AMHERST — The night UMass coach Mark Whipple and then quarterbacks coach Liam Coen traveled to West Virginia to visit prospective quarterback Ross Comis, they attended his high school basketball game.
Comis had already won a state football championship in the fall and a baseball title the previous spring.
So hitting a game-winning 3-pointer that night to capture a regular season game wasn’t exactly his athletic peak, but it was further evidence of a trend that’s been true throughout much of his life — Ross Comis wins.
Now a redshirt sophomore, Comis will take on his biggest athletic challenge yet as he tries to lead the UMass football team to an improved season and national respectability beginning with Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. opener against No. 25 Florida in the Swamp. It seems like a tall task.
Listed at 6-feet, 200 pounds, Comis is undersized for a college quarterback. His height caused bigger schools to offer him nothing more than a walk-on spot, or in many cases overlook him altogether.
Despite rushing for a state quarterback record 2,037 yards and 35 touchdowns, and passing for 1,731 yards and 22 touchdowns, Comis didn’t have a scholarship offer until Whipple came calling.
In fact, if UMass hadn’t fired Charley Molnar well after the season ended, Comis might be battling for a spot on Pittsburgh’s depth chart as a walk-on.
Comis thought it was fate.
“I always believed in myself. I always told my parents, my high school teachers and my coaches, give me one chance and I’ll make this opportunity count,” he said. “Coach Whipple and his staff gave me that chance.”
Comis redshirted as a true freshman in 2014, and backed up his friend and mentor Blake Frohnapfel last year.
He played in six games when the outcome had already been determined last year. It was Comis’ performance at Notre Dame that got the coach’s attention.
The game was out of reach when he came in, but against a championship contender on the road, Comis was 8 for 8 for 69 yards and a touchdown, a performance he hoped would help prepare him for Saturday’s opener.
“I feel like my little experience at Notre Dame, going out and wiping everything out and playing my game helps,” said Comis. “There’s always nerves involved. If you’re not nervous, you don’t care.”
Comis was expected to compete for the starting job with junior college transfer Andrew Ford this season, but Whipple committed to Comis on the first day of camp. The move allowed Comis to establish himself as a leader among his teammates.
Whipple said when he’s recruiting players, especially quarterbacks, he’s searching for poise and leadership, but it’s hard to pin down.
“You never know,” said Whipple, a former NFL quarterbacks coach. “Even in the NFL, you can’t tell until you coach them.”
His instincts on Comis have been rewarded so far.
“I just really liked him. I like a kid that’s an athlete and played a bunch of sports,” Whipple said. “I’m hard on him. He’s handled it. If he makes a mistake, he bounces back. Some guys can’t. You want a tough guy and a leader. That’s what you need at that position. It’s hard to have a tough team if you don’t have a tough quarterback. Ross is really competitive. He wants to win a everything.”
Even after Whipple dubbed him the No. 1, Comis left nothing to chance.
“I love to compete,” he said. “This summer with Andrew coming in and Randall (West) and Sos (James Sosinski), I knew I had to compete,” he said. “It’s something I love doing and I thrive on doing.”
The competition gets tougher on Saturday.
Quarterbacks coach Scott Woodward was confident that the magnitude of the game and the caliber of opponent would bring out the best in Comis.
“There’s a saying when the pressure is on you either play 15 percent better or 15 percent worse,” Woodward said. “He plays 15 percent better.”
Comis doesn’t know where the poise comes from. He expected to sleep fine Friday night and be ready when the lights come on.
“It’s something that’s just in my blood,” he said. “I’m able to go out in pressure situations and play my best.”
Fair or not, quarterbacks get undue amounts of credit or blame for a team’s results. If the Minutemen evolve into a winning program during his time under center, Comis will be a legend at UMass.
“It would be an unbelievable feeling. That’s exactly what I want to do,” he said. “Fro started this thing off. I’m trying to follow in his footsteps and really get this going.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage