Undersized quarterback posts big-time stats

NORFOLK

Maybe the approach of Halloween had something to do with what happened as Thomas DeMarco sat down this week for an interview.

Old Dominion's sophomore quarterback was explaining that he doesn't check statistical sheets when a shadowy figure lurking at the doorway let out a ghoulish cry: "Mooooove the chains. Mooooove the chains."

It was head coach Bobby Wilder.

DeMarco rolled his eyes.

"See what I have to put up with?" he said, laughing.

DeMarco has "moved the chains" regularly for the Monarchs, who are a surprising 6-2 in their inaugural campaign as they head into tonight's Halloween special against Georgetown.

He's also been a statistical nightmare for opponents, whether those stats matter to him or not. DeMarco is in the top five in the Football Championship Subdivision in three key statistical categories: touchdown passes-to-interceptions ratio, percentage of TD passes per attempt and interceptions per pass attempts.

The only reason his quarterback rating isn't higher - he's 29th, with an efficiency rating of 139.93 - is because he is completing a modest 53 percent of his passes.

"It's just the way I play," DeMarco said. "I'm taught to make the safer pass. Sometimes my receivers have little chance to catch those passes, but there's almost no chance of the ball being intercepted."

That's the number Wilder likes most about DeMarco.

While he has thrown 17 touchdown passes this season, DeMarco has been picked off only twice. And picked off is probably a bad choice of words. On one of those interceptions, DeMarco's pass bounced off the shoulder pad of Dorian Jackson and into a defender's hands. On the other, Reid Evans bobbled a sure touchdown pass, the ball slipping from his fingertips to a surprised defensive back who was five yards behind him.

Bottom line: DeMarco is no risk-taker when he throws.

He sure is glad, though, that ODU's coaching staff didn't play it safe and took a chance on a guy who has been categorized much of his life as too short to play quarterback.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, DeMarco is actually 5-foot-9-3/4. (In typical little-man fashion, he makes sure that the three-quarters is duly noted.)

"I'm not the ideal size for a quarterback, and I've heard that since high school," DeMarco said. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't aggravate me when people say it."

The chip-on-the-shoulder approach has worked. Couple that with a class-clown personality and a desire to entertain, and it's understandable that he's at his best at game time.

"When the lights come on at Foreman Field and there are 20,000 people in the stands, I'm in my element," DeMarco said. "I've always liked to play in front of a crowd. Always. I never feel nervous in those situations. I feel excited."

After enrolling at San Diego State in hopes of swaying the Aztecs' coaches to give him a chance at quarterback - DeMarco walked on there as a punter - he transferred to a California junior college with his heart set on throwing the ball once again, not kicking it. He said a tearful conversation with his maternal grandmother, Janice Jacchina, solidified his decision to leave San Diego State.

"She saw me on the sidelines at games and could tell I'd lost my desire to play," he said. "I didn't want to just be a punter."

DeMarco, who is from Palm Des ert, Calif., played a year at College of the Desert while taking a maximum class load to get done with junior college as quickly as possible. About a year ago, ODU offensive coordinator Brian Scott dropped by looking for, of all things, a punter.

DeMarco told Scott, "Hey, I'm a quarterback too."

Scott's response was lukewarm, but that changed quickly.

"My next stop on that recruiting trip was Mount San Antonio College," Scott said. "The coach there said, 'You should really take a look at DeMarco. We just got through playing them and he killed us.' "

Scott didn't have to try hard: DeMarco made his own sales pitch.

"He sent us his own QB highlight DVD," Scott said.

The next thing DeMarco knew, Wilder was making a recruiting trip to the West Coast for a quarterback.

DeMarco said the one surprising aspect of all of this is that Wilder, who is nearly 6-foot-4 and played quarterback at Maine, has never mentioned his quarterback's size.

Never.

"I've jokingly heard it from some of the other coaches, but Coach Wilder hasn't said a word," said DeMarco, whose 475 rushing yards rank him sixth in the FCS among quarterbacks.

"Quarterbacking is not about measurables with me," Wilder said. "We evaluated Thomas' ability to play the game, move the chains and develop relationships on the team. He scored high with us on the intangibles, things that can't be measured with a yardstick."

Rich Radford, 757-446-2463, rich.radford@pilotonline.com