Male Athlete of the Week goes out as one of the best QBs in NJ history
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Derek Zammit has done this before.
Four years ago, he went from a small town in Morris County to study and play football at DePaul, perennially one of New Jersey's best teams. The Lincoln Park native went to the Wayne-based school with few, if any, of his childhood friends and a goal of being good enough to earn a Division I football scholarship.
Zammit, the North Jersey Male Athlete of the Week, presented by HSS, leaves DePaul as the only quarterback in state history to start four championship finals. He won three, putting himself into the conversation about the best quarterbacks in North Jersey history.
Next month, he'll fly 3,000 miles across the country to move into his dorm room at the University of Washington on Jan. 3, 2026. Two days later, he'll attend his first class, with spring practice for the 2026 college season not far behind.
He's the only quarterback recruit in the Huskies' 2026 freshman class of 23 players, but Zammit is facing this latest challenge the way he's handled nearly every situation in his high school career, with poise and confidence.
"It's definitely been a journey," Zammit said. "My father and mother instilled the values and morals that I needed for success and Coach Camp [DePaul coach Nick Campanile] and all the coaches around me and the players I've played with have prepared for this moment."
"As soon as he got to our place I knew we had something very special," Campanile said. "I knew he was really talented from watching him in youth football, and he has always had an incredible poise about him."
That was apparent from his first appearance on the varsity during the 2022 season. He played a couple of freshman games, but Campanile brought him up to the varsity as the backup to then-junior Patrick Grusser, who was hurt early in the third quarter against Bergen Catholic in the fifth game of the season.
Zammit came in, instantly took a huge hit from Bergen Catholic's D.J. Samuels, now a starting linebacker at the University of Maryland, but ended up throwing his first varsity touchdown pass late in the game as the Crusaders, in the midst of a record four year reign as the state's No. 1 team, won 35-7.
Zammit started all but one of the remaining seven games as the Spartans went 6-1 after a 1-4 start and won the Non-Public B state title with a 19-17 upset of Red Bank Catholic.
"Derek put 40 up on Hudson Catholic the next week and then 42 on Pope John and after Patrick got the start against Delbarton, he got hurt again and Derek stepped up," Campanile said. "He made all of the throws and made every play he had to."
"That feels like forever ago," Zammit said. "I got thrown into the fire and I had to roll with the punches."
Near the end of that season, Zammit got hurt in the last regular season game, a tight 28-25 loss to then-No. 1 Don Bosco but knew he had to get back for the playoffs. It was a pattern he repeated each of his four varsity seasons.
"We had to go get a ring," he said. "This was my team and I had to get back in."
Four years later, he leaves with a spectacular championship record. He completed nearly two-thirds of his 803 career pass attempts for 7,670 yards and 74 touchdowns with just 22 interceptions. He ran for 1,571 yards and another 26 scores. DePaul went 31-12 in games he started.
In his 12 playoff games, he was even better, completing nearly 70 percent of his 170 passes for 1,708 yards with a 17-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He also ran for 320 yards and 10 TDs as Spartans went 11-1 in the playoffs.
"There's no situation he can't handle," Campanile said. "He's grown so much that he could call his own plays this year if he needed to. He called out the blocking schemes at the line and had unlimited ability to check down if necessary. He brought a level of comfort to my coaching that is so rare."
The secret might be in Zammit's preparation. During his high school career, he expected to play three sports at DePaul but after his freshman success, threw his lot in completely for the gridiron.
"It was the first sport I went for in high school and if I was going to get serious about meeting my goal I had to go full time," he said. "I put my trust in God and worked as hard as I can as soon as one football season ended to prepare for the next one. When you have pressure to win or lose, there's a responsibility that comes with it and you find out a lot about yourself."
That happened late this season as the Spartans lost their last two regular-season games to Delbarton and St. Joseph by double digits, with the former loss Zammit calling "one of his worst games ever."
But DePaul regrouped during its bye week before the playoffs and outscored its three playoff opponents, 105-48, to earn a second straight title and third in four years.
"It's been a roller coaster but we got to Met Life Stadium four years in a row," he said. "Now its time to focus on the future."
The next step will take place on a national stage with the Huskies, which went 8-4 this year, two years after playing in the 2024 College Football Playoff championship game.
"Coach (Jedd) Fisch is a New Jersey native and has a lot of experience coaching in the NFL before he became a college head coach," Zammit said. "I'm excited to take the next step with him and his staff and see where it goes."
Derek Zammit
Sport: Football
School: DePaul
Class: Senior. Age: 18
Accomplishment: He led DePaul to its second straight Non-Public B state title and third in four years, scoring all three touchdowns in a 21-12 win over Paramus Catholic. He's the first quarterback in state history to start four state finals.
Also nominated: Lamar Best of St. Joseph and Brian Brancato of Hackensack for football.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Bergen Record Male Athlete of the Week: Derek Zammit, DePaul
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