The craziest few weeks of Tommy DeVito’s life almost never happened.
At least not in the same hard-to-believe way that they have with the Giants.
If DeVito and Illinois head coach Bret Bielema had their way last December, the quarterback would have been a seventh-year senior vying for bowl eligibility this fall instead of one of the biggest stories in the NFL after leading the sinking Giants to an unexpected three-game winning streak and fully leaning into his Italian heritage.
“He got eligible by the Big Ten for one more year and he was going to do it,” Bielema told The Post. “Tommy, his dad, we were all excited — and then the NCAA kiboshed it. He was so distraught and disappointed that he wasn’t going to get another year. It really threw him off … but I’m glad it worked out for Tommy.”
“Worked out” is a major understatement, especially given that no shine was taken off DeVito Mania after Sunday’s loss to the Saints.
The first of the hundreds of fans who lined up outside a New Jersey strip mall Tuesday arrived more than four hours early to secure a free photo opportunity with DeVito at Livingston-based Bubbakoo’s Burritos, which donated 25 percent of all proceeds throughout the day at that location to Team LeGrand of the Reeve Foundation.
It was the first of three public appearances in a busy day for DeVito, whose autograph combined with a photo with two people commanded $225 at Hobby Hive memorabilia store in East Hanover.
“I still talk to my teammates from Illinois and say, ‘What’s crazy is I was almost still there right now,’ ” DeVito said. “At the time, I wanted that waiver to go through so bad. When Coach B said the first part of the waiver went through and that’s 90 percent of the battle and the rest is just a stamp, my eyes opened like, ‘This is a real thing.’ I was heartbroken because I loved it there. Things happen for a reason, and looking back at it from where I’m sitting right now, I’m happy it worked out.”
Bielema wasn’t surprised that DeVito — the first Illinois quarterback since 1983 to beat Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin in the same season — showed steely nerves leading a game-winning drive against the Packers in his first career prime-time start on Dec. 11.
Of greater relevance to the moment, Bielema’s experience coaching DeVito as a transfer from Syracuse last season suggests that the undrafted rookie will respond well on Christmas against the Eagles to the adversity of his 72.8 quarterback rating in Sunday’s touchdown-less loss.
“I remember one day at practice he called a timeout and I was like, ‘What are you doing? You don’t call timeout! I call timeout! Learn how to manage a game!’ There was a growth in his learning curve that was truly awesome to watch,” Bielema said. “He also made a really poor decision in a game early in the year and we kind of had another moment, and from that point forward he played a picture-perfect season.”
The story of DeVito’s rise can’t be told without his Italian family, his mom’s homemade chicken cutlets, his father’s plumbing business and his agent’s cheek kisses.
Bielema received the Full DeVito Experience on his in-home recruiting visit to Cedar Grove. Once he found the right house, that is.
“I’m walking up and this yard has a broken lawnmower and all this machinery around,” Bielema said. “I’m like, ‘This doesn’t add up.’ I got out of the car and said, ‘I’m looking for Tommy DeVito,’ and they are looking at me like I have two heads. We were in the wrong city.”
It seems all of New Jersey knows the viral DeVitos now. But then? Bielema didn’t know what to expect other than a big crowd and a big food spread. Potato and egg sandwiches were the delicacy of the day.
“I literally follow Tommy down the stairs and I don’t see his dad, but there are these two guys standing there in overalls,” Bielema said. “They told me I was going to meet the family. I said, ‘Hey, Bret Bielema.’ This guy says ‘Hi, I’m Joe,’ and this guy says, ‘Hey, I’m Dan.’ Tom Sr. comes around the corner and says, ‘Congratulations, coach. Those are the guys working on the furnace.’ We started laughing.”
It was the beginning of a relationship that later paid dividends for the Giants after DeVito was cut when training camp ended.
Bielema, a former Giants assistant coach under Joe Judge who remains close with Midwest-area scout Brendan Prophett and defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson, helped sway DeVito to return to the Giants practice squad as a third-stringer when other teams were making bigger offers.
“He called me and said, ‘Coach, what do you think?’” Bielema said. “All the other places are promising these things and I said, ‘This is what I know: ‘In that building, you have great people, and it starts at the top with ownership.’ You could go to a different organization and you are starting from Day 1 walking in that building without relationships.’”
Bielema isn’t worried about the spotlight changing DeVito’s nature.
As is typical of NFL quarterbacks, DeVito was in the facility studying on the Giants’ off day before his appearances Tuesday morning.
“He, in his own way, treats it so calmly,” he said. “Sometimes quarterbacks only know how to play a certain way. But when I saw he knew how to manage three games that were all a little different against good competition — Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin — I was like, ‘This guy knows how to play the game within the game.’ ”
Illinois’ loss for 2023 has been the Giants’ gain.
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