Giovanni Carmazzi


Giovanni Carmazzi is a former American football player. He never played in a regular season NFL game but was on the roster of the San Francisco 49ers as a backup quarterback. He is an alumnus of Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California. He was coached by his father, Dan Carmazzi, while playing for the Marauders. He attended Hofstra University, where he threw for over 9,000 yards and still holds most records for the quarterback position at Hofstra; these will likely stand in perpetuity as Hofstra has since dropped the football program. He was a Walter Payton Award finalist in his senior year.

Pro career

Carmazzi was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round of the 2000 NFL Draft. However, it was Tim Rattay—who was not selected until the seventh round of that draft—who ended up being the one to stick around and make the regular roster. Carmazzi was taken ahead of Bay Area resident Tom Brady, who was not taken until the 6th round. Brady was noted as being a doting 49ers fan and a huge Joe Montana fan as well and when he was not drafted by the 49ers, felt that he was slighted by the team. Against Brady's New England Patriots in the 2000 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, Carmazzi struggled, completing only 3 of 7 passes for 19 yards in a 20–0 loss. Carmazzi also spent time with the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe in 2001, and appeared briefly on the rosters of the BC Lions and Calgary Stampeders in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Recognition

Carmazzi was a 1999 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete while playing at Hofstra, a 1996 high school scholar-athlete honoree awarded by the Sacramento Chapter and a 1996 West Region High School Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is one of only four all-time NFF awardees in all three of these categories.