Matt's Mail Call - Landon Trusty

[LaTunaNostra]

WHO IS THIS GUY???
_____________________________________

7/2: What do you think will be one of the biggest surprises of training camp?
04:45 PM CDT on Friday, July 2, 2004

Matt Mosley

Q: What do you think will be one of the biggest surprises of training camp?
Blair Browning, Waco

Mosley: Blair, I'm going to go with a very obscure angle. The Cowboys signed a free-agent rookie tight end named Landon Trusty earlier this month. Actually, the team was just going to give Trusty a tryout at the veteran minicamp. But Jerry Jones and Bill Parcells were so impressed with his initial workout that they immediately added him to the roster. Parcells loves rookie tight end Sean Ryan - and only partly because he's a New York kid. But Trusty's enormous size and agility could allow him to make the team. That means that tight end James Whalen is all but out the door. Remember, you heard it here first!

Matt Mosley answers your questions about the Cowboys each week. E-mail him here: mattmailcall@dallasnews.com.

[Hostile]

Hey LTN, I love the new sig line. That's classic.

[Nors]

Brownsugar:

Is he on a month to month lease?

Hope he didn't buy a place in Dallas.

[LaTunaNostra]

Thanks TH.

Nors, at 6'7", 275, this kid could be the hybrid of your dreams.

[MichaelWinicki]

Thanks TH.

Nors, at 6'7", 275, this kid could be the hybrid of your dreams.


:D

Oh man I don't know if I'm up to hearing those details.

[yesfan]

Landon Trusty, University of Central Arkansas
Football/Senior
Finance/4.00 G.P.A.


Some say that no one is perfect. Well as far as academics are concerned University of Central Arkansas' Landon Trusty is just that. Trusty's outstanding academic accomplishment's alone made him an obvious choice for Top Eight honors, but the standout tight end is also a well rounded athlete and community contributor.


Trusty returns to the Top Eight banquet for the second time in three seasons. The two-time team captain began the 2003 campaign as a GSC Pre-Season All-GSC selection and a Don Hansen's Football Gazette Pre-Season All-American. Injuries plagued the senior for most of the season, but Trusty did manage to finish fourth on the team in receiving, hauling-in 18 catches for 190 yards (10.6 average) and three touchdowns. Once completely healthy, the two-time All-GSC performer was selected for the Division II Cactus Bowl All-Star game; he made the most of it, catching the eye of several NFL scouts and earning a free-agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys.


Trusty's success in the classroom is second to none. He ended his tenure at UCA with a perfect 4.00 overall grade point average as a Finance major, a major factor in his selection as one of the 29 NCAA Fall Postgraduate scholarship winners. The $7,500 grant goes to student-athletes who excel academically and athletically and who are in their last year of intercollegiate athletics competition. The Hot Springs, Arkansas native was also named CoSIDA Academic All-American for the second consecutive year and became the first two-time winner of the UCA Male Athlete of the Year. He is a four-time member of the Dean's and President's List and the Athletic Department's 3.0 Club.

Central Arkansas Head Coach Clint Conque, a huge fan of Trusty, said it was a "privilege and a pleasure to coach him." Conque noted that Trusty is a "quiet leader" who "leads by example." This is most evident in Trusty's on and off-campus endeavors. Trusty was a member of the Gamma Beta Phi Business Society (membership by invitation only), Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He served in the Read to Succeed Program, which involved mentoring and reading to local elementary students. Trusty also was a Red Ribbon Spokesman, speaking at local schools for Drug and Alcohol Awareness Week and was a youth intern at his Trinity Church.

[LaTunaNostra]

well yesfan answered that question...

Trusty is a hybrid athlete/scholar/community activist.

I also read he is NOT just a blocking TE, and he has very soft hands.

Maybe Mosley is on to something.

Can't wait to see what he does this summer!!!

[Woods]

I love rooting for guys like him.

I just wonder how many TEs we possibly can keep on a 53 man roster, though.

