Area football fans know Joe Flacco for quarterbacking the Baltimore Ravens. But there’s another Flacco calling plays in a local football stadium. Tom, Joe’s younger brother, is dominating as a quarterback at Towson University. The redshirt senior led the Tigers to their first NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoff berth since 2013. He threw for 3,251 yards and 28 touchdowns, and ran for 742 yards and four scores. The 6-foot-1, 208-pound Flacco had a long road to Towson, starting his career at Western Michigan before transferring to Rutgers. Flacco came to Towson as a graduate transfer last year.
Football is not the only sport he’s playing at Towson. The outfielder took up baseball this spring for the first time in five years. The Philadelphia Phillies actually drafted him in the 32nd round out of Eastern High School in New Jersey. But Flacco’s notoriety will come from football. He’s a different player than the strong-armed Joe, whom Baltimore traded to Denver in February after 11 seasons as a Raven. “Joe is six-six and I am maybe six-one,” says Flacco, who is 10 years younger than Joe. “I have to be different. I have to be more elusive. I am quicker. I create more plays running.” We recently talked with Tom about his relationship with Joe, proper dieting, and his exercise routine.
Have you worked out with Joe?
Sometimes we will both be off at the same time and be at the shore in south New Jersey. He has a workout place in his basement. That’s when we will work out together. It’s nothing too serious.
How often do you see Joe?
I see him a lot in the summer because he has a lot of time off. During the football season, I don’t see him that much. I would see him at Ravens home games, but I won’t see him that much now that he is in Denver.
How do you prepare for football?
I work out two to four hours a day and sometimes twice a day. I lift a lot of weights. I want to gain weight. I will do squats and power cleans. I am also trying to get more flexible and work on my mobility. I work on individual muscles. Specific things I need to correct in my body, my ankle mobility, hip exercises, and stretches. I do mobility workouts with bands and hip stretches; I am rolling on my psoas muscle. It’s a muscle right underneath your naval and mine gets really tight.
What is your favorite exercise?
I like to focus on my lower body. So, I like to do squats. As a quarterback, I don’t like to get my chest and upper body too big. I want the power in my legs and core.
When you are short on time,what exercise do you get in?
It’s three minutes of working on planks. Planks are for my core. I do planks one minute on two forearms, one minute on one forearm, and a minute on the other forearm.
How did you train for baseball after not having played for five years?
Once football ended, I just went into the batting cage and started hitting. I have always been running. You don’t have to be in great shape to play baseball, but I am running two days a week. I do sprints for about 30 minutes.
What advice do you have fora college athlete regarding working out?
That they know their body really well and work with a trainer on doing exercises correctly. I see a lot of athletes doing workouts wrong, and they hurt their body. I had that problem. Sometimes, strength and conditioning coaches will want to put on a lot of weight and not worry about form. But I am learning the technique of every exercise I do.
Has your nutrition changed since the beginning of college?
I am trying to eat healthier. When I got to college, I was eating fast food. I have been in college long enough to know what is right and wrong to do. Sometimes, I still struggle with it. I eat a lot of eggs because they are easy to cook. Scrambled eggs with hot sauce on them and chocolate milk. I want to eat four meals a day.
What is your go-to meal before a football game?
Spaghetti and a little bit of chicken. I don’t want to eat too much before a game. Some of our games are at noon and I will have a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon.