Jared Gerbino was an Ivy League gridiron monster, a freight train in size 14 cleats who powered through tacklers and gave opposing coaches fits. So to hear that the Dartmouth College graduate is now one of the world’s best flag football players seems…odd.
The man who once tamed Princeton Tigers, bullied Yale Bulldogs and bloodied the Harvard Crimson now tiptoes around trying not to have strips of lightweight vinyl snatched from his waist?
Yes, indeed, says the 6-foot-4, 240-pound native of the Rochester, New York, area. Seven years after his graduation and with five years of flag football under his belt, Gerbino is poised to represent Italy in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
“I’m definitely dreaming about the Olympics,” said Gerbino, who, although he helped Italy qualify for the Games, must still be named to the country’s official 10-man roster in two years. “My humble side says there will be other Italian-Americans who want try out, but the confident side of me thinks I’m a pretty good ball player and there aren’t many guys with my skill set.”
Gerbino, 28, was twice an All-Ivy second team selection and finished with 1,496 rushing yards, more than any quarterback in Dartmouth history. He left with a career rushing average of 5.4 yards that was second-best in program history, as was his career completion percentage of 66.1. Gerbino scored 21 rushing touchdowns.
His maternal grandfather, Leo Minotti, was a two-time national champion gymnast at Syracuse renowned for his rope-climbing ability. His paternal grandfather, Jack Gerbino, was a semi-pro football player in Rochester and a city policeman.
Initially headed for Cornell after declining walk-on offers at Miami and Michigan State, Jared Gerbino chose Dartmouth because he was offered the chance to compete for the quarterback job. However, he spent his freshman fall on the scout team, sometimes lining up as a receiver or tight end.
Dartmouth coaches concluded they had to get Gerbino on the field somehow, so they used him as a Wildcat formation quarterback as a sophomore. He attempted only four passes all season but was a ground-gaining force, exploding for 202 rushing yards and four touchdowns – three in the fourth quarter – to lift the Big Green to a 54-44 defeat of Princeton.
Splitting time at quarterback with pass-oriented Derek Kyler as a junior and senior, Gerbino was named the team’s MVP after his final season, when he threw for more than 1,000 yards and rushed for nearly 1,500.
“His energy and passion was infectious to the rest of the team,” said Sammy McCorkle, Dartmouth’s current head coach and the team’s defensive secondary boss during Gerbino’s college career. “It’s deceptive how fast and quick and elusive he is for his size.”
Gerbino had the physical skills to play in the NFL but encountered bad luck en route. Several team minicamps to which he was invited were canceled by the Covid outbreak. His skills led to projections as a H-Back, a hybrid position that combines the skills needed by a tight end and running back.
However, he had no video of himself playing in that role, and because of the Covid shutdown, found himself in a pool of graduated hopefuls from both the 2020 and 2021 classes.
“I had a tough time and eventually, my heart wasn’t in it,” said Gerbino, who wound up training NFL hopefuls in Florida before he decamped to Italy and played two seasons of tackle football in his ancestors’ homeland. He’s one of six players from Italy’s 2026 World Championships 10-man team with dual citizenship.
Italy was a nice setup for a young man with few responsibilities. Gerbino’s team was led by former Baylor University coach Art Briles, who used the Ivy Leaguer at both quarterback and H-Back. He was not only paid, but also received a free apartment and car in downtown Florence. A few of his teammates had been standouts on high-profile U.S. college teams, and there were only two or three practices a week and games on weekends.
“American players coming over to play for the national team are observed through the lenses of motivation; how important is representing Italy to you? wrote Italian player Riky CQ!!! Petrilli in an email. “For us, wearing the Blue jersey is an honor and a privilege, so we expect the American guys to wear it with pride, just like we do.”
Many of the Italian players competed while holding full-time jobs, and some smoked cigarettes not only after games, but during halftime. Still, the quality of play was encouraging to Gerbino.
“It felt at times like we could play with teams on Dartmouth’s level, but more realistically, we were probably more like a Division II team,” he said. “You see some things on the field that you don’t expect, guys blitzing at weird times, but they take football seriously.”
Petrilli recalled Gerbino as “dominant” in the latter version and initially disliking him because of how hard he was to deny the ball.
“His style was ‘good luck stopping me’,” Petrilli wrote. “I could not stand him, but my perception was skewed by on-field rivalry. He’s genuine and respectful and funny.
“I can recall countless team dinners where I could not eat my meal because I’d be crying from laughter just sitting across from him.”
Gerbino underwent back surgery before he began playing in Italy, so when he landed hard during a tackle game and his legs went numb, he pivoted to the flag version. For Olympic play, the sport features five players per side and two 20-minute halves. One flag must be pulled from a player’s waist to stop play.
“The only thing that carries over is ball skill,” said Gerbino, who often snaps the ball to the quarterback and then runs a pass route. “It’s an offensive sport. If you catch the ball and turn upfield with a guy right on you, he flops and draws a penalty.
“My team does a good job of getting me the ball in space, so I don’t have to be as cognizant of it. They give me jump balls and toe-tap catches before I go out of bounds.”
The United States beat Italy for the 2026 world championship and is the overwhelming favorite for Olympic gold. Italy and third-place Canada have also qualified for Los Angeles, while countries like Japan, Switzerland and Mexico will compete in a 2028 qualifying tournament to make the Games.
Paolo Biancalana, an Italian coach and analyst, said qualification raised the team’s profile in traditional and social media overnight. It was an enormous boost for a niche sport trying to become more.
“When I realized that we had actually qualified for Los Angeles, I just dropped to the ground,” Biancalana wrote in an email. “The first thing I did was call my family, and I was in tears. After almost 15 years in this sport, it felt like all those years of sacrifices had suddenly led to that moment.”
There’s speculation that NFL players could play flag football in the Olympics, but Gerbino thinks that’s unlikely because of the injury risk. He doesn’t count out former pro competitors but notes that most don’t have extensive experience in the flag version.
Gerbino’s life has been somewhat in limbo the past few years and will likely continue to be until the Olympics. He’s paid by the Italians to travel there as many as five times a year to practice and play, which makes it hard to hold down any type of career-based job. Instead, he’s worked construction and coached tackle and flag football in the Rochester area.
“2028 will definitely be my last year playing,” Gerbino said. “Then I’ll be done at 30 and still young, hopefully with an Olympic medal. It’s an amazing thought.”