Clint Stoerner

Stoerner attended Robert E. Lee High School in Baytown, Texas, where he was an excellent student and a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. In football, as a junior, he started as a wide receiver and as a punter. As a wide receiver, he made 50 receptions for 670 yards (13.40 yards per reception avg.) and as a punter, he was named as an All-District selection. As a senior, Stoerner started as a quarterback and was an All-District selection and an All-State Honorable Mention selection. In baseball, he was an All-District selection. Stoerner graduated in 1996.

After being recruited by a number of colleges and universities, Stoerner chose to play football for head coach Danny Ford at the University of Arkansas for the Razorbacks. It was there that he was mentored by Razorback and former National Football League player Joe Ferguson. Stoerner would set single game records for pass attempts (52 against Alabama in 1999), pass attempts in a season (357 in 1997), career pass attempts (1,023), career pass completions (528), passing yards in a game (387 against LSU in 1997), passing yards in a season (2,629 in 1998), touchdown passes in a season (26 in 1998), career touchdown passes (57) and consecutive passes without an interception (134). Most of Stoerner's passing records have since been eclipsed by former Razorback quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson. Prior to his junior season of 1998, Ford was fired by Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles, who hired Houston Nutt as the new head coach.

Stoerner is known for fumbling the ball in a crucial SEC game at Tennessee. The undefeated #10 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks were leading top-ranked Tennessee 24–22 with 1:43 to play, and the Razorbacks needed only to make a first down so they could run out the clock. On a second down naked bootleg play, Stoerner stumbled on the rollout after right guard Brandon Burlsworth stepped on his foot, and he dropped the ball; Tennessee's Billy Ratliff recovered. A few plays later, Travis Henry scored Tennessee's winning touchdown with 28 seconds left and preserved their national championship season with a 28–24 victory.^[1]

Arkansas would be forced to share the 1998 SEC West Division title with Mississippi State, after falling to the Bulldogs in Starkville, Mississippi on a last second field goal, just one week after losing to Tennessee. Arkansas finished the season with a record of 9–3, after losing to a Tom Brady-led Michigan team in the 1999 Citrus Bowl.^[2]

Stoerner did gain a measure of redemption the following year in Fayetteville vs Tennessee. Down 24–21 late in the 4th quarter, he completed a pass over the middle to wide receiver Anthony Lucas in the end zone, Arkansas' defense held, and the Stoerner-led Razorbacks upset #3 Tennessee 28–24, mimicking the score from the previous seasons game.^[3] Stoerner would finish his college career by leading Arkansas to victory over the Texas Longhorns in the 2000 Cotton Bowl, 27–6. It was Arkansas' first bowl victory since the 1985 Holiday Bowl, and their first win in the Cotton Bowl since the 1976 Cotton Bowl Classic.^[4] Arkansas finished the 1999 season with a record of 8–4.

Stoerner is well known in the state of Arkansas for his passes to Anthony Lucas. "Stoerner to Lucas" to this day is a call that is widely known around the state.