In the fall of 2006, Matt Brevi was out of college and feeling sorry for himself.
Brevi had hoped to play football at South Florida in his hometown of Tampa, a dream that was shattered, he said, when he failed to attain the required SAT score.
"I kind of gave up on football,'' said Brevi, now a key wide receiver for Stony Brook. "I didn't care about it anymore. I didn't have anywhere else to go. I kind of got down on myself. It was very frustrating for me. Knowing that you can play at the Division I level and having everything taken away is really tough.''
In December 2006, Brevi received a phone call from the staff at Fort Hays, a Division II school in Kansas, and slowly started to resurrect his academic and athletic careers.
His brother Chris, who played at Iowa and later at Stony Brook, helped set him back on course.
"He told me, 'Everything is going to be better. Wherever you go, you've got to make the most of your opportunities,' '' Matt said. "That's what I did at Fort Hays.''
After a good season there, Stony Brook entered the picture.
Coach Chuck Priore learned about Brevi from Sean Callahan, who coached Brevi at Armwood High School in Tampa and whose son is current Seawolves linebacker Casey Callahan.
"From the moment he joined our program, he had some natural leadership ability,'' Priore said. "He was talented; he needed to learn our system. As he learned, he got better and better. And he excelled in the classroom. He'll be graduating and has been a good team leader.''
Brevi has caught 28 passes for 522 yards and leads the receivers with six touchdowns. In his three years at SBU, he has caught 93 passes for 1,534 yards and 13 touchdowns.
"If you mention the word [physical], it's by far Matt Brevi,'' offensive coordinator Jeff Behrman said during a conference call with ESPN3, which will broadcast Stony Brook's FCS second-round playoff game against Sam Houston Saturday in Huntsville, Texas. "He is somebody that's going to go in there and block the safety, crack those guys and put them on the ground. He's done that numerous times for us this year.''
Brevi does not mind looking back at the past; it helps him appreciate the present -- and future. "I'm very blessed to have the season I had this year and also to graduate,'' he said. "Coming from the summer of 2006 and not even knowing if I was ever going to graduate from college to now, actually being able to have a plan, setting my goals and achieving them.''
