Carlo Calabrese is building a number of nicknames for himself. He has long been called “Calabeast” by his teammates and friends. Recently, a fine poster on BlueandGold.com noted that his hits are so explosive and he wears the number four football jersey, so “C4,” the plastic explosive, is a natural.
Piggy backing on the jersey number idea, perhaps Carlos can now be called “Rocky 4?” He might actually share some of the same characteristics as the fictional Rocky Balboa, who was tough as nails and vastly underrated. On a side yet important note, Carlo is much brighter than Balboa.
Calabrese has been heavily recruited by some of the best football schools in the country, yet he is relatively lightly regarded by many recruiting services and experts. Often when such a disconnect exists, the explanation can be found in the “measurables.” Like NFL combine numbers are usually blown out of proportion, the same can happen with high school recruiting.
Basically, experts are ignoring the playmaking ability of Calabrese and focusing more on what they perceive to be major weaknesses, his speed and quickness. Calabrese is aware of the criticism, but that doesn’t drive him to succeed. He pursues excellence and strives for perfection everyday.
To that end, he has picked up a new supplement to his regular workout routine. Carlo has begun training as a boxer. Well, actually, he is going through the same training boxers do. He has no immediate plans to actually take fights.
The idea is really quite simple, as his father explains.
“Carlos has great football speed, so we are not worried about that. However, you can never be fast enough, quick enough or strong enough in the game of football. Also, it doesn’t matter how fast you are as a linebacker if you can’t fight off blocks to get to the ball carrier,” Carlo, Sr. said.
His trainer is Mac Gallagher, a former lineman from Penn State, and he has Carlo ready to beat up lineman trying to block him. The main idea is to give Carlo increased quickness and the ability to use his hands and feet in unison when shedding blocks.
Calabrese is used to attention while he is playing football, but he is not familiar with getting so much attention while he works out.
“He had all the spectators in the gym glued to his workout in awe,” Carlo’s father chuckled, remembering the first few of his son’s workouts under Gallagher.
Regardless of what the spectators think of his workouts, the actual results are what count.
“This training has made him without question much faster with his feet (skipping rope) and quicker with his hands and much, much more aggressive as an attacker when blitzing” his dad concluded.
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