Giovanni Carmazzi

Giovanni Carmazzi (born April 14, 1977 in Sacramento, California) is a former American football player. He never played in a regular season NFL game but was on the roster of the San Francisco 49ers as a backup quarterback. He is an alumnus of Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California. He was coached by his father, Dan Carmazzi, while playing for the Marauders. He attended Hofstra University where he threw for over 9,000 yards and still holds most records for the quarterback position at Hofstra. He was a Walter Payton Award finalist in the senior year.

Pro career
Carmazzi was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round (65th overall pick) of the 2000 NFL Draft (he was the 2nd quarterback taken all draft). However it was Tim Rattay&mdash;who was not selected until the seventh round of that draft&mdash;who ended up being the one to stick around and make the regular roster. Carmazzi was taken ahead of Bay Area resident Tom Brady, who was not taken until the 6th round. Brady was noted as being a doting 49ers fan and a huge Joe Montana fan as well and when he was not drafted by the 49ers, felt that he was slighted by the team. Carmazzi also spent time with the Rhein Fire of NFL Europe in 2001, and appeared briefly on the rosters of the BC Lions and Calgary Stampeders (Canadian Football League) in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Recognition
Giovanni Carmazzi was a 1999 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete while playing at Hofstra, a 1996 high school scholar-athlete honoree awarded by the Sacramento Chapter and a 1996 West Region High School Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He is one of only four all-time NFF awardees in all three of these categories.