Not of a pass. Of the recruiting process.

Though his first season as St. Joseph's Prep's starting quarterback will not start until late this summer, the 6-3, 225-pound senior has just accepted a Division I scholarship to Temple.

"I know it's kind of crazy, but I feel it's deserved," Giubilato said, pleasantly. "It's not like this is just being given to me. I've worked my tail off for this since the first grade."

The strong-armed Giubilato went 0-for-3 total the past 2 seasons in a backup role behind Chris Whitney and then Aaron Haas.

"Aaron and I battled for the spot last year. He won out and then had a great season and I applaud him for that," Giubilato said. "I didn't pout. I kept working hard in case an injury would have put me in there. Luckily, that didn't happen because Aaron deserved to have his full season."

Giubilato recently impressed on the camp circuit, bouncing from Temple to Boston College to Pitt and back to Temple.

"I did really well that first day at Temple. Really, really well," he said. "They said they wanted me to come back [2 weeks later] for another 1-day camp.

"I could see the reason [for the second look-see]. I mean, what if it was a fluke? But at the second one, I did five times better. The coaches were looking pretty much just at me. Had me throwing every possible pass. They offered me during the lunch period and I talked to coach [Al] Golden."

Such a scenario is not unprecedented for the Owls' coach. Golden offered Chester Stewart off a camp performance in the spring of 2006, before he'd even taken a snap for DeMatha Catholic, in Hyattsville, Md. (the alma mater of Eagles star Brian Westbrook). Stewart redshirted last season.

Though Giubilato, who lives in Newtown Square, is still planning to attend a camp this weekend at Connecticut, his thoughts aren't wavering.

"I've always thought about Temple because I always wanted to stay close to home," he said. "My dad [also Mark; assistant to Prep coach Gil Brooks] has seen every game I've played in my life, in every sport, and I don't want that to change.

"There was a chance UConn was going to offer me this weekend, but that didn't matter. I discussed it all with my dad and coach Brooks and came to this decision. Coach Golden is doing an awesome job and I want to be part of his program."

He continued: "I also love the city, so that's another plus. And I want to major in sports management or communications and Temple has great programs for that, too." *