Zach D'Orazio (born May 28, 1991) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

Akron Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 census. The Akron metropolitan area, covering Summit and Portage counties, had ...

and

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

at Cuyahoga Heights High School.

Early life

D'Orazio attended

Elyria Catholic High School Elyria Catholic High School (ECHS) is a private Catholic high school located in Elyria, Ohio, United States. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cleveland and is the only Catholic high school in Lorain County. Elyria Catholic was ...

before transferring to Cuyahoga Heights High School in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, where he played football and ran track. He was named Chagrin Valley Metro Division Conference Offensive MVP in his junior and senior years. During his senior year (2008) he played quarterback and defensive back. As a QB, he completed 67 passes for 1,175 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. He rushed for 1,346 on 124 attempts. At DB, he had 74 tackles and 5 interceptions. He was named first-team All-Ohio in Division V at quarterback and first-team All-Ohio as a defensive back in his senior year. In track, he was conference champion in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter sprints.

College career

D'Orazio signed with the

Akron Zips The Akron Zips are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States. The Zips compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division I, Division I level as a memb ...

in 2010, but did not commence studying at

until January 2011 and began playing football in 2012. On March 27, 2012, it was announced that D'Orazio would switch from the quarterback position to wide receiver. He broke his leg in a game against the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

on September 22, and was out for the rest of the season. In his sophomore season (2013), he avoided injury and played the whole year, finishing with 54 receptions for 764 yards and 4 touchdowns. In his junior year, D'Orazio had 62 receptions for 658 yards and one touchdown. After his junior season, D'Orazio entered the

2015 NFL draft The 2015 NFL draft was the 80th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football, football players. It took place in Chicago at the Auditorium Theatre and in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park ...

. Statistics ''Source'':

Professional career

D'Orazio was rated the 87th best wide receiver in the

by NFLDraftscout.com. On May 26, 2015, D'Orazio signed with the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

as an undrafted rookie. He was released on June 11, but re-signed with the team on July 23. D'Orazio was cut by the Patriots on September 5 as part of final cuts.

References

External links

Akron Zips bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Orazio, Zach 1991 births Living people American football wide receivers Akron Zips football players New England Patriots players People from Avon Lake, Ohio Players of American football from Lorain County, Ohio