With Campbell, Witten, Ryan, and Robinson (who played some TE for us last year), that's already 4 serviceable TEs. And I'm already assuming Whalen is off the roster.

If we add yet another TE, then maybe we keep only 1 FB?

[Eskimo]

With that sort of size, if he can't hack it at TE in the NFL you always wonder about conversion to OT while on the PS.

[speedkilz88]

They don't want to have use Jeff Robinson at TE like they had to last year. Long-snapper is too valuable a position to chance him getting hurt.

[BlueStar II]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if he's played much on special teams at all?

[LaTunaNostra]

Specials ability seem even more important to these young guys sticking than they usually do. Tuna wants not just effective special teams play, but a difference making lineup. The number of players drafetd and brought in as rookie UFAs with specials credentials is amazing.

Don't know if Trusty (great name for a pet dog) he played specials, but he's an ex QB.

http://www.thebearrun.com/bce/default_DocView.asp?documentID=539


By DAVID MCCOLLUM
LOG CABIN STAFF WRITER

Landon Trusty, the much-decorated tight end from the University of Central Arkansas, is one of the newest members of the Dallas Cowboys.

After being summoned to the Cowboys' mini-camp at the Valley Ranch near Irving, Texas, on Monday, Trusty signed a one-year, free-agent contract for the NFL minimum salary of $240,000, sources indicated. He'll be working with the Cowboys all week and will be one of 80 players who will report to training camp later this summer in California.

Trusty was involved in team meetings Tuesday night and was not available for immediate comment. UCA coach Clint Conque, who visited with Trusty via phone Tuesday, confirmed the signing.

"Many of us were mystified and wondering why this day didn't happen in April or May," Conque said.

Trusty, a 6-foot-7, 280 pounder from Hot Springs Lakeside, who was an academic All-American throughout college as well as one of the top tight ends in NCAA Division II, was not drafted. If he were not picked up by an NFL team, he intended to use one of his remaining two years of basketball eligibility this year with the UCA basketball team.

"Landon kept working hard and kept in shape and got a call Monday," Conque said. "He worked out with the Cowboys before Bill Parcells and Jerry Jones and they signed him shortly afterwards. When Bill Parcells looks you over and signs you that quickly, that's pretty good."

Trusty, a converted quarterback, caught 80 passes for more than 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns during his college career.He was injured most of his senior year.

"I'm extremely happy for Landon because he's a quality person as well as a good athlete and he was a privilege to coach,' Conque said. "It says a lot when you can maintain a 4.0 average through college and play two sports two of those years. We always thought he had a big upside because of his intelligence and his character as well as his athletic ability. He's got a family now and he's a good family man.

"It's also a tribute and affirmation to what we are doing here at UCA in that we've now had three players sign pro football contracts the last three years."

Quarterback Brian Stallworth, who signed two years ago, is still playing in Canada as the No. 2 quarterback with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Patrick Smith signed with the New York Jets last year as a deep-snapper.

"A real plus with this is Landon is going to be playing in a tight end friendly system," Conque said.

Conque said Trusty told him he went through his first skeleton drill Tuesday afternoon and caught a pass.

"He told me he wasn't sure what the play was called," Conque said. "I told him to now go back and make sure he learns the play."

[Hollywood Henderson]

TE is a very important position on offense for Parcells, he likes them big and able to make catches...

O think we will make a bigger commitment to our running game with J.Jones & a improved Online & Key to help block...

Anderson not at FB also helps get a better blocker on the field at FB...

Lets get back to some smash mouth football!

[big dog cowboy]

Robinson better be one hell of a good deep snapper. If anyone steps up and proves that they can do it he will be a goner.

[speedkilz88]

Robinson better be one hell of a good deep snapper. If anyone steps up and proves that they can do it he will be a goner.
The Cowboys consider him the best deep snapper in the league. Even most football magazines will name him one of the best in the league in his write ups. The Cowboys also have paid most of his contract in signing bonus.