Willie Tuitama
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Willie Tuitama (born Willie Coonley Savea Tuitama June 13, 1987, in Stockton, California) plays quarterback for the Arizona Wildcats in the NCAA college football tournament. Tuitama turned in a breakthrough performance as a junior playcaller, establishing or matching a total of 17 offensive records including the school records for most passing yards (3,683), attempts (524), completions (327) and touchdowns (28) while managing to stay healthy all-season long. He capped his third year as a Wildcat with an All-Pac 10 Conference Honorable mention accolades from the league coaches.
Contents |
Personal Life
Willie is the son of Stockton natives and University of the Pacific alumni Lui, a broker, and Nancy, a travel agent. Willie came from an athletic family, with his older sister, Tiare being a former volleyball standout at Cal State Los Angeles and his relatives Brandon Manumaleuna (UA and the St. Louis Rams), Junior Seau (USC and the Miami Dolphins), and Junior AhYou (ASU) playing previously in various NCAA football teams with Manumaleuna and Seau having stints in the pro ranks. Before joining UA, Willie has also participated in several extra-curricular activities, volunteering as a Pop Warner assistant coach and as an elementary teacher's aide. He also previously received a Boys Senate honors in school. When not on the football field, the Stockton, California native likes to spend his free time playing video games, poker, or golf. He majors in communication at the University of Arizona. Willie, with teammates Terry Longbons and Adrian McCovy, were recognized for helping apprehend a thief who tried to steal a load of Wildcat football jerseys one summer night of 2006.
High School
Tuitama attended the Stockton St. Mary's High School where he was teammates with California defensive end Tad Smith and was a one year letterman in baseball and two-year letterman in football. After getting demoted to backup quarterback as a junior, Tuitama proved his worth the following season as he completed his last 11 attempts and connected on all of his passes in the second half in leading the Rams to a 50-45 win over Nevada Union of Grass Valley for California's Division I sectional championship. Tuitama, who went 17 of 23 for a career high 312 yards and 5 TD passes in his final prep game, led St. Mary's to a 13-1 finish that season after completing 158 of 254 passes for 2,734 yards and 32 touchdowns, with only 7 interceptions. Tuitama, the team's captain as a senior, was rated as the #16 quarterback by SuperPrep All-America, the #5 QB and the #16 recruit in the state by Rivals.com, the #10 QB by Scout.com, and the #12 QB prospect by CollegeFootballNews.com. He also received an All-America honors from PrepStar, a third team All-State honors from Cal-Hi Sports, and was also voted in the Long Beach Press-Telegram Best in the West Poll. Rivals.com and Scout.com also gave him a 4-star rating, while the Max Emfinger top 30 dropback QB list gave him 4.5 stars.
College
2005
As a freshman, Tuitama was listed as the team's third-stringer behind junior walk-on Adam Austin and starting sophomore signal caller Richard Kovalcheck. He sat out the first six games, supposedly as a redshirt, but was eventually tapped to play in his very first game off the bench against 15th ranked Oregon. Although the 'Cats fell to the Ducks, Tuitama managed to throw for 182 yards from an 18-of-34 completion with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He got the nod to start the following week against Oregon State, completing 13 of 22 passes for a then career high 335 yards with two scoring passes, including a season-long 75-yard TD toss to Mike Thomas, to claim his first career win as a playcaller. He continued to start his last three games, first leading UA to a win over 7th ranked UCLA, before his team bowed to Washington and Arizona State. In that three-game span, Tuitama established season highs in completions (22) and attempts (41), passing for atleast 149 yards and scoring atleast a TD in each of those games.
Tuitama, the lone quarterback signee in the class of 2005, earned a Freshman All-America honors from The Sporting News after completing 82 of 142 passes for 1,105 yards and 9 TDs with 5 INTs and a 136.99 pass efficiency rating (#6 in school history) in only five appearances with four starts.
2006
Tuitama had to sit out several times during his sophmore campaign because of injuries, appearing in 10 games with only 9 starts. He began the year tossing 186 yards on 19-of-39 completion with a TD and an INT in a win over BYU. The following week, Tuitama drew a roughing the passer penalty from LSU defenders and managed only 50 passing yards (8-for-17) with no TDs and 2 INTs in a loss to the Tigers. Against Washington, he broke his career record in passing attempts with 41, completing 24 for 308 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT in a loss to the Huskies. He missed a couple of games against Stanford and Oregon State but returned against Washington State to complete 10-of-17 passes for 159 yards and a 78-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Johnson in the win over the Cougars. He also tossed 202 yards (17-of-34) and 120 yards (8-for-9 with 2 TDs) in wins over California and Oregon before ending the regular season with only a 6-for-10, 36-yard, 1-TD performance in a loss to Arizona State.
He ended his sophomore season completing 118-of-211 passes for 1,335 yards and 7 touchdowns with 6 interceptions on a 55.9% completion rate and a 114.33 passing efficiency rating.
2007
As a junior, Tuitama managed to stay healthy all season and play all of Arizona's 12 games. He had his season debut against BYU, completing 26-of-36 passes for 216 yards and 1 TD in a loss to the Cougars. The following week, he dished out a career-game, establishing new career highs in pass attempts (44) and touchdowns (5), converting 23 passes for 283 yards in a win over Northern Arizona. He topped those stats the following week, completing 30 of 53 passes for 446 yards with three touchdowns in a loss to New Mexico, then once again broke his personal records in completions (42) and attempts (61) with 309 yards and 1 TD in another loss to California. He matched his 5 TD convertions against Washington State then dished out three successive 200-yard games in Arizona's three straight losses. Against Washington, Tuitama dished out a stellar game after breaking the school's single-game passing record to help lead Arizona to a come-from-behind, 48-41, win over the Huskies. He went 38-for-51 for a career-high 510 yards with 517 yards of total offense (third-most by any player in Pac-10 history) to earn Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week honors. He also dished out one 300-yard and two 200-yard games to end the season, including Arizona's signature win over 2nd ranked Oregon where he completed 21 of 39 passes for 266 yards and 2 TDs.
He ended his third collegiate season with single season bests in almost all categories, completing 327 of 524 passes for 3,683 yards and 28 TDs with only 12 INTs and a completion rate of 62.4%. Tuitama received a Pac-10 All-Conference accolades from the league for his efforts.
Highlights
| Willie Tuitama (21-of-39 for 266 yards and 2 TDs) and the rest of the Wildcats take down 2nd ranked Oregon in 2007. |
Achievements
2007
- Collegefootballnews.com's #3 Quarterback in the Pac-10
- Pac-10 All-Conference Honorable Mention
- Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Washington)
2005
- The Sporting News Freshman All-America honorable mention
References
- Arizona's best QB? Willie T. sits, waits
- Cats creeping up, according to stats
- Three Wildcats apprehend a thief
- Tuitama, Thomas Named Pac-10 POW
- Willie Tuitama Arizona Profile
- Willie Tuitama Stats @ ESPN.com
