It’s easy for him to question the 'what if’s' and 'why not’s'.

“What if I went to that other, smaller school?”

“Why can’t I be the starter? What is stopping me?”

That is not Tommy Vento, though, and it never has been.

Vento, now in his fifth-year senior season, has a couple more months left of a sport he was introduced to just 10 years ago.

His path from then until now runs parallel, and has taken much of his time and patience, but he chose this path. From then till now, those who have taken a bite out of the fruits of his labor have all reached the same conclusion – it tastes pretty damn good.

From Humble Beginnings

Growing up in Farmington Hills, Mich., Vento spent the beginnings of his athletic leisure as a pitcher in baseball and a basketball player.

“Growing up, my mom was always afraid we were going to get hurt playing football,” Vento said. “So she always wanted us to play baseball, basketball, she said ‘whatever makes you happy, but not football.’”

Vento would have to wait until the seventh grade to get his chance at football. His dad and family friends convinced his mom to let him play, but Vento waited even then, as a broken ankle kept him sidelined until the eighth grade.

His first action on the gridiron would come as a player for the North Farmington West Bloomfield Vikings, a youth tackle football league in his hometown.

“I mean, I had always loved football so much and just watching it and playing with my brother, and then once I was playing it for real I felt like it was the only thing I wanted to do,” Vento said.

The next stop on his path was Farmington Hills Harrison High School. His current MSU teammate and senior wide receiver Aaron Burbridge would meet Vento at Harrison one year later, and it was there Vento met his Spartan destiny.

The Harrison program is led by National Coaches Association Hall of Fame member John Herrington, a coach who has won 13 state championships – more than any other coach in Michigan high school football history. Herrington has been developing young men into division one players since the school opened in 1970. Most notable on his list of all-star players is former Spartan quarterback and current NFL player Drew Stanton.

“[Herrington] kind of taught me how to learn the game because I’ve always had a love for football, but up until you get into high school it is pretty much just what do you know how to do on your own,” Vento said.

Herrington admitted Vento is not in the same football category as Stanton, so when he said “I still have his picture on my fridge,” he was speaking out of respect for Vento’s character and hard work – accolades which do not have to show up on the field to be adorned.

“This kid walks through the counseling office and he said, ‘hey ladies, how’s it going? Do you need anything?’ and I said yeah, I need you to get to class,” Harrison High School Guidance Counselor Amy Proctor said as she joked about her first time meeting Vento.

This spruced freshman Proctor met would go on to accumulate a 3.9 G.P.A. throughout his four years and more notably would lead the school to an undefeated 2010 state championship.

“It was a ride," Vento said. "It was just a blessing. We kind of started off and I don’t want to say we had some hiccups because we always played well, but at the beginning it was kind of like talent took over for more than how we played.”  

Finding MSU

Vento got his shot at leading from the forefront as a senior in high school and capitalized in a historic fashion.

The championship team was stacked. Vento’s supporting cast was headlined by Burbridge, former-U-M tight end and current NFL player Devin Funchess and current-senior linebacker at U-M Mario Ojemudia.

Vento racked up 2,803 passing yards, 31 touchdowns and completed 156 of 276 attempts, but it was his supporting cast who garnered colleges’ attention.

“I guess I had my heart set on coming here and when the coaches were recruiting Burb and Devin and Mario I kind of felt myself being in the background trying to step into the spotlight,” Vento said. “But you know, I just kept calling them, kept staying on them.”

In the spring of 2011, Vento said the MSU football program told him there was a spot for him after the departure of quarterback Joe Boisture.

“That was just the best day,” Vento said.

Vento would join the team as a preferred walk-on and remains a player without scholarship to this day. Vento turned down an interested Northern Michigan University program and decided against Ivy league schools due to the cost of attendance.

As a freshman and sophomore at MSU, his walk-on status never wavered his aspirations, but there was an adjustment period.

“I would say that my first and second year here it was definitely tough. You know, because you come in with such high hopes and you want to be the guy who has that story where he came in and kind of, not took the program over, but kind of took the team by storm,” Vento said.

“When I wasn’t getting the chances like I wanted to it was definitely tough to stay motivated, but again, I just prayed about it and kind of found my niche on the team as how can I bring value and let me do that as best I can.”

Game Day

“Hey are you ready to go?” quarterback coach Brad Salem asked Vento on Sept. 20, 2014, in the fourth quarter of MSU’s home game against Eastern Michigan.

This date was the first, and possibly last time, Vento played in a MSU regular season game.

“I got butterflies obviously because I had never played in a game before, and I just went out there and my first hand off was actually a touchdown it was pretty crazy,” Vento said.

“But I just remember being out there and it just felt surreal. You know, because I’ve been out there in scrimmages and stuff but when you are out there in the middle of the field when there is 70,000 people out there it is totally different.”

Vento said at this point in his college career he is starting to think beyond football. Majoring in finance , Vento has begun the interview process for a job upon graduation.

“I know there is not necessarily a future for me in football so it has been a blessing to be here on the football team while getting my degree,” Vento said.

Vento said he has thought about a career in football when his playing days are over, but his business aspirations surpass a coaching position.

“You know I’ve thought about it, but as of right now I don’t think that coaching is going to be something that I do. If I come back to it later then it was meant to happen, otherwise I’ll probably step away from it.”

“Man, It’s just, the one word that always comes to mind is, it’s a blessing.”

Stepping away from the game he loves will bring new obstacles, but in a competitive business world, Vento knows the game of ‘watch and learn’ better than anybody.

“I don’t get too many reps, but whatever I can do to help the team, right?”