Weston Lunt (born October 7, 1993) 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 with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. After going

undrafted In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia f ...

, he signed with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

High school

During his junior season at Rochester High School in 2010, Lunt led the Rockets to a perfect 14–0 record with a 24-7 victory in the 2010 4A IHSA Football Championship over

Alleman High School Alleman Catholic High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Rock Island, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria. It is the second largest Catholic high school in the Quad Cities. School history Alleman High S ...

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

at Memorial Stadium. During his senior season, Lunt completed 253-for-346 (73%) of his passes, and threw 3,651 yards, 31 TDs, and 4

INTs Ints is a Latvian language, Latvian masculine given name. It is a short form of Indriķis, the Latvian form of Henry (given name), Henry, and may refer to: * Ints Cālītis (born 1931), Latvian politician and former political prisoner * Ints D� ...

in 10 games in 2011. This gave Lunt career numbers of 478-for-664 (72%) completions, 7,418 yards, 65 TDs, and 8 INTs. In 2011, Lunt led the Rockets to a second straight 4A IHSA Football Championship with a 42–39 victory in the over Richmond-Burton Community High School at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. In the state title game, Lunt set an

state title game record, throwing for 506 total yards. In fact, he started a state championship streak that lasted until 2015, winning the Rockets 5 State Championship in row. Lunt committed to play at the Oklahoma State University saying that he probably would have ended up at the University of Illinois if Reilly O'Toole had not already committed to play at Illinois. Ironically, Lunt would end up transferring to Illinois after his freshman season in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he would become teammates with O'Toole. Lunt was named a member of the 2011 Illinois All-State Team as selected by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

News-Gazette ''The News-Gazette'' may refer to: * ''The News-Gazette'' (Champaign–Urbana), a daily newspaper serving the Champaign–Urbana Metropolitan Area and Danville, Illinois * ''The News-Gazette'' (Winchester, Indiana), a daily newspaper based in Wi ...

, and the Illinois Football Coaches Association. Lunt was also selected to play in the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix. He was also named the 2011 News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year

College career

Oklahoma State

As a true freshman at

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

in 2012, Lunt was named the starting quarterback to open the season. He became the first true freshman to start an opening game for Oklahoma State since 1950 and the first true freshman to start a game since Tone Jones in 1993. Overall, he played in six games and started five, completing 81 of 131 passes for 1,108 yards, six

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and seven

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

Illinois

After his freshman season, Lunt transferred to the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. After sitting out the 2013 season due to transfer rules, Lunt was named the starting quarterback for the 2014 season. In the October 4 game at home against

Purdue 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 money ...

, Lunt was removed from the game with an apparent leg injury. Upon further tests, it was revealed that Lunt had suffered a fractured

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

in his left leg. The injury kept Lunt sidelined from athletic activities for a few weeks.

Statistics

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

, Lunt signed with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on May 1, 2017. On July 28, 2017, he was waived by the Vikings.

Personal life

Following his brief stint in the NFL, Lunt currently works as an insurance consultant at Troxell.

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunt, Wes 1993 births Living people Players of American football from Springfield, Illinois American football quarterbacks Oklahoma State Cowboys football players Illinois Fighting Illini football players Minnesota Vikings players