When Harvard faced Dartmouth last season, there were two very important Arizona residents in the stands. No, they were not U.S. Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, nor were they scouts from the NFL’s Cardinals.

Rather, they were sophomore quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick’s grandparents, who trekked 3,000 miles, from Gilbert, Ariz., to see him make the first start of his college football career. Down 21-0 at halftime, “Fitzy”—as he is known to everyone except the registrar’s office—orchestrated one of the most memorable comebacks in Crimson history.

“[That] was definitely my proudest moment here at Harvard,” Fitzpatrick recalls. “To have them come from so far, and to see how happy they were—it was great.”

Fitzpatrick’s most humbling moment also centered around his grandparents, specifically his grandmother. In this year’s battle with Lehigh, a game televised on DirecTV and viewed by his grandma, Fitzpatrick used a few choice words on the sidelines after overthrowing Carl Morris.

“I’m just not used to the games being televised. The next day I got a call from my grandma,” he says. “She was pretty upset. I’ve been trying to make it up to her ever since.”

And that’s just the kind of kid Ryan Fitzpatrick is. He’s a family guy. A modest guy. A quietly confident guy. He’s unassuming, yet considered a goofball. Understated, yet a standout.

Tell him his story is featured along with those of Carl Morris, Neil Rose, and Nick Palazzo, and he is dumbfounded.

“How’d I get in on a group like that?” Fitzpatrick inquires.

Could it be that he led the Crimson in rushing this year? Or that he was a consistent performer under center? Or that he has engineered five come-from-behind wins in just his first two seasons? Whatever it is, Fitzy seems to take it in stride.

And pressure?

“I don’t think so,” Fitzpatrick confidently replies. “You feel pressure when other people’s expectations are higher than your own.”

With talk of the Fitzpatrick-Rodney Byrnes combination emerging as what Rose-Morris was a year ago—or this year at Dartmouth—Fitzpatrick doesn’t feel pressure but is careful about making comparisons.

“That’s good company to be in,” he says. “It’s a little early still. We’ll see.”

But Rose is more confident in the potential of the dynamic duo in 2003.

“The combination is going to be Ryan to Rodney,” Rose says.