Phil Masturzo, Akron Beacon Journal Akron quarterback Luke Getsy, a transfer from Pitt, throws passes in a 7-on-7 drill at the Zips' practice field last summer. Getsy will lead the Zips against Penn State at 3:30 p.m. Click photo for larger image.

Akron coach J.D. Brookhart was an assistant coach at Pitt when Luke Getsy was a reserve quarterback for the Panthers. Brookhart knew Getsy could help him win games, but he viewed him as a thinking man's quarterback, someone who would make good reads and not many mistakes.

He never dreamed that Getsy would rewrite the Akron record book. Getsy, a Munhall resident and Steel Valley High School graduate, set 17 school records with the Zips in his first season as a starter last year, two years after transferring from Pitt.

A 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior, Getsy has thrived in Brookhart's pass-first offensive system, the same one Walt Harris used at Pitt. Getsy set Akron records for single-season completions (278), single-season touchdowns (23), single-game touchdown passes (5), single-game yardage (455) and single-season 400-yard passing games (3), among others.

"I didn't know it would be like that," Brookhart said. "I thought he was a heady player and a good decision-maker. Quite frankly, he shocked me with some of the plays he made last year. I always knew he was good, but I didn't know to what degree. He's been outstanding, pretty amazing, really."

Above and beyond the statistics, Getsy did something else that no other player in school history had done: He led the Zips to a Mid-American Conference championship and a bowl game.

Getsy was 30 for 50 for 413 yards in Akron's 31-30 victory against Northern Illinois in the MAC title game. He threw a 36-yard touchdown to Domenik Hixon with 10 seconds remaining to secure that ground-breaking victory. A few weeks later, Getsy set the school record for pass attempts and passing yards in a 38-31 loss to Memphis in the Motor City Bowl.

"I was maybe a little surprised," Getsy admitted. "But when I got here, I saw the players around me. After being here a while, I realized we had a lot of talent."

Getsy also had the advantage of playing in Brookhart's system for two seasons at Pitt. Getsy, in fact, was a big help in teaching the system to Charlie Frye, now the starting quarterback with the Cleveland Browns, who was a senior with the Zips when Getsy transferred and had to sit out under NCAA rules.

"We were very fortunate to get an experienced kid who already knew the system," Brookhart said. "That made the transition very easy. It would have been hard to do it without him."

Getsy is continuing the tradition of WPIAL quarterbacks at Division I colleges. Three former WPIAL players will be starters for their college teams this fall. Two of them will be on the same field at Beaver Stadium Saturday. Getsy will quarterback the Zips and Anthony Morelli, a former Penn Hills star, Penn State.

"Any time you get to play against another guy from your area, it will be fun," Getsy said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him play. It will be fun to go against a team like Penn State and to see how he performs in his first game."

Getsy is not only carrying on the quarterback tradition of the WPIAL, he is carrying on the tradition of top quarterbacks from the MAC. Everyone knows about Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich, Chad Pennington and Frye.

But Getsy is also well aware of another quarterback -- Eastern Michigan's Charlie Batch -- who helped start the parade of MAC signal callers to the NFL. That's because Batch, now the Steelers' No. 2 quarterback, and Getsy both starred at Steel Valley.

Getsy has a chance to follow in the footsteps of those quarterbacks and get drafted by an NFL team in the spring. He is currently projected as a late-round selection or free agent, but he could work his way up draft boards with another stellar season.

But first and foremost, Getsy and the Zips eye a repeat. With Getsy and a host of other returning starters back, Akron is among the favorites to win the MAC again this season.

These are some heady times in Akron. The Zips had been stuck in mediocrity for years before Brookhart's arrival. The program had four winning seasons from 1987 through 2003 and had never been to a bowl game. They are 13-11 the past two seasons.

With two winning seasons and the school's first conference championship in tow, a football renaissance is happening in Akron.

"It's exciting," Getsy said. "It's obvious just around the community. Football is in the air now. It wasn't that way when I first got here. People maybe knew about Charlie. But now it's Akron football. It's really exciting. We're excited to see that grow even more in the next year."