Michigan State's Rocky Lombardi comes from a football family

So who is Rocky Lombardi?

Every piece of his name.

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Football genes

Michigan State quarterback Rocky Lombardi is under pressure and sent back by Michigan's Devin Bush in the fourth quarter on Saturday. (Photo: Nick King / Lansing State Journal)

The name Lombardi is synonymous with football. And Rocky is a football junkie.

Rocky's great-grandfather, Walter Hass, was a half-catcher of three-year-old letters and captain of Minnesota Gophers from 1930 to 1932, before embarking on a career as coach and trainer. 39, sports administrator. He served as Sports Director at the University of Chicago, where he resurrected football and was eventually replaced by Bob Lombardi.

Bob Lombardi, Rocky's grandfather, was also a member of the Hall of Fame of the High School Football Coaches Association in the suburbs of Chicago.

Rocky's father, Tony, was a running back at Arizona State. He had a taste of the NFL at the Chicago Bears camp, but was not part of the team, and became a university and high school coach.

Tony Lombardi said that he had always wanted to name his son after Rocky Bleier, former star of the Steelers of Our Lady of Pittsburgh and Steelers, who was "a beacon of what I wanted to be: a hard-nosed fellow and worker ". visions of Sylvestre Stallone's disjointed fighter, which corresponds to the fight background of young Lombardi.

"And of course, by chance, he's blond and blue-eyed," Tony joked this week. "You would not see a Rocky when you look at him. Still, it's so interesting. When you look at it now and what it has become as a man, it is exactly Rocky Lombardi. "

The legend of Rocky Lombardi began with his father's high school, 7 against 7, under A.J. Puk. That summer, Puk announced to Tony that he was considering leaving football at Washington High in Iowa to focus on baseball (he was finally appointed Detroit Tigers before playing college in Florida and now with the Oakland Athletics).

Tony was in a pinch. He gave Rocky a helmet to serve as a quarterback.

The seventh year won the six games of the day against coaches from high schools in the suburbs.

Rocky would shine in every sport that he would try.

He was a nationally ranked state champion wrestler.

He qualified for the Iowa national competition in discus with minimal experience.

He played baseball.

But football was his vocation.

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Lombardi excelled at Valley High in West Des Moines, Iowa. The 6-foot-3, 218-pounder scored 30-6 as a three-year-old starter, rolled for 5,818 yards and 66 touchdowns and completed 979 yards and 17 scores. Lombardi was a selection of two first All-State team.

The 3-star rookie chose MSU over Iowa and the state of Iowa, among other schools. He quickly became one of the players on the scouting team that made the most of him last season by taking a redshirt.

Dantonio said that the real freshman Theo Day could see some action this season because of the new rules of the red shirt. However, he said that "Rocky has a bigger foundation" than Day.

Showing athleticism, Lombardi made his collegiate debut as an Arizona State emergency bettor this season. He got his first quarterback series in MSU's win over central Michigan and led the final training of the 21-7 loss to Michigan last Saturday.

Lombardi completed his first pass attempt against the Wolverines and also ran 10 yards. However, he was fired three times during his two brief appearances.

"I mean, it's going a little faster," Lombardi said. "But it's still the same game, it's still football."