When people hear the name Jake Schifino, especially around Penn Hills, they probably think football. Or, depending on the generation, they might simply think of him as Drew Schifino’s older brother.

But long before my basketball career took off, Jake had already created his own legacy.

And the funny thing is, football—the sport that eventually took him all the way to the NFL—wasn’t even his first love.

Basketball was.

Jake wasn’t just a football player who happened to hoop during the winter. He was a legitimate basketball player who had the talent to potentially play Division I basketball. He was also an elite track athlete. Then football eventually took him from Penn Hills to the University of Akron and all the way to the NFL.

When you put the entire résumé together, you realize Jake wasn’t simply an NFL football player. He was one of the most complete athletes to come through Penn Hills during his era.

 

Basketball Came First

Before people knew Jake as a wide receiver, basketball was a major part of his identity. Growing up, that’s what he loved.

And he could play.

During his junior season at Penn Hills, Jake led the team in scoring at approximately 18 points per game. That wasn’t an easy accomplishment at a school with Penn Hills’ basketball tradition. His play also generated Division I basketball interest, giving him a legitimate opportunity to potentially pursue the sport beyond high school.

As a senior, Jake was recognized as one of the top basketball players in Western Pennsylvania when he was named to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Terrific 10. That’s an important part of his story because people sometimes look at an athlete’s eventual destination and assume the journey was always headed there.

Jake eventually became an NFL Draft pick. But there was a time when basketball could have been his future.

 

Speed You Couldn’t Teach

Then there was track. Jake’s speed wasn’t something that suddenly appeared when NFL scouts started putting stopwatches on him.

People around Penn Hills had already seen it for years. Jake ran on a Penn Hills 4×100-meter relay team that established a school record that stood for approximately 20 years.

Basketball showed his coordination, explosiveness and overall athletic ability. Track showed the raw speed. Football eventually combined all of it.

 

A State Champion

Jake was part of the 1995 Penn Hills state championship football team, one of the most memorable teams in the history of the program. He was still an underclassman, but being part of a championship program gave him an early look at what winning at a high level required.

By the time his senior season arrived in 1997, Jake wasn’t an unknown anymore. He entered the year as a preseason Fabulous 22 selection at wide receiver and was expected to have a huge season.

Then his path changed.

Penn Hills moved him from wide receiver to running back. For an athlete whose future would ultimately be catching footballs, the move took him away from the position where he would eventually make his name.

Then came something that unfortunately became a recurring theme throughout Jake’s career. Injuries. His senior season was derailed, and the year never became what many expected it to be.

It’s one of the interesting “what ifs” of his story. What happens if Jake stays at receiver? What happens if he remains healthy for his entire senior season? Does his recruitment look different? We’ll never know.

What we do know is that his football career was far from finished.

 

Akron Gave Him His Opportunity

Jake landed at the University of Akron, where he returned to wide receiver and began developing into a legitimate college receiving threat.

When looking at his college numbers today, context matters.

College football wasn’t being played the way it is now. Akron wasn’t throwing the football all over the field 40 or 50 times every Saturday. The offense leaned heavily on its running game, making opportunities for receivers more limited than they are in today’s spread offenses.

Jake still produced. He finished his Akron career with 131 receptions for 1,986 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns. His junior season showed just how dangerous he could be. Jake caught 42 passes for 778 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 18.5 yards per reception.

He wasn’t catching five-yard passes and falling down. He could stretch a defense. The same speed that people had watched on the Penn Hills track was now showing up on a Division I football field.

And eventually NFL scouts noticed.

 

Getting the NFL’s Attention From the MAC

Getting drafted into the NFL is difficult for anybody. Doing it as a wide receiver coming out of the Mid-American Conference during that era presented another challenge. Jake wasn’t coming from Miami, Florida State, Michigan or one of the other national powers constantly playing on national television. He had to make scouts come find him.

His production helped. His athletic ability helped. And his speed certainly helped. During the NFL pre-draft process, Jake showed teams that his speed translated to the next level.

By April 2002, the question wasn’t whether he could play professional football anymore. An NFL organization was willing to invest a draft pick in him.

 

Draft Day

In the 2002 NFL Draft, the Tennessee Titans selected Jake in the fifth round with the 151st overall pick.

Think about the journey.

A kid who considered himself a basketball player first… Who led Penn Hills in scoring… Who earned Tribune-Review Terrific 10 honors… Who ran on a record-setting relay team… Who won a state championship in football… Who had his senior football season disrupted by a position change and injuries… Was now an NFL Draft pick.

That’s something nobody can ever take away from him.

 

An Immediate Glimpse of His Potential

Jake didn’t have to wait long to show Tennessee what he could do. He scored a touchdown in his first NFL preseason game.

For any rookie, scoring an NFL touchdown is special. For somebody whose path included injuries, position changes and fighting for recognition from a MAC program, it had to mean even more.

Unfortunately, the excitement of his rookie season didn’t last. Injuries struck again. Jake landed on injured reserve and didn’t appear in a regular-season game during his rookie year. For some players, that would’ve been the end.

Jake came back.

