North Texas head coach Todd Dodge said late Sunday that he would release Giovanni Vizza from his scholarship and could turn to the junior college ranks to fill the void left by the departure of one of the most prolific quarterbacks in program history.

Vizza spent two seasons at UNT, played in 22 games and finished fifth in the history of the program with 5,146 passing yards.

Vizza was expected to return for his junior season and compete with redshirt freshman Riley Dodge, Todd Dodge’s son, for the starting job before deciding to leave the program.

“We met with Giovanni at the end of the season and he said he was coming back,” Todd Dodge said. “That is why this is shocking to me. We started him 20 straight games. There is no reason in my mind as to why he wouldn’t come back.”

UNT is scheduled to enter next season with just two quarterbacks who threw a pass in 2008 returning in Riley Dodge and junior Nathan Tune.

Riley Dodge played just three games last season before suffering a concussion that forced him to sit out the rest of the year. Todd Dodge said his son has been granted a medical redshirt and will have four years of eligibility remaining.

Riley Dodge also had his senior season at Southlake Carroll cut short when he suffered a separated shoulder in a playoff loss to Abilene High.

“Riley will be fine for spring practice,” Todd Dodge said. “He will be healthy and ready. Everyone goes through injuries at one time or another. We have four years left with him.”

Todd Dodge was not planning on pursuing a junior college quarterback, but will now reconsider his options.

“We could consider a junior college quarterback,” Todd Dodge said. “We have to re-evaluate where we are and look at it.”

Vizza declined to talk about his decision, but released a statement to the Denton Record-Chronicle that described his general dissatisfaction with the direction of the program.

“The program is just not what I expected and is just not the right fit for me now,” Vizza said in the statement. “I pray and hope that it becomes the program the faithful Mean Green fans want it to be and the players want it to be in the future.”

Matt Vizza, Giovanni’s father, said that his son is considering transferring to one of several NCAA Bowl Subdivision and Championship Subdivision schools.

Matt Vizza said that his son has yet to receive his release from UNT and that the family has been told it will include restrictions on what schools he can transfer to, a practice that is not unusual when players leave a school.

Todd Dodge said UNT would move forward, but indicated that he was disappointed to see a player he invested so much time in leave the program.

Vizza was a member of Todd Dodge’s first recruiting class of 22 players at UNT, one he put together in a matter of days after leading Southlake Carroll to the Class 5A Division I state title in December of 2006.

Vizza is the 11th member of that 2007 class to leave the program, a total that includes Evyn Roman and Evan Fentriss. Roman, who transferred to UNT from College of San Mateo in California, joined UNT’s incoming class in the summer of 2007 and was added to the original February signing class.

Fentriss transferred to UNT from Rice and tried to rehabilitate an ankle injury, but was unable to recover and gave up football.

Roman gave up football after one season at UNT.

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .