Bills’ Fitzpatrick: It’s a unique experience

October 10, 2012: Behind Enemy Lines

Ryan Fitzpatrick is feeling right at home this week. He grew up in Gilbert and attended Highland High School where he earned All-State honors after setting 12 school records as a senior.

Despite growing up an ASU Sun Devil fan, Fitzpatrick attended college at Harvard.

He is facing his childhood NFL team for the first time Sunday.

Fitzpatrick spoke to those of us in the local media on a conference call earlier:

on being able to spend the week in Arizona

It is a unique situation for me to be able to spend some time at home with my family during the season in Arizona. Monday and Tuesday were nice, but now it is really getting down to business again. Really focusing in on this week–the game plan and studying the Cardinals a little bit.

on his memories of going to Sun Devil Stadium

I have so many memories at Sun Devil Stadium. Both of my parents went to (Arizona State) and growing up we used to go to all the games. We used to park all the way across campus and a mile plus and walk to the stadium. I wish I had an exact year for you, but it was some down years all the way through the Rose Bowl. It was great family time for me, my three brothers and parents to go to all of those games. Growing up in that stadium really and learning the game. It will be cool, even on the ASU practice field because I went to all of those camps growing up.

on his memories of attending Highland High School

It is funny because there are so many memories and it has just been a while for me. It has been 12 years since I was there and there has been a lot of football and memories that I have had since then. Just sitting down and being able to sit down with (my high school coach Mike Reardon) and kind of rehash some of that stuff. It was a great experience for me. I had a really good time there and I think he was an amazing coach. A guy that really cared for me and cared for his players. He helped me out so much, just in terms of the recruiting process. Working for me and trying to get teams to give me a look far and wide. West Coast to East Coast. I will always be indebted to him not only for the experience he gave me, but for all of the hard work he put in so I could play college football.

on the Cardinals defense

Yeah, this is a really good defense. It seems like we keep running into great defenses to play. But the thing that jumps out at you is that they are fast, real aggressive, all over the place in what they do and part of it is going to be getting our guys on the right guys. Not getting confused and not getting caught up in all of the twists of the game that they do. They do a really good job of it so it will be a good challenge for us.

Follow @CraigAZSports