NAME: Joe McCarthy
SCHOOL: Scranton
LAST SEASON: 2011
POSITIONS: RB/QB/DB/KR
Joe McCarthy will go down as one of the best athletes to come out of District 2 during the decade and sometimes it gets lost on how good at football he was for the Scranton Knights. On offense, McCarthy played quarterback and running back his junior season, and primarily running back his senior season. He ran for 2,389 yards and 27 touchdowns and threw for 1,575 yards and another 10 touchdowns during his career for Scranton. McCarthy was an outstanding defensive player as well, lining up both at saftey and cornerback and was a playmaker as kick returner.
McCarthy was the 2011 NPF Lackawanna Football Conference Division I Offensive Player of the Year and All-District 2 and first-team division Athlete. He was second-team division Athlete his junior season. McCarthy was named Honorable Mention All-State by the Pennsylvania Football News in 2011. He also was the winner of the Fiore Cesare Award for the overall player in the Lackawanna Football Conference. McCarthy continued his athletic career playing baseball for the Division 1 University of Virginia. He was drafted in the fifth round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Tampa Bay Rays and is currently in the San Francisco Giants organization.
Former Scranton coach Mike Marichak on Joe McCarthy: “Joe is a great athlete that possessed size, speed, intelligence and strength. I felt no matter where he played, he would excel because of his competitiveness and ability. He such a great kid – a special kid and very coachable. A guy like Joe doesn’t come around football programs often. It shows now that he is professional baseball player. ”
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