ITHACA, N.Y. -- When a storm comes, the bison doesn't run from it. It runs into it, because that's the fastest way through. It's a lesson Garrett Bass-Sulpizio's mother taught him long before he ever needed it on a football field.
 
"If you chase it, it's inevitable, it's always going to get you," Bass-Sulpizio said. "So, I just kind of was like, I'm ready for the challenge. I'm not going to run."
 
That philosophy, passed down from his mother Cathy, who is Native American, has carried Cornell's senior quarterback through nearly every obstacle in his football career. And there have been plenty.
Bass-Sulpizio didn't start playing football until middle school. His parents weren't eager supporters of contact sports early on, worried about the physical toll on a growing kid. He bounced between sports instead, eventually finding his way to flag football, where his size made him a natural quarterback.
 
"I was a bigger kid and I could basically just throw the ball farther than everyone else," he said. "So, with me at quarterback, we could run plays that other teams at the time couldn't."
 
The first storm hit before he ever played a down of tackle football. The day before his freshman year of high school began, Bass-Sulpizio was in a car accident with his brother that left him with a broken hand and a concussion. He missed most of his first season at his small private school in San Diego.
 
But adversity opened an unexpected door. Late in that freshman season, the senior starting quarterback forgot his pants before a game. With no other option, coaches turned to Bass-Sulpizio, just weeks removed from his injury, for his first varsity start.
 
"I remember going to the sideline before the game, and they calmed me down because I started crying because I was so excited to play," he said.
 
His first career completion went for 30 to 40 yards to the tight end. It was a fleeting moment, as the senior reclaimed his job by the next series, but it cemented something in Bass-Sulpizio.
 
"It definitely just filled me up with joy, and I was ready to just keep going," he said.
 
The next storm arrived during his recruiting process. Playing at a college-prep school known more for producing Ivy League and academic-minded athletes, Bass-Sulpizio wasn't initially thinking about programs like Cornell. That changed at a high-academic football camp between his junior and senior years, where Cornell's coaching staff at the time offered him on just the second day.
 
It was one of the few offers that survived what came next. Midway through his senior season, Bass-Sulpizio broke his left shoulder and needed surgery. Other programs that had been recruiting him backed away.
 
"I was showing up to visits with my shoulder all the way up to my neck before the surgery, and they were just like, we're not really trying to deal with this," he said.
 
Cornell didn't waver.
 
"They were like, we know you're going to come back stronger, and we want you to be a part of our future," Bass-Sulpizio said. "That just meant the absolute world to me, to have a coaching staff believe in me that I'm going to grow into the next steps of my football career."
 
He committed, trusting that Cornell was building something worth being part of.
 
Then, after freshman fall, that same coaching staff was let go. A new head coach, offensive-minded Dan Swanstrom, arrived to rebuild the Big Red program. For a freshman quarterback who had just bet his future on the previous regime, it was another storm to face head-on.
 
"I was ready for the challenge," Bass-Sulpizio said. "I knew that Coach Swanstrom would be the guy, out of anybody in college football, that could help me reach the potential of the football player and the young man I wanted to be."
 
In a strange twist, Bass-Sulpizio later learned he and Swanstrom had actually crossed paths years earlier, during his recruitment, when Swanstrom reached out about Penn football before their conversation fizzled out.
 
"Everything happens for a reason," Bass-Sulpizio said.
 
The final storm came in the form of direct competition. Cornell brought in transfer quarterback Devin Page, and Bass-Sulpizio went straight to Swanstrom rather than wonder where he stood.
 
"I just need you to be honest with me. If this is your guy and I'm not going to get a fair shot," he said. "All I'm asking for is a fair shot. I don't need any special treatment."
 
Swanstrom gave him exactly that. The two competed from that sophomore spring into the early portion of Bass-Sulpizio's junior year, living together, building a friendship as much as a rivalry. Ultimately, Page won the job that fall and the two split time during the first few weeks of the 2025 season.
 
"Of course, as any competitor would be, I was frustrated. Called my parents, was emotional about it," Bass-Sulpizio said. "But I told them I'm right where I'm supposed to be, and my job now is just to help the team in whatever way they need to win."
 
He prepared like a starter every single day he wasn't one, taking scout-team reps and backup snaps seriously. When his opportunity finally came, he was ready for it.
 
"I wouldn't be sitting in this chair and being as prepared as I am for this next upcoming season if it wasn't for Devin," he said. "We make each other better."
 
Behind every storm Bass-Sulpizio has weathered stands his family. Raised by two mothers, Lorri, who is Costa Rican and Italian, and Cathy, who is Native American, Bass-Sulpizio and his three siblings were all born to the same birth mother, Lorri, and sperm donor before Cathy legally adopted them.
 
The two married once same-sex marriage became legal in California, with a then 5-year-old Bass-Sulpizio in attendance.
 
His mothers, one a therapist and the other a leadership coach specializing in women's empowerment, shaped how he processes pressure on the field.
 
"I used to get joked about when I was a kid that I was sensitive," he said. "But now I think of it as a superpower. I think of it more as being emotionally aware. That's something other quarterbacks don't have, and it's something I can use to my advantage."
 
They also talked him out of chasing bigger FBS offers when it mattered most.
 
"They kind of sat me down and gave me some humbling conversations and helped me realize that Cornell was the absolute perfect fit for me," he said. "I didn't want to be anywhere else."
 
Now a senior, Bass-Sulpizio has shifted his focus from surviving storms to helping the program reach new heights.
 
"Stats are nice and accolades are nice, but as a quarterback, your job is to lead your team to win games," he said. "We're finally at the point where we can say that we've done the work, and we're in the hunt."
 
He's also embraced the same leadership once shown to him by former teammate Jamison Wong, mentoring the younger quarterbacks in Cornell's room.
 
"The first thing is just showing them exactly how the starting quarterback should live their life," Bass-Sulpizio said. "Then, with that consistency, I'm able to hold them accountable and give them insight and knowledge that I've learned through my journey."
 
Wherever his football career takes him after Cornell, whether that means playing beyond the Ivy League or eventually stepping away from the game, Bass-Sulpizio knows the degree he's earning will always be there.
 
"It is very difficult to play football or any sport for a long period of time and make a living out of it," he said. "To have an Ivy League degree to fall back on, it's not a bad plan B."
 
For now, there's a season left to play and a opportunities still in front of him. True to form, Bass-Sulpizio isn't running from what's ahead.
 
He's running straight into it.