FOXBOROUGH – In 2012, the Penn State volleyball staff believed they had discovered the next big thing.
The 6-foot-6 middle blocker wreaked havoc on the court. He was so athletic that he glided around the high school gymnasium with ease. He jumped so high that outside hitters were intimidated, often sending balls flying 20 feet out of bounds to avoid him.
Coach Mark Pavlik has recruited three volleyball Olympians during his time at Penn State (Matt Anderson, Aaron Russell, and Max Holt). The tape on this athlete was so impressive that Pavlik thinks he would’ve had his fourth.
The only problem was that Mike Gesicki was destined for the NFL.
A year before hearing from then-Penn State football coach Bill O’Brien, Gesicki was recruited by the Nittany Lions for volleyball. At the time, Pavlik’s staff had been tipped off about a special prospect at Southern High School in Stafford Township, N.J.
“The athletic ability, he’s the unicorn,” Pavlik said. “He’s the 6-6 guy that moves like he’s 6-2 and is explosive. We have three guys starting for the national team, the Olympic team. He compared favorably at that stage to all three of those guys.”
After watching games from Gesicki’s sophomore season, the Penn State staff reached out to his high school coach, Eric Maxwell. That’s when reality set in.
“We call the coach saying, ‘We like him, we’re really interested in him.’ He says ‘Well, he’s also a pretty good football player,’” Pavlik said. “And at that point, it was like, ‘OK. How good?’”
Their hearts sank when they heard Ohio State and Penn State. While Gesicki hadn’t received offers yet, the interest was there for the budding tight end. The Penn State staff relayed that an offer was on the table in the event Gesicki wanted to switch sports.
“And then he winds up here and has a great career,” Pavlik said.
Gesicki came to the Patriots this offseason with a rare athletic skill set. Here’s why this tight end has volleyball to thank.
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Mike Gesicki followed the family footsteps
Eric Maxwell’s first memories of Mike Gesicki were as a ball boy.
The youngest of three, Gesicki looked up to his sisters Ashley and Kelsey. Both were volleyball standouts at Southern High School for Maxwell. Gesicki’s earliest memories of the sport were inside the high school gymnasium, watching them play.
Gesicki was tall for his age, and the high school coach dreamed of having this youth on his squad.
“I can remember him coming to games. He’d always have a ball in his hands,” Maxwell said. “Usually a basketball. Sometimes he’d have a volleyball in his hand. I remember thinking, ‘I hope I can get him someday.’ He was already showing signs of how athletic he was going to be.”
Before high school, Gesicki set county records for his middle school track and field team, clearing 6 feet in the high jump. When he arrived at Southern, he aspired to follow in his sisters’ footsteps. He found track boring and felt his adrenaline surge watching volleyball games.
“Honestly, there was a lot of excitement in the gym. A lot of people enjoyed it and it was big in my high school,” Gesicki said. “So that’s ultimately how I ended up getting into it. I enjoyed it. I wasn’t great at it first and then I got pretty good at it.”
In his first year of playing, Gesicki earned All-Shore honors. By the time his high school career ended, he led Southern to two volleyball state championships and was named the Shore Conference New Jersey Player of the Year. As a middle blocker, he was dominant, finishing his high school career with 428 blocks and 951 kills.
“Mike’s athletic ability was off the charts,” Maxwell said. “I don’t think there’s any question about it, he could’ve done whatever he wanted with the sport. From when he was a freshman and hardly played at all, just the way he moved naturally on the court and how high he could reach.”
Of course, that was never his plan. When Gesicki entered high school, his dream was to play basketball. He finished his prep career with two school records: 1867 points and 1000 rebounds. His unique athleticism made him a force on the volleyball court. At 6-foot-6, Gesicki was physically imposing, and Maxwell saw his mere presence impact games.
Opposing hitters aimed to avoid the talented blocker so much that it got into their heads.
“When kids are going to be a hitter on the other side and you have this guy who is jumping way higher than anyone else in the gym – and maybe in the state and the country for crying out loud – he took so much space away,” Maxwell said. “Hitters knew he was there and thought ‘I have to hit around him. I have to try to hit over him.’ He altered shots. Guys were hitting balls out of bounds by 15-20 feet because they were trying to avoid Mike.”
Mike Gesicki became a Penn State legend
A year after receiving interest from the Penn State volleyball coaches, Gesicki signed a letter of intent to join the PSU football team.
That ended Gesicki’s volleyball career. As much as the then-teenager enjoyed basketball and volleyball, he knew that football gave him an easier path to the NFL.
Looking back on it, Gesicki was one of the biggest recruit wins for O’Brien and the Nittany Lions.
