TAMPA — Michael Pyne already knows where he’ll play college football. Now the Alonso High junior is using that future to sharpen his present.
The quarterback, committed to the University of Pennsylvania, is getting coaching not only from the Ravens’ staff but also from the Quakers. That paid off in Alonso’s 49-14 win over Newsome on Oct. 2, snapping a losing streak against the Wolves that lasted more than decade.
“(Penn head coach Ricky Santos) helped me break down film,” Pyne said. “He’s just given me tips going into the week on how to attack ... like Newsome runs a 3-4, and he gave me tips on how to attack a 3-4 as a quarterback and all that good stuff. It showed out, and it worked well.”
Pyne drew 26 college offers, including from Ole Miss and Oklahoma State, but chose Penn largely because of Santos.
Santos was a blue-collar quarterback who starred at New Hampshire, where he was a two-time Atlantic 10 offensive player of the year and won the 2006 Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in what is now the Football Championship Subdivision. After several years chasing a career in the NFL and Canadian Football League, he turned to coaching. He climbed the ranks with stops at Columbia and New Hampshire, his alma mater, where he was named the 2022 Colonial Athletic Association coach of the year, before landing at Penn.
Santos’ determination is what won Pyne over.
“The (Penn) coaching staff was recruiting me the hardest, and it was the best decision for me to make,” Pyne said. “The coaches ... I just believe in them. Coach Santos is a great guy and a great player, and he’s building something great up there.”
The 6-foot-1 Pyne has accounted for more than 3,100 yards and 36 touchdowns in 15 varsity games, solid numbers at the midpoint of his high school career. But another number carries just as much weight with an Ivy League program.
“My weighted GPA is a 4.33,” Pyne said. “I’m in the top 10 in the class for GPA, I’m in leadership, student government, all that stuff.”
Pyne also brings something few recruits can offer: a family history of football success.
His great-grandfather, George Pyne II, played in the NFL in 1931, and his grandfather, George Pyne III, played for the Boston Patriots of the American Football League in 1965. His father, Jim Pyne, whose number was retired by Virginia Tech, was drafted by the Buccaneers in 1994, making the Pynes the first family with three generations of professional football players.
Jim Pyne played center and guard for Tampa Bay, then had stints with Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia before moving into coaching. He spent two years as a Bucs assistant before joining New Orleans for a year in 2005.
Now he’s passing that knowledge to his son.
“He’s guided me a lot,” Michael Pyne said. “With him playing O-line, he taught me how to look at things from the offensive line perspective, and it’s helped me a lot. It’s gotten me both mentally and physically locked in going into games just because he’s done it all as well.”
Alonso coach Hayden Cantrell doesn’t hedge on where that leaves his quarterback.
“Michael is the best quarterback in the Tampa Bay area,” Cantrell said. “When we have to trust his arm, for him to sling it around a little bit, he steps up ... every time and continues to produce.
“We had a little bit of growing pains last year, and then you just saw continuous progression of Michael throughout the season. By the end of last season, he was playing lights-out. Then we had the whole offseason to work with him, clean some things up, and I’ve known since then he was going to kill it.”