How McCaffrey Found His Own Niche in a Football-Crazy Successful Family
9/5/2019 12:07:00 PM | Football
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan quarterback Dylan McCaffrey comes from a family of high achievers in athletics and academics. His father was an NFL Pro Bowl receiver and met his mother at Stanford, where she played soccer. His two oldest brothers went to Duke and Stanford before playing in the NFL, and his youngest brother is a freshman quarterback turning heads at Nebraska.
So, upon entering Valor Christian High in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, just south of Denver, Dylan wondered if football was the best idea. How could he live up to what his father and brothers did in that sport?
"I thought basketball might be the path I was going to go down," said McCaffrey, a shooting guard and small forward.
Then came a pigskin epiphany.
McCaffrey said, "I think a lot of it was playing with my older brother, Christian, in my freshman year and his senior year. He has a really positive mindset on football and life, and he instilled in me a way to work hard that's also fun. He has a great enjoyment in the game and the process of the game as well.
"That helped me see that this game is really fun, and from there I started having more fun playing. It took a lot of weight off my shoulders, and I wanted to go with it."
Dylan won three state championships in four years at Valor Christian, a school that travels nationwide to play top competition and appears on ESPN. He passed for 2,796 yards and 31 touchdowns and ran for 579 yards and 10 touchdowns while also catching two TD passes as a senior.
He was a two-time Colorado state player of the year, played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and ranked as the No. 6 quarterback nationally by ESPN and 247 Sports. Dylan also was a member of National Honor Society and was two-time Academic All-State Cum Laude. He's continued to excel academically at Michigan, making Academic All-Big Ten in 2018 and recently deciding to declare a psychology major.
McCaffrey needed to gain strength upon arrival in Ann Arbor. He added 25 pounds to his rangy, 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame and began gaining attention in 2018 as a backup before breaking his collarbone on a run against Penn State. He'd redshirted as a freshman and played the opposing quarterback so well each week in practices that defensive coordinator Don Brown raved about him leading that unit as if it was his team. McCaffrey earned Michigan's 2017 Scout Team Offensive Player of the Year award.
In pregame warmups he goes at it like it's the national championship game. That dogged approach, leadership and ability to throw deep and with touch, run like a deer and move the chains demanded playing time.
McCaffrey found out several months ago that he would play some at receiver as well as getting quarterback snaps despite senior Shea Patterson throwing for 2,600 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2018. New offensive coordinator Josh Gattis liked McCaffrey's possibilities in both areas.
"We have our own package for it when the two of us come in at the same time," said McCaffrey, who occasionally will have Patterson in the backfield while he calls signals. "It's kind of been in the works since spring ball.
"I think that was a lot of Coach Gattis' idea. He'd done some of it in the past and it was effective for him. So, he thought he would try it here."
McCaffrey teamed with Patterson as a receiver before getting to play quarterback in the opener against Middle Tennessee State for the final drive of the third quarter and first possession of the fourth quarter. He drove Michigan 84 yards on the latter opportunity, but Zach Charbonnet was stopped short on fourth-and-goal. McCaffrey engineered a 56-yard touchdown march on his first drive, capping it with a six-yard run into the north end zone at Michigan Stadium.
"It's an awesome feeling," said McCaffrey. "I was just amped. The guys up front executed that play perfectly and (tight end) Nick Eubanks came around and had a perfect block. My job was kind of easy."
McCaffrey completed both pass attempts for 17 yards, ran eight times for 42 yards and caught a one-yard pass.
When asked about McCaffrey, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh said, "It was great to see him come in and make big plays."
Patterson threw for three touchdowns and 203 yards, also drawing Harbaugh's praises.
"At this point in the season," said McCaffrey, "you have to be working with each other, and I definitely support Shea. Everyone in this program wants to win football games, and he wants that just as much. He comes here and grinds every single day. I'm trying to prepare in case something happens or they call my number. And right now, he's the same, it's very supportive."
His parents might make a few more trips to games this way.
