“I had a great time that summer, just learning this offense,” Fitzpatrick says. “It was such a new way of thinking about football for me.”

Over three years later, his enthusiasm has not waned.

Earlier this year, Fitzpatrick ran into Carl Morris ’03, the former Crimson wide receiver who was recently a member of the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad. Morris gave Fitzpatrick a knowing smile, saying, “Hey, I’ve got something you’ll want to see.”

Morris fished around in his SUV, pulled out a binder and handed it over. It was the Colts’ playbook, but Fitzpatrick was so giddy he looked like a 12-year old reading his first Playboy.

He just can’t get enough, and his teammates adore him for it.

“I’m not going to lie and say that I enjoy football all the time like he does, but it is kind of inspiring,” Edwards says. “It reminds you that the reason you play this game is because you like it and enjoy it and have fun playing it. [He] reminds us of our roots and why we are out here doing this everyday.”

* * *

Fitzpatrick’s own roots help explain why he’s out there playing football every day, too.

Ryan is the third of four Fitzpatrick boys, who are, by all accounts, the most competitive siblings in America. The twins—Brandon and Jason—are 22, Ryan is 20 and Shaun 17.

They all made good grades (the twins are now enrolled in law school and medical school), excelled at sports (three of the four will end up being Division I athletes) and never got into trouble, instead transforming all of their extra energy into competitive drive.

They competed in everything from wrestling to board games—but most importantly for Ryan, they competed to live up to the standards they set for each other.

“Growing up and going through the same schools that [Jason and Brandon] went through, elementary and junior high, there was just a certain reputation that the Fitzpatrick family had,” he says, “and I was expected to live up to their reputation. Before I even got in my classes, everyone knew who I was because of the twins and how excellent they were.”

But it isn’t just his brothers who are so intense. It’s the entire family.

Fitzpatrick says some of his favorite memories of childhood are of afternoons spent playing scrabble with Shaun and his grandmother. The games would often progress into rowdy debates over point totals, because his grandmother wanted to win as badly as the boys did.

When Edwards visited the Fitzpatrick home in Gilbert last spring break, he got to see the intensity firsthand.