This might be tl/dr for some.
Where to start with Tuel....
Paul Wulff was a terrible coach. That's as good a place to start as any.
He should have stayed redshirted. In hindsight there is no doubt to this. Worst OL in D1 and they threw an undeveloped true freshman to the wolves in the middle of the PAC 10 season.
Watch the 2010 highlights on YouTube and you'll see the potential from what was a 19 year old who still needed to grow physically quite a bit.
He got much bigger before his junior year. Then he broke his collarbone on an awkward fall against freaking Idaho State when he had the flu and refused to sit out because he's that kind of player. He was ready for what could have been a 4000 yard season despite the horrible line.
He rushed to get back on the field for the Stanford game, got hit about 400 times and then got hit another 200 more the next week against OSU. By halftime he was done. i think that was the acute compartment syndrome. Didn't play the rest of the year. Potential break out year down the crapper.
Exit the big mistake that was Paul Wulff. Enter Mike Leach.
Leach brings a new offense but still has a terrible foundation on the OL. Long story short, he made the decision to build for the future at Tuels expense(and I don't fault him for it), and Tuel still led as a senior, worked his tail off and did what he could to keep the team together through a rough transition. It paid off at the end of the year. Scoring 2 TDs, a 2pt conversion and a drive for the tying FG in the last 10 minutes of the game in the Apple Cup. Coming back from 18 down to win in OT.
Then the NCAA hosed him. He should have been give a medical redshirt to play one more year in college, he needed it. They wanted him to give them dirt on Mike Leach and say that players were abused. He refused to lie and/or give any info that would be twisted to condemn Leach. He has the talent, a very good athlete but he is probably 2 years away from being a good, reliable backup. That's my honest opinion of where he was at when he left WSU.
He's smart enough and he's tough enough to play in the NFL. He doesn't have an elite arm but he can still make all the throws and run pretty well. The main questions really are his preparedness and adjusting to the speed of the game. It may be too much too soon, but there might not be a choice. Hope they don't put much on him if he does play and I hope the idiot segment of Bills fans realize they have no business expecting him to just show up and take down New England. They had little chance even with Manuel, and even less with Kolb.
