Tyrell Sutton

Tyrell Sutton
No. 20     Montreal Alouettes
Date of birth (1986-12-19) December 19, 1986
Place of birth Akron, Ohio
Career information
Status Active
CFL status International
Position(s) RB
Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight 213 lb (97 kg)
College Northwestern
Career history
As player
2009 Green Bay Packers*
2009–2010 Carolina Panthers
2012 Seattle Seahawks*
2012 Sacramento Mountain Lions
2013–present Montreal Alouettes
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star 2015
CFL East All-Star 2015
Career stats
Rushing yards 68
Rushing average 5.7
Rushing TDs 0

Tyrell DelShawn Sutton, (born December 19, 1986) is an American football running back who is currently playing in the Canadian Football League for the Montreal Alouettes. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at Northwestern.

He has also played for the Carolina Panthers.

Early years

Sutton is the son of Connie and Anthony Sutton Sr. His brother, Tony, played football at The College of Wooster.

Sutton attended Archbishop Hoban High. While attending, he rushed for 9,426 yards, an Ohio record. Also, his career high of 505 yards is the third most in Ohio history. Furthermore, Sutton broke the school rushing record three times.

Awards

College career

While attending Northwestern University, he majored in Communications.

As a freshman, Sutton rushed for 1,474 yards and 16 touchdowns.[2] His rushing total was the third highest in Northwestern's history. He fell one game short of joining Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk, and Adrian Peterson as the only NCAA freshman players to achieve 1,000 yards in 7 games.[3] In addition to rushing, he caught 44 passes for 396 yards and 2 touchdowns. His freshman year awards included the Sporting News' Offensive Freshman of the Year and First-Team Freshman All-American and Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Although injured as a sophomore, he rushed for 1,000 yards and 5 touchdowns and caught 40 passes for 261 yards and 2 touchdowns. He was the team co-MVP and had an honorable mention at the All-Big Ten selection.

Because of a lower-leg injury early in his junior year, he played in only 5 games, and rushed for only 522 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 30 pass receptions for 282 yards.

As a senior, Sutton rushed for 776 yards and 6 touchdowns before a wrist injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2008 season. Sutton underwent surgery on October 28 and returned as the starting back for the Wildcats in the Alamo Bowl. He rushed for 114 yards in that game to bring his total to 890 yards. In addition, he caught 30 passes for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Sutton concluded his career as the second all-time leading rusher at Northwestern with 3,886 yards, and second all-time with 5,138 all-purpose yards. Sutton is also the second player in Wildcat's history to achieve 1,000 receiving and rushing yards. Furthermore, his 149 receptions for 1,244 yards is the most for any back.[4]

Professional career

Pre-draft

Green Bay Packers

Though he was invited to the NFL Combine, he was not drafted. On May 1, 2009, the Green Bay Packers signed him as an undrafted free agent. On September 5, 2009, he was released when the Packers trimmed their roster to 53 players.[5]

Carolina Panthers

Although the Packers intended to re-sign Sutton to the practice squad if he cleared waivers, Sutton was claimed by the Carolina Panthers on September 6, 2009. He returned kick-offs for the Panthers, but was cut from the team on September 3, 2011[6]

Seattle Seahawks

On January 4, 2012, Sutton signed a reserve/future contract with the Seattle Seahawks. On August 26, 2012, the Seahawks released Sutton.

Montreal Alouettes

Sutton signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and began playing for them in August 2013, early in the 2013 CFL season. In his first season in the CFL Sutton played in 8 of the 18 regular season games, totaling 342 yards on 55 carries (6.3 yards per carry) with 3 rushing touchdowns: He also contributed 156 receiving yards. In the Al's only playoff game that year Sutton had a monster game, rushing for 142 yards on 21 carries. In the following season, Sutton played in 10 of the 18 regular season games for the Alouettes. His carries increased from 55 to 96, with 500 rushing yards, but his rushing averaged dipped to 5.2 yards per carry. Following the season Sutton and the Al's agreed to a 3 year contract extension.[7]

2015 was a breakout season for Tyrell Sutton as he eclipsed the 1000 yard mark (1,059) on 180 carries with 5 rushing touchdowns. His efforts were good enough to lead the league in rushing yards, edging out defending rushing champion Andrew Harris by 20 yards. Sutton began the 2016 season as the team's leading rusher, but sustained an injury early in the season resulting in him being placed on the 6-game injured list.[8]

References

2006 Northwestern Football Final Notes & Season Wrapup

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