Despite his high performance for Richmond this past season, Stacy Tutt may not hear his name called during the NFL draft. SCOTT K. BROWN Visit the Photo Place

Tutt hopes talent alone woos NFL Spider QB not lock to be selected

Follow us on

Stacey Tutt in the NFL draft?

Date published: 4/25/2006

By JIM McCONNELL

RICHMOND--After playing quarterback most of his life, Stacy Tutt would prefer to enter the NFL at his natural position. But with the annual draft just five days away, the University of Richmond senior knows he can't afford to be too picky.

Tutt, a gifted 6-foot-2, 235-pounder, could just as easily wind up catching passes or defending them on the next level as throwing them--and that's fine by him.

"If you want a shot at playing in the NFL, you pretty much have to do whatever the teams want you to do," Tutt said yesterday.

Despite a spectacular senior season, during which Tutt amassed 3,088 yards of total offense and produced 28 touchdowns in leading Richmond to the Division I-AA quarterfinals, the former Essex High School standout finds his football future somewhat up in the air.

While USC's Matt Leinart, Texas' Vince Young and Vanderbilt's Jay Cutler are projected to be taken early in the first round of Saturday's draft, Tutt could be more accurately compared to Texas A&M's Reggie McNeal or Missouri's Brad Smith--fast, athletic players who aren't unanimously viewed as NFL-caliber quarterbacks.

"Some teams love him as a quarterback. Other teams don't see him as a quarterback on the next level," said Richmond quarterbacks coach Mark Carney. "Their question becomes: 'Where do we put him?'"

Coaches have been asking that question about Tutt for years. As a senior at Essex, he earned all-Group A honors after throwing for 800 yards, rushing for 500 and catching passes for 300 more.

During his postgraduate prep year, Tutt became the first Fork Union Military Academy player in seven years to throw, catch and run for touchdowns in the same game.

He spent his first two years at Richmond as a quarterback, but started the first eight games of his redshirt sophomore season at wide receiver.

Dave Clawson moved Tutt back to quarterback after succeeding Jim Reid as Richmond's new head coach in February 2004.

Tutt started all 11 games at QB in 2004, became a wide receiver again for the first two games of his senior season, then reclaimed the starting quarterback job and led the Spiders to victories in nine of their final 11 games.

Through it all, he kept a positive attitude and never questioned his coach's decisions.

NFL DRAFT Radio City Music Hall, New York Saturday, 12-8 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN)

Date published: 4/25/2006