Timothy William Stratton (born July 15, 1979) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...

. He played his college football at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

and won the inaugural

John Mackey Award The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, ...

in 2000. Playing for the

Purdue Boilermakers The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...

from 1998-2001, Stratton was the favorite target of quarterback

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees i ...

. He compiled 38 catches for 380 yards (10.0 avg) and 7 touchdowns his freshman year while finishing second nationally among tight ends in all three categories. He was given Honorable Mention All-Big Ten and he was subsequently named to the Sporting News freshman All-American team. He followed up with 49 catches for 593 yards (12.1 avg) and four touchdowns in his sophomore year. While being named First Team All-Big Ten. His junior year was followed by 56 receptions for 579 yards (10.3 avg) and two touchdowns, being named First Team All-Big Ten, named to the BCS All America Team and winning the inaugural John Mackey Award, given to the nation's top tight end. In his senior year, Stratton caught 47 passes for 423 yards (9.0 avg) and two touchdowns from

Kyle Orton Kyle Raymond Orton (born November 14, 1982) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for Purdue, where he started four straight bowl games. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL Dra ...

, Brees' successor as Boilermaker quarterback. He was named First Team All-Big Ten and becoming just the fourth player in school history to be named First Team All-Big Ten three years in a career. He also finished as a semi-finalist for the John Mackey Award. By the time Stratton finished his career at Purdue, he was school's all time leader in receptions at 204. He finished 14th on the school's list for touchdowns (15) and finished 20th in yards. His career average of yards per catch was 10.4 yards. Remembered at Purdue for his "childish energy and immaturity", Stratton nearly got suspended when a fellow student fleeced his helmet while Stratton climbed up the

goal post In sport, a goal may refer to either an instance of scoring, or to the physical structure or area where an attacking team must send the ball or puck in order to score points. The structure of a goal varies from sport to sport, and one is plac ...

after a come-from-behind win over

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. Prior to college, Stratton played at York Community High School in

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Nativ ...

while a resident of

Oak Brook, Illinois Oak Brook is a village mostly in DuPage County with a small portion in Cook County in Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 8,163. This suburb of Chicago has the headquarters of several companies and organizations including Ace ...

. Stratton was part of coach Joe Tiller's first recruiting class at Purdue. He resides with his wife and children in Chicago.

Statistics

Source:

References

External links

Purdue Boilermakers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stratton, Tim 1979 births Living people People from Oak Brook, Illinois American football tight ends Purdue Boilermakers football players