Fitzpatrick Comes Full Circle
On Tuesday night, Northfield Mount Hermon had their 7th player commit to an Ivy League school in the last three years as Brian Fitzpatrick made the decision to attend the University of Pennsylvania.
“The history at Penn with the Palestra, the Big Five, Ivy League Championships, NCAA appearances, and high major scheduling made it tough to beat,” he said.
Ultimately, Fitzpatrick chose Penn over two other schools in the Ivy League, but that isn’t to say he didn’t have interest from plenty of other division I programs, but that he was only considering the best academic schools in the country.
It is hard to overstate just how rapidly Fitzpatrick’s game, and consequently his recruiting stock, has jumped in recent months. He has gotten himself into phenomenal shape, become a more physical and aggressive presence on the interior, while maintaining the same perimeter skill set that always made him so intriguing to college coaches.
And although Fitzpatrick has only been on the NMH campus for roughly two months, he was still quick to give his new school plenty of credit.
“We have over 10 Division I players in our gym every night at NMH. I like the competition and it makes me take my game to a much higher level,” he said. “I wanted that experience in college and I have no doubt that I will get that at UPenn.”
NMH Head Coach John Carroll was equally quick to praise his most recent Ivy League product.
“Brian is months ahead of where we thought he would be at this point in the year. His perimeter skills are rapidly improving, his range on his jump shot is well beyond the new 3 point line and he has tremendous athleticism. UPenn got a good one in Brian.”
Ultimately, Fitzpatrick’s story is a great one. A year ago many people questioned if he would ever be able to make it to the division I level – but after putting in a lot of hard work and bringing his game to new levels, he appropriately got to reap the rewards and ultimately that resulted in his commitment to the University of Pennsylvania.
Quaker fans will get an early look at their newest addition in January when NMH travels to the Ivy League campus to play a regular season game in the Palestra.
Brian Fitzpatrick