McCaffrey said, "They're going to make it out to a good amount of games, which excites me. If I'm playing a little bit more, they have more incentive to come out. And they're busy. They've got games Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And, thankfully, the flight from Detroit to Charlotte (where brother Christian's Carolina Panthers play) is not too bad.
"I talk to all my brothers and parents at least once a day. We've got a group chat and I call them (individually) now and then and we do FaceTime."
If there were a "Family Feud" involving sports, the McCaffreys would be a powerhouse akin to Ken Jennings on "Jeopardy."
Ed McCaffrey was an All-America receiver at Stanford before playing 13 seasons in the NFL, winning three Super Bowl rings and becoming a favorite target of John Elway on the Denver Broncos. He now coaches Valor Christian. His younger brother, Billy, made the All-Final Four team for Duke's 1991 national basketball champions and transferred to Vanderbilt to become an All-American.
Lisa McCaffrey scored 56 goals for Ransom Everglades High in South Florida and appeared in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" before becoming a three-year starter at Stanford. She lettered in tennis four times in high school, where she also set the school's 100-meter record. Her father, Dave Sime, was a silver medalist in the 100-meter race in the 1960 Olympics and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He also batted .379 as a Duke center fielder.
Dylan's oldest brother, Max, starred in football at Duke and has played a bit in the NFL.
Christian finished second in 2015 Heisman Trophy voting at Stanford and has become a standout running back for the Carolina Panthers, combining for 1,965 yards and 13 touchdowns in rushing and receiving in 2018.
With Luke, the youngest, the McCaffreys had two quarterbacks, a tailback and a receiver.
"I have a lot of respect for the way my dad approached it with us," said Dylan. "He never forced us to play, and that was awesome. It really helped build the love that myself and all my brothers have. He said, 'When you guys are playing football, I will help you when you ask me to.' He coached us a little bit, but that was when we asked him.
"Now, he's the head coach at our old high school. He always wanted to, but wanted to let us have our own experience with it. And we all chose football because of that."
And so their family football legacy continues growing.
"I think we just like football," explained Dylan. "I don't know how much more it is than that. It sure helped playing against each other, though. We all just like the game and want to see how it plays out and want to play it for as long as we can.
"There's a lot to love about football. I loved that it's a team game. I love the synchronized aspect of it. It teaches you great things: how to be disciplined, how to work hard, how to work together with people. There's no one-man football team. And I love the community of it. I live with four teammates (offensive linemen Andrew Stueber, Jess Speight and Joel Honigford and linebacker Ryan Nelson) in a house.
"Part of the appeal is competitive. Part of it's just that I love this game of football. A lot of it's the teammates around you. Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is the practices we had in the stadium this summer with no one around. It's just you and your brothers, and that helps get you through.
"There are going to be days that, regardless of who you are, you can be the hardest worker in the world, but it's just a tough day to get motivated and you're struggling through it. You look around and you see everyone giving their all, and it gets a lot out of you to not be the one (lacking), especially in a team game like football. That's why I respect all those guys around me. They are going to work really hard, and that gets the best out of me."
It's been a challenge, living up to the family legacy and finding his own way, but McCaffrey has a strong mental resolve. It's led to something he wants to pursue whenever football is over.
"I recently declared as a psychology major," said McCaffrey. "I love learning, and anyone at this school knows how tough it is and how much of a privilege it is to be a student at the University of Michigan. I don't take that for granted. I really enjoy learning here because it's not something everyone gets to do, and especially playing football here as well.
"It's a great school and I want to suck out as much information as I can out of it, squeeze it all out and soak it all in. It's something you take with you for the rest of your life. Who knows where football goes from here. I'll play as long as I can, but when I can't, I would love to go to grad school, especially here in psychology. I'd love to get a Ph.D. and do something along the clinical lines.
"For now, I'm taking different groups of psychology classes and will narrow it down from here. There is a huge branch of sports psychology that the world hasn't quite tapped into yet, and I think it's very important for teams to start doing that. I know a lot of NFL teams are hiring sports psychologists. It's not an over-run field, but very needed."
Dylan has managed to find his own niche in football, his own route in academics. Those lessons learned from Christian, when he was searching for his identity, helped Dylan find it.
