The phone call that Jake Connolly had been dreaming to receive came in at 8 a.m. Thursday morning.
“Jake,” said Ithaca College football coach Mike Toerper, “you’ve been named a D3football.com All-American. First Team safety.”
While it was news he had long wanted to hear, the former Bishop Fenwick three-sport star from Salem and senior captain for the Bombers was nonetheless left speechless.
“Stunned is the right word,” admitted the 21-year-old Connolly. “I was almost in shock. I was just so happy … that’s the only way I can describe it.”
The Liberty League’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Connolly was one of just 22 players nationally to be chosen as a First Team Division 3 All-American by the web site. He led Ithaca with 86 total tackles, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. In addition, the First Team league all-star added 5 1/2 tackles-for-loss, had one quarterback sack, one interception and six pass breakups.
The oldest of Scott and Renee Connolly’s four children, Jake now joins his father as First Team All-Americans in football for the Bombers. They are the second Ithaca father-son duo to be so honored and will both be forever honored on ‘The Wall’ in the team’s player’s lounge.
“It’s such a special moment for our family,” Scott Connolly, the athletic director at Bishop Fenwick, said. He was a 1994 All-American defensive end at Ithaca, while wife Renee was captain of the Bombers’ women’s lacrosse team.
“To see your son be able to achieve his dream and do something that I was fortunate to have happen as well, it’s surreal. I’m just so incredibly proud of him and the young man and teammate that he is.”
‘Exemplary’
The 5-foot-10, 195-pound Connolly, who is now hoping to land a professional contract, was chosen as D3football.com’s Player of the Week once and was picked for the Liberty League weekly honor roll six times.
“Jake is as much of an All-American as any player I’ve ever coached,” said Toerper, whose Bombers went 6-4 this past season, with his Connolly-led defense allowing just 12.5 points per game.
“The work he puts in, the preparation in the weight room and film room, was exemplary. And his production on the field … all you have to do is throw on the tape and you can see what a tremendous impact Jake had.”
Because opposing offenses would game plan to avoid the area Connolly was defending, his stats may not be as gaudy as those of other top players in the nation, said Toerper. To counteract that, the coach would try to put his captain in different spots throughout the game so that he’d be as close to where the football was likely to be going as possible.
“One of the Rochester coaches told my dad before we played them, ‘It’s going to be a slow day for No. 7 out there. We’re staying away from him,” Jake recounted. “When my dad told me afterwards, I took that with a lot of pride, the ultimate respect.”
In 39 career games with Ithaca over four seasons, Connolly finished with 225 total tackles (8 1/2 tackles for loss), five interceptions (including a pick-6), three QB sacks, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and 11 pass breakups.
Raised the bar for future Bombers
Toerper, who just finished his third season as Ithaca’s head coach, could admittedly talk about Connolly “for hours”. A former Ithaca assistant coach before going to Holy Cross to become the defensive coordinator, Toerper got to know Connolly when he returned to the upstate New York campus after the 2021 season.
“The moment I met with Jake, I knew he was special. His mentality and maturity was pretty unique for just having finished his freshman season of college football,” Toerper said.
“He leaves the program as a beacon of what our culture is striving to be and what it’s build upon, which is selfless sacrifice and being there for his teammates most importantly. The pure effort and enthusiasm towards training it takes to be a successful football player, Jake is the embodiment of that. And of course the part that everyone sees: what happens on game day, too. Jake did it all.”
Toerper, whose 3 1/2-year-old son Jay has a special bond with Connolly (he wears his No. 7 jersey and calls Connolly “his favorite player”), gave perhaps the ultimate compliment to Connolly the player.
“There’s a different sound that’s made when Jake Connolly makes contact with an opponent. It’s vicious, physical, unique,” he said.
“Who Jake is as a teammate and a person, I can’t even go into words what he meant to our culture and the way he’s raised the bar for what’s expected of our guys if they want to be great,” Toerper added. “I’m so incredible happy for him with this honor … and for his family, who are truly some of the best people I’ve ever met in my life.”
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