Mario Urrutia, Jr. (born January 18, 1986) 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 wi ...

wide receiver. Urrutia is also a co-owner of the Kentucky Xtreme. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Urrutia was also a member of the New York Jets,

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

Hartford Colonials The Hartford Colonials, originally the New York Sentinels, were a professional American football team that played in the United Football League in its 2009 and 2010 seasons. A charter member of the UFL, the Sentinels began play in 2009 nominally ...

Sacramento Mountain Lions The Sacramento Mountain Lions was a professional American football team based in Sacramento, California that played in the United Football League. The franchise originated as the California Redwoods, and played its home games in San Francisco and ...

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did not submit proper ...

, New Orleans VooDoo, Kentucky Xtreme and

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

Early life

Born the son of Ruth Annette and Mario Urrutia, Sr., Urrutia attended Fern Creek High School in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, where he was a member of the Tigers football team. Urrutia committed to the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

on January 18, 2004. He chose Louisville over football scholarships from

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

College career

In Urrutia's freshman year, he was named second-team All

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. Catching 37 passes for 797 yards, he ranked third on the team in both statistics. He was also named a '' Sporting News'' All-American. While the squad went 12-1, including a win over

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

champion Wake Forest in the

2007 Orange Bowl The 2007 FedEx Orange Bowl game was a college football Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl game following the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The game was played on January 2, 2007, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The g ...

, Urrutia had his best statistical season during this year, catching a career-high 58 balls for 973 yards. He also had 6 touchdown catches. He was second on the team in catches. Urrutia did not repeat the success of his 2006 season in 2007. He played in only 8 games, catching 35 passes for 501 yards and 3 touchdowns. He left Louisville on December 14, 2007.

Professional career

Utah Blaze

In 2013, Urrutia was assigned by the

of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

as a wide receiver. Urrutia had a big season for the Blaze, hauling in 142 passes for 1,675 yards and scoring 39 touchdowns. Urruita's big season landed him the Arena Football League Rookie of the Year Award.

New Orleans VooDoo

On September 6, 2013, Urrutia was selected by the New Orleans VooDoo during the dispersal draft.

Kentucky Xtreme

In November 2013, Urrutia announced that he would be joining the Kentucky Xtreme front office as a co-owner. Urrutia also played for the Xtreme.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Urruita left the Xtreme to sign with the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

's (CFL)

References

External links

Louisville Cardinals bioTampa Bay Buccaneers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urrutia, Mario 1986 births Living people Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky Players of Canadian football from Louisville, Kentucky American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers American players of Canadian football Louisville Cardinals football players Cincinnati Bengals players New York Jets players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Hartford Colonials players Utah Blaze players New Orleans VooDoo players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Fern Creek High School alumni