The Baltimore Ravens turned heads within the spring a, one of many largest personalities in current school soccer reminiscence.
The undersized Pavia, a Heisman Trophy runner-up at Vanderbilt, d.
One other former UDFA QB l, nonetheless, was nonetheless with the group by the point the preseason rolled round. That’s 25-year-old Joe Fagnano, a Williamsport, Pennsylvania, native who spent seven seasons enjoying school soccer in New England.
Flash ahead to Week 9, when the Ravens positioned each beginning signal-caller e, and Fagnano is all of a sudden the Ravens’ QB1.
Whereas t, that deal hasn’t been accomplished but.
So, on “Thursday Evening Soccer,” it’ll be the little-known Fagnano underneath middle for a 4-4 Baltimore squad hoping to protect its playoff hopes in opposition to a 5-2 Jacksonville Jaguars group that after once more appears to be like like an AFC title contender.
It’s pronounced ‘Fin-YAWN-Oh’
This week, Fagnano made that clear for individuals who didn’t know.
In case you have been questioning… o on pronunciation 🙂 a
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) 6
He’s not totally wholesome, both
Though Fagnano isn’t coping with an damage that’s protecting him out this week — not to mention touchdown him on IR — he’s enjoying by some ache.
Fagnano is nursing a proper ankle damage. He was a restricted participant in Baltimore’s Monday walkthrough. However, e, he practiced in full on Tuesday. He additionally wasn’t restricted on Wednesday, t.
Fagnano informed reporters this week that his ankle feels tremendous.
Final week, in a 36-10 highway defeat to the Buffalo Payments, his quantity was known as. With each Jackson and Huntley happening mid-game, Fagnano was thrust into motion. He misplaced a fumble and threw for 91 yards on 10-of-21 passing, tossing a choose with out a landing to his identify in his first regular-season look.
Fagnano was spectacular in his three preseason outings, recording a mixed 509 yards, 3 touchdowns and simply 1 interception by the air whereas finishing 74.7% of his passes, per Professional Soccer Focus.
He was so good Baltimore saved him round, making for a surreal second between normal supervisor Eric DeCosta and Fagnano.
DeCosta, whose Ravens hardly ever enter a season with three QBs on the 53-man roster, referred to Fagnano as “Cinderella Man” in that trade:
The very best second yearly 🥹
EDC tells undrafted rookies o and x that they've formally made the 53-man roster: n
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) 6
On Thursday, Fagnano will change into simply the second undrafted rookie quarterback to begin within the Ravens’ 32-year historical past, . The primary was former Boston Faculty and Oregon quarterback Anthony Brown, who bought the nod for the 2022 regular-season finale at Cincinnati. Baltimore misplaced that sport to the Bengals 27-16.
Earlier than Fagnano starred at UConn, he performed at Maine
Fagnano posted an attention-grabbing 28:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio final season at UConn, which he helped notch back-to-back nine-win campaigns in 2024 and 2025. For reference, earlier than that two-season surge, the Huskies hadn’t gained that many video games in a season since they went 9-4 in 2007. Again then, they have been nonetheless enjoying Huge East soccer.
However previous to his days in Storrs, Connecticut, he suited up for the FCS Maine Black Bears for 4 seasons.
Really, he was a walk-on at Maine. He finally earned a scholarship there however handled an abundance of adversity. His second season at Maine was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next spring, he performed in an alternate season a number of FCS applications took half in.
The subsequent fall, in 2021, he suffered an ankle damage that lower his season quick after showing in a mere 4 video games.
Even when he transferred to UConn, there have been extra hurdles to clear, specifically the season-ending shoulder damage he sustained early within the 2023 marketing campaign.
With an additional 12 months of eligibility due to the pandemic, plus extra time afforded to him because of his accidents, he was within the ever-changing world of faculty soccer from 2019-25.
His winding path has led him to Thursday evening.
