There has been a ton of talk about lately centered around a quarterback invoking one of Vince Lombardi’s famous sayings about losing. Whether we agree with the QB–or Lombardi–regarding the quote about a good loser still being a loser–there’s one thing we can come to a consensus on–and that’s losing can, better yet WILL show us what we are made of whether we like it or not.
Losing is something that came often last season for the Dunedin Falcons, and just recently their head coach decided to step-up and take accountability–yet stepping down in the process as the leader of the program. Whether the Falcons find someone quickly or not–the one thing that can be said is they can only go up from here following their 0-10 season.
Dunedin Quarterback Tyler Palermiti stands at 5-feet-11 and 160-pounds and by all accounts is one of the few leaders left on the squad, but he has not–nor will not–let the stain of last season remain. The junior and his teammates are already back to work trying to get the Falcons’ wings back to flying shape. We caught up with Palermiti following his return of track practice and this is what he had to say.
“I’m working out a lot just trying to get my speed up right now,” said Palermiti. “I run track then go to football workouts and then head back out to workout again. One of my track coaches is also a football coach and he helps me work on the things that I need in order to get better at on the football field.”
We all know speed at this point in the game isn’t manufactured as easy, so knowing when to run may be just as important–if not more important–than how fast you run. Palermiti’s goal is to pick up speed, but he understands it’s more than that as we mentioned.
“Speed mostly–but there’s a lot of classroom work that goes into breaking down film and knowing when to run as well.”
Not every great running QB or running back that’s ever played the game has been labeled as burner just in order to be labeled great rusher of the ball, however. “Yeah, just basically knowing the situation and when you know you have nothing else–but know that you can get the yards by running is important.”
Palermiti acknowledges the situation this past season was tough, but he takes it all in stride along with the teammates that have joined him in their offseason workouts. He understands that people will look to him to be a leader and how he approaches and overcomes the adversity is something they will take lead from.
“It’s all based on how I do and how I take it. I do have god teammates and it’s hard to get kids to show up right now, but the ones that do show up are doing great and are putting in the work and they’re looking at me and they’re helping me believe in them as well.”
Loyalty is something few-and-far between in many cases these days, so was it a case of not wanting to be “that guy” or what? Was it that he loves Dunedin THAT much? Palermiti answers that one definitely. “It’s a little bit of both–I started there and I want to finish there. I don’t want to be the kid that jumps from school-to-school looking for the best spot just so that I can look good. I feel like if I’m even able to win a couple of games this season at Dunedin I’ve helped start the change.”
The junior wants to eventually go off to college and become an Accounting or Finance major and eventually become a CPA. He says his favorite subject is math, and from the looks of it, he’s got a winning equation when it comes to his personal outlook from the season juxtaposed with the camp season where the wins and losses don’t really matter at all, but the competition means everything.
“Overall it’s a great way to gauge myself against other people from around the area. It makes me realize that even though the team went 0-10, that we did try hard and that I can compete with guys outside of my school.”