Joe Flacco's college career was unlike other quarterbacks in the NFL who are sitting on $100 million contracts.
Flacco started his college career at Pitt, but in a move that sums up Dave Wannstedt's head coaching career, the future Super Bowl MVP wasn't given a shot to compete with Tyler Palko for the starting job. So Flacco left.
Flacco wasn't given a scholarship release by Pitt, so he had to sit out a year. Delaware gave him a chance. By the time Flacco finished his Blue Hens career, he was garnering a lot of interest from the NFL. Any quarterback who has transferred to a lower division is going to be looked at a little skeptically before a NFL team uses a first-round pick on him, but Flacco's coach, K.C. Keeler, put the Ravens' minds at ease by telling them about Flacco's leadership. Baltimore took Flacco, who eventually led the Ravens to a Super Bowl.
And for that, Flacco is still grateful.
Keeler was fired in January after 11 successful seasons at Delaware. Flacco was rather busy during that time, and then was preoccupied with contract talks until signing his massive deal last week.
But he hadn't forgot about his old coach, and put a heartfelt note on his Facebook page as a show of support for Keeler, the same way the coach supported Flacco in college:
For a guy who has a lot going on, with the trips to Disney World, cashing a $52 million guaranteed paycheck and visits to McDonald's drive-thrus for McNuggets, it's nice to see a prominent athlete by Flacco remember the people from his college career who helped him get there.
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