Wednesday afternoon when sophomore Dylan Gilfoy elected to transfer from Diablo Valley College to Montana.
Gilfoy was part of a recruiting weekend that included Mt. Carmel (San Diego) High offensive tackle Payton Stoner and netted commits from both. Favoroso, however, was not on that trip. He came to Missoula the weekend of the Grizzlies’ 24-17 loss to Montana State. Favoroso said he didn’t know what to expect when he came north, but knew exactly what he wanted to do when he left.
“When they lost I kinda just wanted to make sure that never happened again,” he said.
Upon graduating from Jensen Beach, where he was also an All-American wrestler, Favoroso chose to spend his redshirt season with the Mountaineers over offers from South Florida, Florida International and Western Kentucky. Favoroso then transferred to Arizona Western and was named first-team All-WSFL selection for his 65 tackles, 10.5 sacks and 22 tackles for loss.
Western finished the season ranked No. 3, losing 25-22 in the championship, also named the El Toro Bowl, to Garden City (Kansas).
Primarily recruited by Montana defensive line coach Bryan Hendricks, Favoroso plans to be in Missoula to start the spring semester in January.
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