During his senior year in high school, Tony Stauss was a wanted man. A number of schools, including Northwestern, spent a majority of their recruiting trips trying to get the quarterback to follow them home and rescue their offense for the next four years.
Barry Alvarez wanted Stauss to come to Wisconsin. He wanted him to be part of a Badgers team that had won back-to-back Rose Bowls while repeating as Big Ten champions. That kind of persuasion is hard to pass up, especially for a quarterback who led Racine (Wis.) High School to the playoffs his sophomore, junior and senior year.
And yet, Stauss said no to Alvarez, Bucky the Badger and fans that embrace football players without asking questions. Instead, he chose to line up against the Badgers for the next four years in a purple jersey with a big letter “N” on his helmet because coach Randy Walker got his attention.
“Out of all the quarterbacks in America last year, Tony was the one I wanted,” Walker said.
Stauss is what a coach might call the total package. In high school, Racine’s team built itself around Stauss, throwing the ball 40 to 50 times a game. And Racine coach George Machado said he “doesn’t regret it a bit.”
Machado said that while sitting on the sideline last year, he was often amazed by the things he saw out of his senior quarterback on the field.
“He’s on the money with his passes,” Machado said. “He puts some balls where I wouldn’t dare throw them. But he does it. He’s deadly accurate.”
Last season Racine threw the ball a total of 505 times, 303 of which were completions. Both numbers were state records and both numbers came solely from Stauss’ arm. NU was 10th in the Big Ten with only 133 completions on 318 attempts last year for an average of 143.3 yards per game.
Now that NU is planning to utilize the passing game more next season, it looks as if Stauss will fit in well and could possibly bring some life to a team that has had little recent success to speak of at the quarterback position.
“(NU’s) going to a throwing attack, which plays into my strengths,” Stauss said. “I’m coming in with the mentality that I need to be ready to play every day and try to give the coaches a hard decision.”
Besides the fact that he was drawn to Walker and the NU coaching staff, Stauss didn’t want to go to Wisconsin and possibly have to play behind sophomore quarterback Brooks Bollinger for the next three years.
Stauss should have much more control over his status with the Cats. Zak Kustok is the man behind center for now, but Walker showed last year he wasn’t afraid to shuffle guys in and out of the quarterback position.
With the number of talented receivers NU has on its roster this coming season — Teddy Johnson, Jon Schweighardt, Derrick Thompson and Sam Simmons — Stauss’ reported golden arm could become a large asset to the Cats’ offense.
“Coach Walker stressed he wanted the quarterback to be a leader and I know if I step in I’ll get the job done,” Stauss said. “I wanted to be the person (the team) could build around. I want to help get things back to where they need to be.”
Even though he doesn’t report to practice at NU until this summer, Stauss has been working hard to prepare himself for the transition to the Big Ten. Hard work has always been a part of his game.
Machado said he sees Stauss at school by 5:30 a.m. four days a week working on the drills Walker gave him. He gained almost 20 pounds between his junior and his senior year, currently benches 270 pounds, though he weighs only 194, all while making straight A’s.
“Tony was born with a gifted arm, but he’s worked hard to get in the position he’s in,” Machado said. “I think Tony at (NU) is a perfect fit. He’s a coach’s dream.”