“He was a very athletic rangy guy when he was 17-18 years old. He was an unbelievable volleyball player,” O’Brien said. “We recruited him. When I was at Penn State and it was an interesting time at Penn State, obviously, he was the only guy we beat Ohio State 1-on-1 in recruiting. Like, it came down to Penn State and Ohio State. He chose Penn State. I just remember him being very athletic, very smart. He came from a great family. Just a good guy.”
O’Brien ended up leaving for the NFL before Gesicki arrived on campus. The tight end finished his collegiate career ranked ninth in Penn State history with 129 catches and No. 17 in program history with 1,481 receiving yards.
At Penn State, Pavlik knew Gesicki was never going to join his team on the court. He has 4.5 scholarships per year that he’s able to split up and was never going to compete for the tight end’s services. Nevertheless, Pavlik enjoyed watching Gesicki’s progress and stayed in touch with the tight end.
When Gesicki’s time at Penn State was over, Pavlik contacted him, reminding him that he still had one more year of eligibility left to join his squad.
“And after his senior season, I shot him an e-mail just saying ‘Hey, congrats on a great career, good luck with the draft. Remember, you have one year of eligibility left. If you want to come over this spring and spend some time in the gym with us, we’d love to have you,’” Pavlik said. “And he responded immediately with a laugh. He says, ‘Man, that is tempting, but I think I’ve got the draft to worry about.’
“He could have been as good as any of our Olympians who have gone on. Matt Anderson is making over a million a year playing overseas. Max Holt makes 750K a year. Aaron Russell’s up in that range. He managed to turn down hundreds of thousands of dollars to play football, so I think you made a pretty good decision financially.”
Volleyball helped develop Mike Gesicki
Gesicki entered last week with 18-career touchdowns in the NFL. His first with the Patriots was significant.
With 12 seconds on the clock, Gesicki lined up in the slot. When the ball was snapped, he stutter-stepped outside before breaking inside to the end zone. He slipped by Buffalo Bills cornerback Taron Johnson before leaping up and catching the game-winning touchdown from Mac Jones.
There aren’t many players like Gesicki in the NFL. As a ‘move’ tight end, he plays more in the slot and outside the numbers, like a receiver than your prototypical tight end. Gesicki attributes his versatility to being a multi-sport athlete.
“It’s something that a lot of kids should do is play a bunch of sports and don’t just focus on one sport,” Gesicki said. “At that age, there’s so many things to learn and develop athletically rather than be like, ‘Oh, I’m going to just go and run these cone drills every single day’ as an 8-year-old. Like, alright, go play basketball. Go jump in a pool somewhere, swim. Like whatever it is like. Whatever sport it is, it all comes together to make you a better athlete.”
Gesicki also had an elite work ethic as a teen. After the team’s volleyball games on the road, he always asked his coach, Maxwell, what time they would be back. After every game, he would head back to the weight room.
At Southern, Gesicki developed into one of the top tight end recruits in the nation. Basketball and volleyball courts helped greatly. In those sports, Gesicki learned how to track the ball while in motion. His natural athletic gifts, such as his leaping ability, were honed further.
“There were drills we would do that helped his movement,” Maxwell said. “He was tracking the ball, following the ball when it’s up in the air – and that helps going up and catching a football.”
When Pavlik watched Gesicki play at Penn State, he couldn’t help but think of how volleyball helped the tight end on the football field.
“I just look at those athletes who are multi-sport guys growing up. They put their bodies in so many different situations,” Pavlik said. “You get a kid that played wide receiver in high school football that learns how to control his body along the sideline and come in and get one or two feet in. I just think that learned body control translates well to whatever other sport he’s going to find himself whether it’s baseball, track, volleyball, or basketball.
“I think just putting your body in all those different spontaneous and dynamic situations as you’re growing up, it bodes well for that person learning how to play a particular game.”
Volleyball still holds a special place in Gesicki and his family’s hearts. Two years ago, he was inducted into the Southern Regional Athletic Hall of Fame alongside his sister, Kelsey, who is now an assistant volleyball coach at the school.
Now in his seventh NFL season, Gesicki continues to use his elite athleticism to hurt opposing defenses. Long before those talents were seen on Sundays, many recognized his skill set on a volleyball court inside Stafford Township, N.J.
“It definitely helped me,” Gesicki said. “Helped me understand how to move and be fluid and not just be long and lanky and trip over my own feet and that kind of stuff. Like it helped me develop that athleticism that I was able to hold on to from high school on.”
“I think playing all those sports – volleyball and basketball – helped him in his athleticism because he’s a unique guy out there,” O’Brien added. “And somebody who has helped us in situations this year.”
That was certainly the case last weekend.
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