Arizona Daily Star: Loaded with potential

An unofficial visit to the UA campus, after a camp at ASU, swayed Willie Tuitama to choose the Wildcats over Notre Dame and California.

Tuitama's profile

● Position: Freshman quarterback

● Height: 6-2

● Weight: 212 pounds

● High school: St. Mary's, Stockton, Calif.

● Prep rankings: SuperPrep: No. 16 QB Rivals: No. 5 QB Scout.com: No. 10 QB

The future of the UA football program spends his days pretending to be someone else. Willie Tuitama, a quiet, baby-faced 18-year-old freshman, who likely will redshirt this season, serves as the scout team quarterback during practice. He mimics opposing quarterbacks, giving the UA defense someone to stop, with sophomore Richard Kovalcheck starting for the Wildcats.  This year, barring an injury or two, mimicking USC's Matt Leinart or Arizona State's Sam Keller will be the closest he gets to game experience.  Next season, those comparisons might not be far off.  "He's got a cannon," said Mike Canales, the UA's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. "He's special. He's got it."  In 2001 and 2002, Canales guided North Carolina State's Philip Rivers, the second-leading passer in NCAA history with 13,484 yards.  "He's got Philip Rivers qualities," Canales said. "I think that speaks for itself."

Fair or not, superlatives are thrown around like 5-yard outs when it comes to high school recruits.  Jeremy Crabtree, the Rivals.com editor who gave Tuitama four stars out of five as a senior at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, Calif., said "you don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that he's pretty special."  Roger Theder, Tuitama's quarterback tutor from his 10th grade year until he left for Tucson in June, said Tuitama is in "another echelon." Theder, a former Cal head coach and NFL assistant, privately has trained Keller, Miami's Kyle Wright, and about three dozen other quarterbacks who played collegiately.

"Physically, he can throw with anybody in the NFL right now," Theder says. "It's a matter of him learning the offense. When you work with him, you say something to him and he's like a sponge."  It's enough to whet the appetite of any UA fan, considering only five Wildcat quarterbacks have ever thrown for more than 2,000 yards in a season. If the predictions come true, Tuitama could conceivably challenge Tom Tunnicliffe's school mark of 7,618 career yards.  He could be Arizona's first truly great quarterback.  Still, Tuitama tries not to believe his own hype. After all, this is the kid who starts the video game version of himself at quarterback on "NCAA Football 06," but still runs Arizona's balanced offense.  He thinks it's "definitely cool" that he gets recognized on campus, but shies away from any predictions of greatness.  "I'm not that good yet, at all," Tuitama said.

Last year, Tuitama crammed a career's worth of achievement into one season. He completed 158 of 254 passes for 2,734 yards, an astounding 32 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. St. Mary's won a California Division I sectional title - the highest peak in a state without a statewide championship - in part because Tuitama completed his last 11 passes.  But two moments in his high school career tell Tuitama's story better than any statistic.  During homecoming weekend last year, Matt Carruesco, a freshman who had followed Tuitama around since Pop Warner, was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. The team dedicated its season to Matt, whose father was the offensive coordinator.  Before the sectional title game, Tuitama promised the game ball to Matt.  Six months later, Tuitama was packing to leave for Tucson that night. He took the ball and bolted out the door, telling his parents there "was something I have to do."  He stopped to buy a glass case. He wrote Matt a note: "2004 section championship game ball. Presented to the 12th man, Matt Carruesco, for his inspiration and courage."  He drove to Matt's house and gave him the ball.

"There were some tears," said Matt, now in remission. "We are huge fans of Willie. We're Arizona fans now, too."  Tuitama, it seems, was born an athlete. His father, Lui, played football at University of Pacific, a team that featured future head coaches Pete Carroll, Walt Harris and Greg Robinson as either coaches or players. Tuitama's mother, Nancy, was one of the first women at Pacific to receive a volleyball scholarship.  Willie Tuitama was a drop-back quarterback by age 9. When his family took trips to see its cousin, Junior Seau of the San Diego Chargers, the linebacker would let Willie play catch with the team's receivers.  "It was crazy," Willie said, "just being around the big leagues."  In Willie's sophomore year, his father started driving him and three or four wideouts to Theder's Bay Area camp, paying $50 a session.  Willie started working out with strength coaches at nearby Pacific.  He was preparing to be the starter his junior year. The full-time job never came.  Before the season started, Tuitama was told he would not be the starter. There was a senior in front of him; at St. Mary's, the incumbent was traditionally hard to unseat.  "That hurt him," Lui said.  His coach, Tony Franks, knew that, but is still amazed at Willie's professionalism. He wasn't surprised; Tuitama's only brush with trouble had come when his school uniform socks were too short.  "He said, 'Hey, Coach, you do your job and I'll do mine,' " Franks said. "He was unselfish about it."  The senior quarterback was injured in the third quarter of the first game. Tuitama led two scoring drives to beat the defending sectional champ. Two weeks later, Tuitama relinquished his starting spot, but still played regularly.   "He'd score a touchdown, and take a seat," Lui said, without a hint of bitterness.  At Theder's urging, Tuitama participated in as many summer camps as he could. He became a star prospect, the only player at the Nike Elite 11 camp that didn't start regularly in his junior year.  Canales saw Tuitama at the Nike Combine, and essentially offered him a scholarship right there on the field.  "We said, 'You're our guy. We want you here,' " Canales said.

Tuitama had been approached by countless schools including Cal, Notre Dame and Nebraska.  "He could have gone anywhere," Rivals' Crabtree said.  He settled on Arizona after making an unofficial visit to Tucson following a camp at ASU.

"We loved the school," Tuitama said. "And I loved the coaches. As an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, I thought Coach Canales was the best coach for me."  His father wasn't sold, but Willie told his dad the UA was similar to Cal four or five years ago.  "The one thing he said to us was, 'They have no place to go but up,' " Lui said.  Instead of spending one last summer at home, Tuitama came to Tucson.  "I think it showed the team I wanted to be here to learn and work out," Tuitama says.  Should something unexpected happen during this season, the UA coaches will have an interesting decision to make.  Tuitama is "much further ahead" than he would have been had he arrived in August, Canales said. "If his services are needed, we're going to play him, because I know he's mentally ready to play," Canales said. "But redshirting him … that's probably the smartest thing."  Tuitama agrees, but still has to fight the urge to run out on the field.  "This year, what I want to do is learn the offense the best I can," Tuitama says. "I know that, sooner or later, all my hard work is going to pay off."