 

Fighting His Way Back

In 2003, Jake returned and appeared in 13 games for Tennessee. He became the Titans’ primary kickoff returner, returning 35 kicks for 703 yards. He was finding his place in the NFL. And heading into his third season, there was legitimate optimism inside the Titans organization about what could come next.

Tennessee was high on him. He had an opportunity to earn a much larger role at wide receiver and was viewed as someone who could potentially become one of the team’s surprise players. After everything he’d been through, the opportunity he’d been waiting for was right there.

Then his body betrayed him again.

 

The Cruelest Part of Sports

Injuries are one of the hardest parts of athletics because they’re one of the few things talent and hard work can’t always overcome.

You can train harder. You can study more film. You can become stronger. You can improve your technique. But sometimes your body simply doesn’t cooperate. Injuries continued to interrupt Jake’s NFL career until eventually the opportunity was gone.

That’s why it’s easy to look at his career and wonder… What if? What if he stayed healthy? What if Penn Hills kept him at wide receiver his senior year? What if he played college football in today’s pass-heavy offenses? What if his body held up when Tennessee was preparing to give him a bigger opportunity?

Maybe the NFL story would’ve looked completely different.

But I’ve learned something as I’ve gotten older. Sometimes we spend so much time discussing what an athlete could have been that we unintentionally diminish what he actually was.

And Jake’s actual résumé speaks for itself.

 

Don’t Forget What He Actually Did

Jake Schifino was good enough at basketball to lead Penn Hills in scoring and receive Division I interest. He was named to the Tribune-Review Terrific 10. He was fast enough to run on a 4×100 relay team whose Penn Hills record stood for approximately two decades. He was part of a state championship football team.

He became a Division I wide receiver. He finished his college career with nearly 2,000 receiving yards. And then he became something thousands of talented football players dream about their entire lives and never accomplish:

An NFL Draft pick.

That’s not a career defined by what didn’t happen. That’s one hell of an athletic career.

And yes, he’s my older brother. But this isn’t me giving him credit because we’re family. The resume gives him the credit.

For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I wanted people to remember the complete athlete Jake Schifino was and give him the opportunity to tell the rest of the story himself.

 

Q: Most people remember you because you eventually made the NFL, but basketball was really your first love. When did basketball become your sport?

A: Basketball was definitely my first love. Growing up, that was the sport I really saw myself playing. Football obviously ended up taking me the furthest, but when I was younger, I considered myself a basketball player first.

 

Q: Your junior year you led Penn Hills in scoring. What do you remember about that season and the type of basketball player you were?

A: That was probably the year I really established myself as a basketball player. I was athletic, could get out in transition, attack the basket and use my speed. I took a lot of pride in basketball because I wasn’t just a football player coming out there in the winter. I could really play.

 

Q: You had Division I basketball opportunities. Which schools were recruiting you, and how seriously did you consider playing college basketball instead of football?

A: I had Division I interest, and I definitely considered basketball as an option. At that point I still loved basketball and believed I could play at that level. Robert Morris, St. Francis (PA), Duquesne offered me.

 

Q: As a senior you were named to the Tribune-Review Terrific 10. At that point, did you still consider yourself a basketball player first?

A: Absolutely. Being named Terrific 10 meant a lot because Western Pennsylvania had a lot of good basketball players. Even with everything I had going on with football, basketball was still a major part of who I was as an athlete.

 

Q: If you had focused exclusively on basketball, how far do you believe you could’ve taken it?

A: I definitely believe I could’ve played Division I basketball. Where it would’ve gone from there, you never know. But I had the athletic ability and I loved the game. If I had put all of my focus into basketball instead of playing three sports, I would’ve liked to see what could’ve happened.

 

Q: You were also an elite track athlete and part of a Penn Hills 4×100 relay team whose school record stood for around 20 years.

A: Track came naturally because I could always run. Being part of a relay team that set a Penn Hills record and then seeing that record stand for around 20 years is something I’m proud of.

 

Q: How much did track help develop the speed that eventually separated you as a college and professional receiver?

A: It helped a lot. Track teaches you how to run properly and how to use your speed. By the time I got to college and eventually went through the NFL process, speed was one of my biggest advantages. That foundation was already there from running track at Penn Hills.

 

Q:  You were part of Penn Hills’ 1995 state championship football team. What do you remember most about that team, and what made that group special?

A: The talent was obviously there, but that team knew how to win. Being part of a state championship team at Penn Hills was special because of the tradition and how much football means to that community. I’ll will always remember winning that game being a state champion and how cold it was.

 

Q: Going into your senior season in 1997, you were a preseason Fabulous 22 selection at wide receiver. How much hype and expectation surrounded you entering that year?

A: There were definitely expectations. I had established myself at receiver and people expected me to have a big senior year. I expected it from myself too. Unfortunately, that season didn’t play out the way I thought it would.

 

Q: Penn Hills moved you from wide receiver to running back that season. How did you feel about that decision at the time?

A: As a competitor, you’re going to do whatever the team asks you to do. But looking back, receiver was probably the position that fit my future best. That’s where I eventually played in college and got drafted into the NFL.

