In high school, Stocco was a teammate of Larry Fitzgerald, at the Academy of Holy Angels in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Out of high school, he was drafted in the 45th round by the Major League Baseball team the Minnesota Twins, but decided to go to college instead. "Had I been drafted higher, it might have been a tougher decision," he said in a 2003 ESPN online chat session. He was recruited by other Big Ten teams such as Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Penn State, Ohio State, Northwestern, and Michigan State. Stocco eventually settled on Wisconsin.