Pro chase has nice start for Tuel, big Wade

JEFF TUEL, always an excellent scrambler on the football field, made his latest scramble pay off at the Casino Del Sol All-Star Game, and now heads to a second all-star game, this Saturday in Southern California, before moving to Florida for intense training with his old batterymate Marquess Wilson.

Less than a month after declaring his intention to turn pro, Jeff Tuel -- with plenty of help from former Washington State teammate Wade Jacobson -- completed 6 of 8 passes for 115 yards and a touchdown to lead the West to a 40-7 romp over the East in the second annual Casino Del Sol All-Star Game last Friday in Tucson.

Tuel, who had been pursuing a possible fifth year of eligibility as a medical redshirt, was able to land two all-star game invitations despite his relatively late decision to leave college. He’ll also play Saturday in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Carson, Calif. (3 p.m., ESPN2).

Tuel threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to San Diego State’s Brice Butler. Tuel’s 49-yard pass to Stanford’s Drew Terrell set up another touchdown.

“Every guy here has a dream,” Tuel told the Tucson Daily Star after the game.

That dream probably does not include the traditional parading in front of NFL personnel while wearing nothing but shorts.

“Just like the (NFL scouting) combine,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson said more than 100 scouts and other NFL types were on hand to watch players get weighed and measured in Tucson.

“We’re all standing there in compression shorts, waiting for our name to get called,” Jacobson explained. “Then you walk down like ‘America’s Next Model’.”

The colorful Jacobson added, “It was weird. Guys are standing up, walking around, trying to get better views of us. It was a job interview, ya know?”

Jacobson was speaking by phone Sunday night from Provo, Utah, where he was set to begin training in earnest Monday morning for a possible shot at the NFL. Jacobson anticipates several weeks of seven-days-a-week, twice-a-day workouts in Provo before he returns to Pullman for “pro day” with NFL scouts in March.

Like Tuel, Jacobson is currently rated a marginal NFL prospect. Both players like to think they raised their stock at Friday’s all-star game.

“It was just a blast ... I played really well,” said Jacobson, who started at left guard for the West.

Jacobson chose to train in chilly, no-frills Provo in part because his agent lives there. Also, Mike Harris trained in Provo last winter and wound up starting at left tackle for San Diego most of the season despite going undrafted last year out of UCLA.

Tuel, meanwhile, heads to Orlando after next Saturday’s all-star game to train with former WSU wide receiver Marquess Wilson and others. Tuel and Wilson remained good friends even after Wilson left the team late in the season.

“A friend is a friend,” Tuel said at the time. “You’re going to be there for a guy no matter what he needs.”

Tuel might need sunscreen in Orlando. That won’t be a problem for Jacobson in Provo.

“It’s about minus-3,” he reported Sunday night after checking into his hotel in preparation for the next phase of his football life.