 

Q: Looking back, do you think playing running back instead of receiver affected your recruitment or prevented schools from seeing what you eventually became at Akron?

A: I think it probably affected things some because schools didn’t get an entire senior season of seeing me develop at receiver. Then you add the injuries and it definitely wasn’t the senior year I envisioned. But Akron gave me an opportunity, and once I got back to receiver, I was able to show what I could do.

 

Q: Injuries also derailed that senior season. How difficult was that mentally?

A: It was frustrating because you only get one senior year. You go into that season with all these expectations and then things happen that you can’t control. It was probably my first real lesson in how quickly sports can change on you.

 

Q: Why did you ultimately choose Akron?

A: Akron gave me an opportunity and believed I could play receiver at that level. I felt like I could go there, develop and prove myself. It ended up giving me the platform to get to the NFL, so obviously it became an important decision in my life.

 

Q: Akron was a very run-heavy offense during your era, but you still finished with nearly 2,000 receiving yards. Do you ever wonder what your numbers would’ve looked like playing in today’s offenses?

A: All the time. We ran the football a lot. Receivers today play in offenses where the ball is in the air constantly. I would’ve loved playing in some of these systems. I think my numbers would’ve been completely different, especially with my ability to make plays downfield.

 

Q: Coming out of the MAC as a receiver, what did you believe you needed to prove to NFL scouts?

A: I had to show them that the level of competition didn’t matter and that my athletic ability translated. Coming from the MAC, you might not get the same attention as a receiver from one of the powerhouse programs, so when you get opportunities in front of scouts, you have to take advantage of them.

 

Q: Take me through the NFL Combine and your workouts. How important was showing NFL teams your speed?

A: Speed was huge for me because that was one of the things that separated me. I knew if I could get in front of NFL scouts and show them how I moved, I could help myself. I ran a 4.37

 

Q: Tennessee selected you in the fifth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. Where were you when you got the call?

A: Getting that call is something I’ll never forget. You spend your whole life playing sports, but very few people ever hear their name called in an NFL Draft. I was so nervous I left my parents’ home and went to run some sprints at the track when I received that phone call. Crazy moment.

 

Q: You scored a touchdown in your first NFL preseason game. What went through your mind?

A: That was a special feeling. You’re finally on an NFL field wearing an NFL uniform, and then to score in your first preseason game makes it even better. It gave me confidence that I belonged at that level.

 

Q: Your rookie season ended on injured reserve. How difficult was that?

A: That was extremely frustrating. You finally accomplish your dream of getting drafted and you’re ready to show what you can do, then your body doesn’t cooperate. That’s one of the hardest things for an athlete because there’s only so much you can control.

 

Q: You fought back in 2003 and became Tennessee’s primary kickoff returner. What did proving you belonged mean to you?

A: It meant a lot because I had already dealt with the injury as a rookie. Coming back and getting on the field showed that I could contribute at that level. Every opportunity in the NFL matters because nothing is guaranteed.

 

Q: Going into your third season, Tennessee was high on you. How close did you feel you were to breaking through?

A: I felt like I was right there. The organization believed in me and there was an opportunity for me to take a bigger role. That’s probably what makes the injuries even more frustrating because I felt like everything was starting to line up for me.

 

Q: Do you ever think about what your NFL career could’ve been without the injuries?

A: Of course. Any competitor is going to wonder “what if?” I know the ability was there. But eventually you have to accept what happened. I made it to the NFL. I got drafted. I played at that level. Nobody can take that away from me.

 

Q: You excelled in basketball, football and track. Which sport were you naturally the best at?

A: That’s tough because they all brought something different out of me. Basketball was my first love, track showed my natural speed and football became the sport that took me professionally. But basketball was my favorite sport, and I was naturally best at that.

 

Q: Which accomplishment means the most to you?

A: Getting drafted into the NFL is hard to top because so few people ever accomplish it. But when I look back at everything together—basketball, track, winning a state championship, college football and the NFL—I’m proud that I wasn’t just a one-sport athlete.

 

Q: What was our relationship like growing up, and did my basketball success ever motivate you the same way watching you motivated me?

A: We were competitive. That’s what happens when you have two brothers who are both athletes. We pushed each other in different ways. I was older, so Drew saw me doing things first, but then I got to watch him create his own name in basketball and accomplish things at Penn Hills and WVU. We both had our own paths.

 

Q: Do you think your versatility sometimes gets overlooked because people primarily remember football?

A: Probably. Once you get drafted into the NFL, that’s naturally what people remember. Some people probably don’t know that I led Penn Hills basketball in scoring, had Division I basketball opportunities or was part of a record-setting relay team. That’s why it’s cool to look back and tell the entire story.

 

Q: When somebody says the name Jake Schifino, what do you hope they remember?

A: I hope they remember that I was a competitor and a great all-around athlete who represented Penn Hills wherever I went. Basketball, track, football, college and eventually the NFL, I gave everything I had. Injuries are part of my story, but I don’t want them to define my story. I accomplished a lot, and I’m proud of the journey.