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Despite his high performance for Richmond this past season, Stacy Tutt may not hear his name called during the NFL draft. |
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.
"The things we asked him to do were very different than what the previous staff asked of him. He really took it upon himself to learn the quarterback position," Carney said. "The strides he made from his first day with us to the last game of his senior season were tremendous."
Tutt has approached his pro football career with the same vigor. Rather than move to a warm-weather locale such as Arizona or Florida--as many prospective draftees do--Tutt opted to prepare for the NFL draft where he felt most comfortable: in Richmond.
He began training with UR strength and conditioning coach Brandon Hourigan in January. They focused on exercises that would improve Tutt's short-burst speed and quickness, as well as his upper-body strength.
Tutt also attended several quarterback meetings during Richmond's spring practice in order to stay mentally sharp and retain his grasp of Clawson's West Coast offense.
Carney arranged for Tutt to work out for seven NFL teams--the Giants, Saints, Patriots, Bills, Panthers and Eagles. Tutt performed position-specific drills at four spots--quarterback, running back, wide receiver and defensive back.
Along the way, he impressed the scouts by running a 4.44-second 40-yard dash.
"All my workouts have gone well," Tutt said. "I've done what I can do to show I can play at the next level. Now, the only thing I can do is wait."
Online projections are split on whether Tutt will be selected by the end of this weekend's seven-round draft. If he is chosen, it will most likely happen in one of the final two rounds--meaning he'll have to wait until late Sunday to learn his fate.
Of course, even if Tutt goes undrafted, he'll have a chance to sign with any of the NFL's 32 teams as a free agent.
"He has the tools to be a factor on that level," Carney said. "Whoever's camp he winds up in is going to get a heck of a football player."
Tutt is nothing if not flexible. If he doesn't make an NFL roster right out of college, he said he's not above playing in Canada next season. The Montreal Alouettes already own Tutt's CFL draft rights.
"I'm going to play football," he said. "I don't know how long, but I'm going to play somewhere."
To reach JIM McCONNELL:
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com
NFL DRAFT |
