Northwestern’s Tutu Atwell completes journey from too-small QB to NFL as 2nd-round pick
Less than four years ago, Tutu Atwell was an undersized, championship-winning quarterback for Miami Northwestern. Now he’s an NFL wide receiver, headed to the Los Angeles Rams in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
The Rams selected Atwell with the 25th pick of the second round — No. 57 overall — on Friday, completing the 5-foot-9, 149-pound receiver’s improbable path from too-small-to-play-in-college quarterback to second-day NFL Draft pick.
As a dual-threat quarterback, Atwell helped Northwestern end a 10-year state-title drought in 2017 when he guided the Bulls to their first championship since 2007, but few colleges knew what to make of him. He had only about a dozen scholarship offers and the Louisville Cardinals were one of only two teams from Power 5 conferences to offer him. He went to Louisville as a gadget player and quickly carved out a niche as a big-play wideout, finishing his freshman season with 406 receiving yards on 16.9 yards per reception. As a sophomore, he broke out with 70 catches for 1,276 yards and 12 touchdowns to earn first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference honors. In an injury-shortened junior season, Atwell was a second-team all-conference selection.
Atwell’s real first name is Chatarius, but he uses his father’s nickname and follows in his legacy well. The elder Atwell was a star wide receiver at Miami High and then racked up more than 2,500 receiving yards in his career with the Minnesota Golden Gophers, although he never made played in the NFL.
Even when he was starring as a quarterback for Northwestern, the younger Atwell knew his future was probably following in his father’s footsteps. The Miami Hurricanes never recruited him — Bulls coach Max Edwards believes they were under the assumption Atwell wanted to play quarterback in college — so the Cardinals wound up with one of the most obvious recruiting steals in recent South Florida history. Atwell was the 2017 Miami-Dade County Offensive Player of the Year for Classes 8A-6A, according to the Miami Herald, and he piled up local awards for his championship-winning play. His lack of experience as a wide receiver and his size always kept the biggest programs away, though.
In the end, he proved all those schools wrong. After sliding a bit in the Draft because of some of these same question marks, he’s ready to do it again.
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 9:05 PM.
