The kid quarterback arrived at Harvard in the fall of 2001, his eastbound journey taking him some 2,300 miles, from the former “hay capital of America” to a brainy bastion of the academic elite.
He was fifth or sixth on the Crimson depth chart as a freshman. He moved up fast. In the first game of the 2002 season, against Holy Cross, Harvard coach Tim Murphy watched Harvard’s star senior quarterback, Neil Rose, take a hard hit to the head late in the third quarter. The coach summoned his backup, sophomore Ryan Fitzpatrick, of Gilbert, Ariz.
Harvard had a three-score lead at Harvard Stadium, and Murphy vividly recalls his marching orders to Fitzpatrick:
Keep the clock moving.