As Joe continues to blossom in his junior year — wearing the same No. 72 jersey of his dad — the similarity between father and son is stunning. In an era when weight training wasn’t as advanced, the 6-foot-3, 265-pound Paul was leaner than the 6-2, 285-pound Joe. What has been passed down through the bloodlines is desire.

“I get goose bumps when I watch Joe play,” said Kenny “Chopper” Scott, who played defensive end at Maryland alongside Paul. “You could put Joe in Paul’s uniform in the ’70s and Paul in Joe’s uniform in 2011 and you wouldn’t know the difference. Joe never stops. Paul was the same way.”

The numbers lend credence to Scott’s words. With 7.4 tackles a game, Vellano entered Saturday tied for the lead among down linemen in the FBS. His 20 tackles three weeks ago against Georgia Tech were the most by an FBS lineman since the NCAA began compiling individual tackles in a game in 2005. Vellano’s most astonishing play came when he lassoed Georgia Tech wideout Stephen Hill after a 34-yard reception.

“He has 22 tackles by our count. It was the best I can ever remember against one of our teams,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said. “He tackled the receiver once. He tackled the pitch sometimes. He tackled the quarterback. He just plays hard.”

There was never much doubt that Vellano was destined to play at Maryland. He attended former coach Ralph Friedgen’s camp several summers. In addition, as a graduate assistant at Maryland in 1970-71, Friedgen coached Paul. When Friedgen offered Joe a scholarship the summer before his senior year at Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, N.Y., Vellano accepted the next day.

Success didn’t come quickly however, as Vellano missed the 2007 season as a grayshirt and 2008 as a redshirt. A shoulder injury and a broken foot slowed his progress further. But Vellano finally regained his health and emerged in the spring of 2010. In his starting debut last fall, he made 10 tackles and two sacks in a win over Navy.

“I was getting phone calls and emails from some people I hadn’t talked to in 25 years,” Paul Vellano said. “They said, ‘That your kid? He looks just like you in your stance.’?”

The lessons applied these days by Joe Vellano are the ones his father learned 40 years ago in College Park. On the desk of Paul’s position coach, George Foussekis, was a picture of Terrapins defenders swarming a receiver, written above was “Happiness is Pursuit.”

As a Pop Warner coach, Paul Vellano passed on the message to his sons Joe and Paul Jr., a former Massachusetts tackle who now plays professionally in Europe.

“[My father’s] biggest thing was ‘Get to the ball,’?” Joe said. “When the ball’s thrown, you don’t think; you turn and run. If it plays out, it plays out. But it’s one of those things, if you do it 20 times, you’ll get one.”

Or in the case of Joe Vellano, you’ll get many more.

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