Colleges Wanting Fallbrook Senior to Come to Pass : Dutton Gets High Ratings from Scouts

The letters began coming last year. And the phone calls. And the scouts.

John Dutton is a hot commodity in San Diego County. He is coveted by most of the football programs in the Pacific 10 Conference and the Western Athletic Conference. Consider those programs and think about what they produce.

It’s quarterbacks.

And John Dutton is a quarterback with the kind of potential that makes grown men drool over the prospect of having him lead their programs.

He walks like a quarterback, talks like a quarterback, thinks likes a quarterback. He’s reserved, his own worst critic, a good Lutheran boy hell-bent on becoming the best quarterback he can possibly be.

He stands 6 feet 4 and weighs 205 pounds. His maternal grandfather was 6-8, he has two uncles 6-7 and 6-6, and his mother is 5-10, three inches shorter than his father. He’s barely 17, celebrating his Sept. 20 birthday by getting his driver’s license. He drives a Chevy pickup, which may mean he’s got a little bit of lineman in him. Or maybe it simply means he’s practical. But according to the men whose lives revolve around evaluating talent, Dutton possesses the attributes dreams are made of. He’s got a folder full of shmooz letters to prove it.

“The other day,” he said, “I got one from Miami.”

Miami. Quarterback U. Jim Kelly and Bernie Kosar and Vinnie Testaverde. Get the idea?

If not the most highly recruited high school player in the county, he is certainly the most highly sought quarterback. He has received about 500 letters from 50 schools.

Washington State and California contact Dutton weekly. UCLA called Tuesday night. He has heard from schools ranging from Brown of the Ivy League to Colorado of the Big Eight.

He wants a school that has all the right elements: an education that will provide a sports medicine or business administration major, coaches and players he likes, a location in the West, a strong sense of tradition and outstanding facilities.

He’s reserved, doesn’t drink or do parties. He’s a parent’s and coach’s dream, showing the good sense to avoid trouble and admit when he’s made a mistake. After Fallbrook’s first loss of the season, 10-0 to Poway, a band of media members tracked him down. He answered queries with aplomb. He took responsibility for his mistakes and didn’t make excuses.

He is the county’s top quarterback, completing 104 of 215 passes for 1,619 yards, numbers that lead the county. He has thrown 11 touchdowns and six interceptions. He took over the varsity a couple of games after he turned 14 during his sophomore year and his record as a starter is 14-9. Fallbrook is 5-3 this year and three teams in the Palomar League have scored more points than the Warriors. He has completed 277 of 522 career passes (53%) for 3,601 yards (ninth all-time), 27 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in regular-season games.

Among the criticisms of Dutton is that he gets down on himself, that he’s not so fast, that his footwork needs work, that his throwing mechanics can be improved and that he fails to stay on his receiver long enough. Dutton knows this.

“I’m sitting there Saturday morning watching films,” he said. “I’m thinking to myself, I’m the senior, I’m the quarterback, I could’ve made this play and we could have won the game. I put a lot of (the burden) on my shoulders.

“I understand my role as a quarterback. I have to be the leader of the team and I always can improve on being a better leader.”

He says he’s still learning the game and every day absorbs some of the subtleties of the position.

“I don’t think of myself as a hotshot quarterback going to college next year,” Dutton said. “I know what I can do and I know what I can’t do, and a lot of those things are good that I can do.”

His coach at Fallbrook High School, Tom Pack, said Dutton is comparable to another Fallbrook quarterback, Scott Barrick, whose name is conspicuous throughout the San Diego Section Record Book and who was good enough to get a scholarship to pass-happy San Diego State.

Pack’s analysis goes like this: “He’s much like Barrick. He’s got a little stronger arm and he’s a little bigger. He’s got a little more agility and quickness for his size.”

In other words, he’s a lot like Barrick, only a little more.

“I think he might be comparable with similar receivers,” Pack continued. “Scott put up some huge numbers.”

Barrick passed for 5,388 yards (second in section history), 3,496 in a season (first) and 414 in a game (second), and 44 touchdowns (fourth) during the 1985-86 seasons. He completed a remarkable 405 of 735 attempts (55.1%), sixth-best all-time, including 32 touchdowns (first) in 1986.

Dutton won’t have the same incredible statistics posted by Barrick, but Barrick had an advantage in two skilled, experienced receivers, Darrow Nelson and Bill Dunckel.

“I don’t think you can look at the numbers and compare,” Pack said, “you have to look at how the kid throws the ball.

“Scott had some ability, a real soft touch and he threw all the passes really well, the streak, the isolation, the touch pass--he had a real nice soft ball to catch. John has those same qualities.”

Among those who have scouted Dutton is Palomar College Coach Tom Craft, a former quarterback at San Diego State who has had five consecutive quarterbacks--including current starter Tom Luginbill--lead the state or the nation or both in junior college passing at one time.

“I like his size,” Craft said. “He moves around pretty good, and he has pretty good arm strength and is fairly accurate. He has some qualities that are appealing to a coach, but being able to throw the ball on time, being able to throw a side adjustment package with a blitz in your face, there are a lot of developmental things a quarterback has to do, especially when you step up the level of play from high school. That level can step up one notch or a couple of notches, but to develop those qualities, I think you need to get yourself in a position where you can be competitive for a starting position, and not very many can coming out of high school.”

It’s a foregone conclusion that Dutton will redshirt his freshman season. Because of his youth and the need to develop at the position, Craft would advise differently.

“He needs to get himself in a position where he needs to play,” Craft said. “I think a community college is a good place for him, but I understand how young men think and I’m sure his inclination is to get a scholarship, and I think he’s good enough to get one because of his size and arm strength.

“I don’t know if (redshirting) is going to make him better. . . . When you’re sitting around, it’s important to work on game-stress situations. You’re very limited in what you learn as a redshirt--I really believe it’s overrated. I’ve been there and I’ve seen it, and I think it’s critical you get in the right situation where you get a chance to compete.”

Remember those five quarterbacks that Craft had passing phenoms? All but Luginbill were San Diego-area players who went to Division I colleges and returned to Palomar after being disenchanted. One of them was Barrick.

What makes Dutton think he’s any different?

“I haven’t thought about it,” he said. “Maybe it will happen to me, but I have enough confidence in myself that I’ll succeed at the college level.

“I’m not going to a college to just sit all the years that I’m there.

“I’ve been told the redshirts hit the weights and learn the system. I don’t know for sure what the redshirts do--I’ll find out, I guess. That extra year could help tremendously.”

Pack says Dutton’s decision is everything: “He has to pick the right system.”

And what is John Dutton’s greatest concern about making the biggest read of his life?

“Picking the wrong one.”

The blitz is on its way.