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In Tommy Grady's big debut with the Utah Blaze, his first possession stalled.

The Tampa Bay Storm held the quarterback to a fourth-down incompletion on his first drive, letting the air out of the team's home opener at EnergySolutions Arena.

But on the next possession, Grady calmly led a touchdown drive. And then another. And then another. In fact, the lanky signal-caller threw for a total of seven touchdowns and ran for two more before the offense stalled again — in the last possession of the fourth quarter.

His stat-stuffing performance gave Utah a 72-36 massacre of the Storm, and gave hope to a franchise looking for some. The game showcased one of the laid-back Californian's greatest gifts: his ability to let bad plays go.

"It's kind of a rare thing to see in a quarterback," receiver Aaron Boone says. "You see a lot of guys who make one mistake and hang their heads for the rest of the game. But Tommy bounces back well: He can make a big play whenever we need it, and the bad ones are like water off his back.

The 26-year-old is an undeniable star in the Arena Football League. He is the AFL's top passer and leads Utah's No. 1 scoring offense — Grady looks as if he was made for the role.

"He approaches the game like a pro, with a calmer approach," offensive coordinator Matt Sauk says. "He's exceeded where I've expected him to be at this point, and that's a tribute to how hard he's worked to learn this offense."

But Grady hasn't always been the golden boy. Before coming to play for the Blaze, Grady was best-remembered by Utah Utes fans as a transfer backup quarterback — a highly touted recruit who never lived up to collegiate expectations.

As time has gone on, he's learned to let that go as well.

"I never lacked confidence for myself," Grady says. "It does feel good to be able to win out here, where there's a lot of people who might have doubted me."

It's easy to see how Grady, out of Edison High in Huntington Beach, Calif., became a consensus top-five quarterback nationally among scouts. His 6-foot-7 frame gives him a commanding vantage of the field. The unmistakable zing on his gap-squeezing passes showcases the arm strength that made USC, Oklahoma and other Division I schools salivate.

Grady went to Oklahoma, finding himself stuck solidly on the depth chart behind eventual Heisman winner Jason White. The next spring, he competed with Rhett Bomar for the starting job, but found out that he wouldn't be able to play in the fall — Grady declined to offer specifics.

He decided to go to Utah, where he would have the chance to work with offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig, who coached Grady's brother at Fresno State. But after sitting out a year, Grady found himself No. 2 again — this time behind starter Brian Johnson, a mobile passer who was a better fit for the spread.

He mulled over another transfer back to OU before Utah coach Kyle Whittingham talked him out of it. When Grady looks back, he sees the naivete of his seesaw approach to college football.

"I was more arrogant then," Grady says. "Coming out as a top prospect, I expected to start right away. But when you get to a place like OU, everyone's an All-American. I wasn't as focused on football as I should have been, but I think the experience made me a tougher person."

So Grady rode out his remaining years donning a clipboard and a headset on the sideline more often than a football and a helmet on the field. But there was a shining moment in an underwhelming tenure with the Utes: When Johnson was injured at the start of the 2007 season, Grady started three games.

His best performance came in a dominant 44-6 win over No. 11 UCLA, in which Grady threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns. The memory makes him smile still.

"I probably prepared for that game harder than any in my life," he says. "We started 0-2, so we had to win. I think Coach Ludwig really unleashed me a little and gave me a shot that I was looking for. It was definitely emotional for me."

Not long after college, Grady joined the Cleveland Browns but was released within a year. He kept his dim pigskin dreams alive by signing with the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz, then of the AFL developer league, af2. When the team joined the AFL the following year, Grady had a reawakening.

As the starting quarterback, Grady threw for 4,307 yards and 81 touchdowns against 17 interceptions. The team went only 6-10 on the season, missing the playoffs — but it was still better than the Blaze limping to a 2-14 record.

Utah coach Ron James, in a search for his quarterback of the future, saw Grady in action and quickly put him at the top of his signal-caller wish list.

"You can see he's a classic pocket passer: He's got a quick release, great arm strength, good footwork," James says. "When we got Matt as our offensive coordinator, we knew he would be a great fit for his system. He was the one guy we went after right away."

The attraction turned out to be mutual. Oklahoma's organization was in dire straits, and Grady knew Sauk, whose offensive schemes helped Spokane win the Arena Bowl, would offer him a chance to show his talents to the NFL.

So far, the plan has worked out better than anyone could've hoped. In fact, Grady has done things his teammates didn't even know he could do.

"I was concerned that people said that he had a slow release and couldn't make reads quickly in college, but honestly I haven't seen anything like that since he's been here," Boone says. "He makes good decisions, and he creates plays when he's under pressure — he's even run for a first down or two. I didn't think he was capable of that."

You'll never hear Grady yell on the field, either. He earns his teammates' respect with an unwavering steely demeanor, whether it's first-and-10 or fourth-and 1.

"He's the type of player people want to be around," James says. "Last year we didn't have a quarterback who could exude that confidence, but players pick up on that when he has it. He has a stoic professionalism."

Grady's dream is still the NFL, and recent workouts with the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals indicate that those dreams are still afloat. And for all that he's been through and all the mistakes he's made, Grady doesn't let it discourage him from his high ambitions.

After all, that's his gift.

"Everything happens for a reason, and you can only work as hard as you can to get back," he says. "I regret some of the things I've done, but I move on to the next day and don't look back."

kgoon@sltrib.comTwitter: @kylegoon —

Tommy Grady file

Hometown • Huntington Beach, Calif.

• Three-sport athlete at Edison High School (Calif.)

• No. 5 QB by Scout.com and No. 3 pro-style QB by Rivals.com

Career college stats • 846 yards passing, six touchdowns, six interceptions

Record as AFL starter • 10-15 (3-3 with the Blaze)

Noteworthy • Leads AFL with 315 passing yards per game this season. … Blaze are the No. 1 scoring offense with Grady as quarterback.