There was a park right next to where Anthony Calvillo grew up, in La Puente, Calif. For each season, the park fielded a sports team, and Calvillo was always eager to play - baseball, basketball, football. "Working parents came after their jobs," recalls a grateful Calvillo. They were the coaches, and he and his brothers and the other kids learned from them.
Calvillo, now the No. 2-ranked total-offense quarterback in NCAA Div. I and coming off that victory over BYU that means so much to Utah State, would love it if the NFL calls next spring. It would be a dream come true for one who says sports is his life.But Calvillo has a realistic dream, too: graduate, become a coach, return to La Puente and teach kids at that playground. Remembering the adults who helped launch his college career, the Aggie senior says, "I want to repay them, thank them, get some kids beyond high school, boost up their enthusiasm.
"I want to teach what I have learned," he says. "At home, there are good coaches, but there is so much stuff they don't know that I could teach."
USU coach Charlie Weatherbie has said Calvillo's desire to be a coach was one reason he learned offensive coordinator Jim Zorn's complicated package so quickly last year when Calvillo joined the Aggie program out of junior college during August two-a-days. Most JC players learn systems in spring ball, but Calvillo had to graduate first - he went through Mount San Antonio JC in two years. Many take 21/2 and use the other half for spring practices. Calvillo really expected to redshirt his first year, but he was needed. "I didn't know if I could sit a year anyway," he says. He can't imagine himself not competing.
Even with a hand injury, he began starting four games into the 1992 season and took USU to 5-3 over the last eight games, completing 201 of 360 passes for 2,494 yards, second-highest total ever by an Aggie first-year QB. He threw 16 TDs and just nine interceptions.
This year was to be triumphant for Calvillo and the Aggies, who have the best overall personnel in the Big West Conference. But until two weeks ago at UNLV, the Aggies couldn't win the close ones (losing three games by a total of 10 points) and couldn't beat big names (losing at Fresno and Louisiana State). Finally they held in the last minute at UNLV, then outscored BYU 58-56 for USU's first win on the Cougars in 11 years.
Despite bad times, Calvillo ranked in the NCAA's top six in total offense, usually second or third. But even his big-yardage games weren't the kind of performances everyone expected from a QB considered a cool customer with a rifle arm. Sometimes receivers dropped passes. Sometimes the defense didn't hold. Sometimes Calvillo was off. "We kept making crucial mistakes at crucial times," he says, himself included.
Until UNLV, he had as many interceptions as TD passes, but he's rectifying that. He hasn't thrown an interception in three games and now has 14 TD passes. His total offense is 2,642 yards for eight games - 2,562 passing and 116 rushing.
"I was not playing every play correctly," he says. "I hadn't been getting my eyes upfield. The only thing I could think of," Calvillo says, "was I wasn't preparing myself enough."
The answer was on film. He thought he studied it well, but ex-Seahawk QB Zorn pointed out nuances, like when defensive backs drop 10 feet, they'll do one thing, and if they drop 12 feet, they may be in another coverage. "I just wasn't picking up the little things," Calvillo says.
The BYU win was a result of improved reads. Calvillo had the second-best passing day in USU history, 472 yards, and tied an Ag record with five TD passes. He was 31-for-57. USU had its best Romney-Stadium point total ever.
"Anthony had a great game," says Weatherbie. "Best one I've seen him have. He made real good decisions, ran when he needed to run, threw when he needed to. When things collapsed around him, he found a way to get out."
Weatherbie said Calvillo's focus, usually strong, was exceptional.
"He's an ice-water-in-his-veins type of guy," says Weatherbie, himself an ex-pro quarterback who made a personal recruiting trip to Calvillo's home.
"I liked the way he presented himself," Calvillo says. Weatherbie hadn't yet signed Zorn, but he knew Zorn was interested in Calvillo who was interested in Zorn. When Calvillo visited Logan, he was sold. "I enjoyed this little town," he says. "It's a lot more peaceful" than Los Angeles. He wanted out of California for a while to "get a little life experience."
Calvillo has happily learned from Zorn and now thinks he's in tune with Zorn's bright play-calling. He thinks of a play he'd call, and when Zorn's comes in from the sidelines, it's often the same. Calvillo audibilizes a lot, "but it's designed," he says. "I see a defense and know I can't run that play." Each series there's a different set he can audible to. Difficult, but easy.
Calvillo has three more scheduled games in his career. In less than two seasons, he has school records for pass attempts in a game (57 last week), season (360) and career (720), tied the game total-offense record (537 vs. BYU) and is on track to break the single-season pass yardage (needing 362) and total-offense (needing 312) records with possibilities for the career passing yardage (needing 1,207) and career total-offense (needing 1,368) and single-season TD marks (needing 9). If USU wins all three games, starting with Pacific Saturday, the Ags have a shot at going to the Las Vegas Bowl for a bonus game.
Then, if the NFL doesn't call, Calvillo plans to make it a full circle back to the park where, "Everything I played, I always had the best arm." He was always the go-to pitcher, always the go-to shot-maker, always the QB. "They'd say, `Just throw deep,' " he says. "I accepted that role."