Ready Glare : Mater Dei Receiver Rzeznik Taps Inner Drive for Big Gains; Family Admires His Work

There’s a certain look Michael-John Rzeznik gets in his eyes. A kind of burning glare that the Mater Dei receiver/defensive back reserves mostly for game days.

His coach has seen it. Heck, even his mother knows it well.

“I’ll sometimes ask M.J. before a game, ‘Are you ready tonight?’ ” Monarch Coach Bruce Rollinson said. “He’ll just stare right through me, like, ‘That’s about the dumbest question anyone has ever asked me.’ ”

Said Joan Rzeznik: “Oh, I know that stare. You get it when you ask him something illogical. He’s a very logical person.

“Our family kind of goes with the flow. We’re real spontaneous, except for Michael. He keeps us under control and we lighten him up.”

Michael-John Rzeznik, M.J. to family and friends, was adopted when he was an infant. The family hasn’t been the same since.

On Mater Dei game nights, the Rzeznik clan, clad in red, is in the stands watching M.J. play. They ooooh and aaaah at his performance, like kids watching an older brother.

Neither Joan Rzeznik nor her husband, Michael, played sports. Their daughter, Michelle, was a spectator as well. The only other athlete in the family is Michelle’s husband, David Condon, who played baseball at Villa Park.

So, when M.J. Rzeznik darts and dashes across the field, his family just sits back and admires the handiwork. He has opened a whole new world to them.

“I really didn’t know football before M.J. started playing,” Michael Rzeznik said. “So everything he does is like new to me. I just totally enjoy watching him on the field.”

His son has provided plenty to look at.

Rzeznik is the Monarchs’ leading receiver with 21 catches for 301 yards. Five of his receptions have gone for touchdowns. He is also a two-year starter at strong safety and has one interception this season.

The stats are all byproducts of speed and intensity. Rzeznik was clocked at 4.52 in the 40-yard dash during a Cal-Hi scouting combine this summer. Then there’s his inner drive.

“About 6 p.m. on game day, M.J. checks out,” Rollinson said. “You really don’t want to be around him too much after that. I like that look.”

Rzeznik hits the field focused, for games and practices.

“When he was on the freshman team, they had a scrimmage against the sophomores,” Michael Rzeznik said. “M.J. caught a pass and bounced off a couple guys for a big gain. The sophomore coach said, ‘He’ll never do that again.’ His freshman coach said, ‘OK, we’ll run the same play and you try to stop him.’ M.J. caught the pass and broke out of a couple more tackles for another big gain.

“His coaches have a phrase for him. They call him an impact player. I like that, ‘Impact player.’ ”

The Rzezniks didn’t request an impact player when they adopted M.J. All they wanted was a baby brother for their biological daughter, Michelle, now 26.

“Our daughter hated growing up alone,” Joan Rzeznik said. “Every day, she’d ask for a little brother or sister.”

They named him Michael-John, after both of his grandfathers. He was six weeks old when he was adopted, and the Rzezniks immediately thought of him as special. They didn’t know how right they were.

Michael Rzeznik never had time for sports. He worked after school in his father’s butcher shop in Queens, N.Y. Joan Rzeznik also had no time for games.

So their son’s abilities have given them a chance to experience a little of what they missed.

“People started calling him an athlete,” Joan Rzeznik said. “We didn’t know that. He played soccer, baseball and basketball, as well as football. We just went along with it and watched.”

Rzeznik settled on football at Mater Dei. He played flag football in junior high and wanted to try the more violent version.

“We’d tackle guys in flag football, but they would call a penalty,” he said. “I liked being able to do it legally.”

Said Joan Rzeznik: “I see him on the sideline with his fists clinched, just waiting to get out there. I’ve never known him to get angry, but he sure gets his aggression out on the field.”

Rzeznik earned a starting spot at strong safety last season. He played in one of the most talented secondaries in Orange County, with Ray Jackson, Brian Barajas and Michelangelo Barragan, all of whom were seniors. Jackson and Barajas were named All-Southern Section.

Rzeznik was told he was joining that group the day before the season opener against Servite.

“(Defensive back coach Dave) Connor told me I was starting, but if I messed up, I was coming right out,” Rzeznik said.

In the first half, he was fooled by a play-action pass and gave up a deep reception.

“Coach Connor said he was kind of worried about me at halftime,” Rzeznik said.

Those concerns proved unfounded. In the second half, Rzeznik helped keep the Friars out of the end zone. On a second-and-goal play, he dropped running back Elphamous Malbrue for a five-yard loss. The Friars eventually missed a field goal.

The game ended in a scoreless tie.

Rzeznik had two interceptions and seven pass deflections for the season. But he rarely played on offense because Rollinson wanted him to concentrate on playing safety.

That changed this season because the Monarchs were desperate for receivers. Rzeznik caught only four passes in 1992, but two were for touchdowns.

“He’s such a long-strider when he runs that he’s deceptive,” Rollinson said. “He makes people miss him. We’ve looked for him to make big plays.”

Said Joan Rzeznik: “When he makes a good play, people in the stands always say, ‘Way to go, Mom.’ ”

Rzeznik has known he was adopted since his parents told him when he was in grade school. He has never been overly concerned about it.

He also said he has never wanted to search for his biological parents, although Michael and Joan Rzeznik have a standing offer to help him if he changes his mind.

“They’re my Mom and Dad and nothing could change that,” Rzeznik said.

Said Michael Rzeznik: “He was born in April, but we also celebrate the day he came to us. Every May 30th, we do something special as a family.”

Just as they do every game night.

“We’re there with the pompons and everything,” Joan Rzeznik said. “People have even started giving me books on football. Each game, I try to learn one thing. Last week, it was the fair catch. But don’t ask me what it is.”

The Rzezniks don’t ask. They just watch, or in their son’s case, stare.

MATER DEI VS. SAN CLEMENTE

Featured Game

* When: 7:30 p.m., tonight

* Where: San Clemente High School

* Records: Mater Dei 4-1, 0-0; San Clemente 5-0, 0-0

* Rankings: Mater Dei is No. 5 in the Orange County sportswriters’ poll; San Clemente is No. 9.

* Noteworthy: Mater Dei is a perennial power. San Clemente hasn’t been to the playoffs since 1979. A good clash of a “have” and a “have-not” to begin South Coast League play.