Growing up, Adam Howanitz heard all the stories about his father George\u2019s athletic career at Bucknell University.<\/p>\n
He also visited the campus as a football prospect when the Bison recruited him from Valley View High School.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, after following his own path to the University of Pittsburgh, Howanitz will take the field, and his father\u2019s alma mater is the opponent. The undefeated Panthers (3-0) host Bucknell (1-3) at noon in a nonconference game at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where the original dream of playing Division I football came from, by idolizing my father and what he accomplished at Bucknell,\u201d Adam said. \u201cHim playing Division I was what really drove me to work hard to play football in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cBucknell was a school that I visited a bunch of times. It was one of my three offers coming out of high school. It\u2019s going to be pretty cool. With my dad playing there, it\u2019s a little different. We look at it as another opportunity to improve and work at getting to 4-0.\u201d<\/p>\n
George, the head coach at Honesdale, was an all-state player at Valley View. He led the Cougars to Big 11, Eastern Conference Class II, and PIAA Class 2A championships as a quarterback and defensive back in 1992.<\/p>\n
A highly recruited player, George selected Bucknell University, where he was a co-captain in his senior season in 1996. He was a starting defensive back for Bucknell, which won the Patriot League title that season.<\/p>\n
But even with all of that nostalgia, George will be outfitted in the blue and gold of the Panthers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a lot of my teammates calling me that they are going to the game,\u201d George said. \u201cI will be there with my Pitt No. 44 jersey on. It\u2019s going to be neat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam is a senior who intends to attend law school. He chose Pitt, where he was a walk-on tight end.<\/p>\n
In high school, Adam started for four seasons, playing quarterback and defensive back for his father, then the head coach at Valley View. A dual-threat quarterback, he threw for 2,241 yards and 24 touchdowns and ran for 1,226 yards and 24 touchdowns in 36 varsity games.<\/p>\n
He suffered a torn ACL midway through his junior season. As a senior, he led the Cougars to a 10-3 season and to the District 2 Class 4A final, and the program finished 36-9 in his four seasons.<\/p>\n
At Pitt, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound tight end did not see any playing time early in his career. Then, before the Panthers\u2019 Game Above Sports Bowl appearance against Toledo in Detroit, Michigan, Adam tore his ACL again.<\/p>\n
Determined to conquer adversity just as he did in high school, Adam rehabilitated for more than a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows that you can\u2019t take anything for granted,\u201d Adam said. \u201cYou don\u2019t realize how much you miss walking until you are on crutches and with a brace on your knee. What I came to understand was that when you are hurt and can\u2019t play, you need to create value for yourself. I had an opportunity to signal in the offense because I knew the system so well. That was a great experience and made me want to stay with the process and the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam\u2019s perseverance paid off when he had his first game experience as a Panther in a win over the University of Central Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty good,\u201d Adam said. \u201cI have played in two games, which for me is a big deal. Coming off the second surgery, I had some doubts. There was a mental battle on top of the physical with making cuts and everything. Coach (Brent) Davis, the tight ends coach, has been great with me. Whenever I had any issues coming back, he was understanding.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting into a game felt like it was a long time coming. After I got hurt at the end of my second year, I was going into my third year, and we took things slow in getting back. Being able to play in the last two games was big. I hope I can get in a few more. I will continue to work and develop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam\u2019s college football journey has been rewarding.<\/p>\n
His entire family is proud each week they see him in a Pitt uniform, playing the sport he loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like for all the things that have happened to him in his career, he never looks back and has any regrets,\u201d George said. \u201cHe loves Pitt, Coach (Pat) Narduzzi, and his teammates. It has been a great experience; he has made a lot of friends he will have for life. You create these great memories and lasting friendships. It is what is sometimes forgotten about the football playing experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis mom (Eileen) and I are really happy for him. He doesn\u2019t miss a practice. He puts the time in and busts his butt in the weight room. He is very good academically, and it\u2019s nice to see him run out of the tunnel and be a part of the Pitt program.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Growing up, Adam Howanitz heard all the stories about his father George\u2019s athletic career at Bucknell University. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-294347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}