MVN - Most Valuable Network

The Undrafteds: Adam Tafralis

 This is the third installment in a 13-part series concerning undrafted free agents signed by the Colts.

 I’ll say this for Adam Trafalis: for a while, I didn’t think he existed.

Search after search on Google, Yahoo, and the San Jose State football website turned up no results for a quarterback named Adam Trafalis. I was beginning to think this guy was imaginary. It was as if the Colts signed a college football player who never actually played college football.

Then, thank the Lord, I saw the error of my ways: Adam TRAFalis does not exist. But Adam TaFRALIS does. You’ll find tons of information about the latter; virtually nothing about the former. I misspelled his name.

Over.

And over.

And over again.

I finally got it right! And, lo, what did I discover about Adam Tafralis, former quarterback for the mighty San Jose Spartans?

Well, for starters, San Jose’s official website describes him as a record-setting quarterback. That’s not a bad start. Oh, what record(s) did he break? He’s the only passer in San Jose State history to complete 60% or more of his passes in more than one season. He also holds school records for total offense, passing yardage, and number of completions. Basically, he’s about the best San Jose State has ever had at the position.

As a starting quarterback, Tafralis won 18 games. That’s the most by any Spartan quarterback in 20 years, according to the team’s website. He was also named team MVP last season.

Sure, it sounds like Adam Tafralis ruled San Jose State. The guy basically owned the place right?

Er…well…kind of.

In an amusingly worded article on San Jose State’s website from August 2004, Tafralis is described as the “beginning starter” by then-coach Fitz Hill (he would resign at the end of the year). A fifth-year senior quarterback, Dale Rogers, was termed the “middle starter.” I have no idea who coach Hill planned to bring out of the bullpen as the closer.

That season began a tumultuous career for the signal-caller. Every season, it seemed, the starting QB job was his to lose. Every season, it seemed, he managed to lose it. Let’s put it this way:

(Coming into his junior season) he had played in 20 of SJSU’s previous 22 games. Only five of those times did he stay in the game from start to finish. Every year he has been at SJSU a recruit has been brought in to unseat him.

-San Jose Mercury News, December 22, 2006

It got so bad at one point, Tafralis even offered to switch positions. No joke.

During the 2006 campaign, Trafalis led the team to its first bowl game in 16 years. The Spartans finished 8-4 in 2006. He got the starting nod after his top competition, junior Sean Flynn, injured his groin. Tafralis completed 65% of his passes and threw 21 TD passes.

Even during that terrific season, Tafralis had his struggles. He lost his poise during a loss to Nevada. That week in practice, he split time with his backup during first-team reps. During a late-season matchup against Hawaii, Tafralis found himself riding the pine after fumbling on consecutive plays.

But the 6′1″ QB picked himself up. Even though the Spartans weren’t great during Tafralis’ senior season (SJSU finished 5-7), the quarterback himself had a very good year. He completed 62% of his passes and threw for more than 3,000 yards. You can also throw in 18 TD passes.

A late bloomer, Tafralis was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. Among quarterbacks, he had the second-best vertical leap (32″) and the fourth-best 40 time (4.78). According to the scouting reports, he spent a lot of time in the shotgun formation while playing for the Spartans. That’s probably one reason the Colts are interested; they use the shotgun frequently. In addition, scouts say he’s got good pop on short and intermediate throws. They consider him to have a “marginal arm” when it comes to going deep, however.

One more interesting thing about Adam Tafralis: if he fails to make the Colts roster, he has a backup plan. His future may lie in the food service industry. In fact, he aspires to get into the restaurant business and has plenty of experience in the field. During his junior season, Tafralis worked at the Sonoma Chicken Coop. He lives to serve, even to fans:

“Every once in a while, someone will say, ‘We go to every game, great season. Can I have my food now?’”

-San Jose Mercury News, December 22, 2006

The only thing that could possibly be more amusing: having Peyton Manning serve you at Denny’s. I’ll have the Grand Slam, sir.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 11:41 am and is filed under Adam Tafralis, undrafted free agents, Colts, NFL, Free agents, NFL Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.