BY SHANE STARK

sstark@tylerpaper.com

The Chapel Hill sports community experienced tremendous tragedy in February, when a former star athlete was fatally shot outside a local shopping center.

But Bulldogs nation could encounter tremendous triumph this week, because another former standout’s name might get called from football’s grandest stage.

Matthew Tucker, a 2009 CHHS graduate and a senior running back at TCU, is considered a prospect for the 2013 NFL Draft, scheduled for Thursday-Saturday at New York City’s Radio Music Hall. The soft-spoken criminal justice major has been projected to go between the fourth and seventh rounds — then, perhaps, enjoy a fruitful career in professional athletics.

Tucker, set to earn a bachelor’s degree in May, is confident about his chances alongside the world’s gridiron giants.

“I’m a little bit nervous but I’m not really worried about that,” he said by phone from Fort Worth last week. “As soon as I get in, I’m going to get somebody’s spot.”

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Such bright-eyed confidence is perhaps good medicine for a sports community struck by severe misfortune in recent years, which has included a car accident that killed former lineman Derek Timms in 2007 and a helmet-to-helmet injury during practice that left freshman Dorian Timmons in a coma last fall. Another shocking blow to Chapel Hill’s collective mindset came just over two months ago, when an argument inside Broadway Square Mall spewed into the parking lot and erupted into mortal violence, leaving one person dead.

Chris Mass, a 2007 CHHS graduate, had exceptional dreams of his own after walking across the stage and entering college life as a wide receiver at Stephen F. Austin. But the engaging multi-sport star, who helped lead the Chapel Hill basketball team to state as a senior, watched his sports career end prematurely because of injury and then had to enter a life of normalcy.

But considering the way things ended up playing out for Mass, a normal life, in hindsight, should’ve been the least of concern.

On Saturday, Feb. 9, Mass’ friend, Jonathon Lamone Dews of Tyler, 29, got into an altercation with 25-year-old Ricky Neal Jr. of Henderson over messages sent on the social media platform Twitter. According to police reports, Dews and Mass followed Neal into the parking lot, at which point Neal retrieved a .40 caliber handgun and fired two shots at Mass, killing him.

Neal, who is facing charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, also shot at Dews, but missed.

Mass was 23.

Following the shooting, Chapel Hill Middle School athletics coordinator Bill Toon expressed his sadness about losing one of his former athletes at such a young age. The two last spoke during the fall.

“He came by the school, and we were just talking about what he was doing, and he wanted to know what I was doing,” Toon said. “It was just a normal conversation of when a student comes and visits a coach. I just remember when I had him in junior high; he was a good athlete and good person and always passed his grades. He was a junior high kid who loved the game of football and basketball and was just a good ol’ kid.”

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Tucker, who like Mass excelled in multiple sports in high school, has been fortunate since stepping onto the TCU campus and becoming a member of a Horned Frogs team that’s scaled to national prominence in recent years.

After rushing for more than 2,000 yards as a senior at Chapel Hill and earning Class 3A Offensive Player of the Year honors, Tucker ran for 676 yards and eight touchdowns as a true freshman at TCU and then ran for 709 yards and seven scores as a sophomore. A member of a talented backfield that included multiple ground contributors, he ran for 702 yards and 12 touchdowns as a junior and 531 yards and six scores as a senior while battling an injury.

Among his career highlights was playing in two Bowl Championship Series games — the 2010 Fiesta Bowl and 2011 Rose Bowl — and being a part of TCU moving from the mid majors to the Big 12, which earned the Horned Frogs a spot at the table alongside the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners of the world. Tucker considers the Rose Bowl victory against Wisconsin his fondest memory at TCU, which in large part is because the bowl is known as the “granddaddy of them all.”

The draft and his upcoming graduation should top the cake.

“College went by so fast,” Tucker said. “I have changed a little bit since high school, but not much. I’m going to graduate, though, and so that’s the number one thing of them all.”

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Projected to enter a league that places a high emphasis on draft day, which has become an annual holiday of sorts for football junkies, Tucker will spend next week in relative obscurity. While top picks such as Texas A&M offensive lineman Luke Joeckel (expected to go No. 1 overall) will walk onto the stage in front of a national television audience, brandish their new team’s ball cap and shake NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s hand, Tucker will follow the draft from a dorm room at the University of North Texas in Denton.

That’s where his younger brother, Andrew Tucker, resides as a freshman defensive back for the Mean Green. The younger Tucker is no slouch on the gridiron, either, having helped lead Chapel Hill to an unbeaten campaign and Class 3A Division I state championship in 2011. He also helped the Bulldogs to the state final as a junior, but Chapel Hill fell to Henderson in an all-East Texas classic at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

Andrew Tucker is proud of his big bro.

“I’m really excited about him being in the draft,” he said by phone from Denton. “I’m trying to work and try to be just like him so I can be where he’s at. (If his name is called) I’m just going to be like, he made it and now it’s my time.”

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According to multiple projections, Matthew is expected to get drafted somewhere between the fourth and seventh rounds, but also could go undrafted and be forced to enter the NFL as a free agent, such as Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Tucker, listed at 6-0, 221 in his nfl.com draft profile, is described on the site as being “mixed in with a good number of short, speedy runners, Tucker brings the weight to the table.”

Tucker, who was hampered by an ankle injury last fall and saw limited action following the SMU game, recorded a 4.55 seconds 40-yard dash time at the NFL combine, plus had a 34.5 inch vertical jump and a 118.0 inch broad jump. Such statistics are taken into high regard by pro scouts when grading prospects, sometimes even making the stock of potential draftees plummet.

But that being said, Tucker wasn’t particularly impressed by the combine.

“Well, the combine was kind of overrated,” he said. “We did a lot of health x-rays and stuff like that. But the pro day was good. It was simple. It wasn’t hard stuff. The drills were kind of easy. But I was surprised, myself, to get invited to the combine.”

Whether Tucker is drafted in the middle rounds or has to find an NFL home through rookie free agency, he’ll still cultivate light for a Chapel Hill sports community that’s experienced an abundance of heartbreak off the field. One of his goals is to meet Palestine native and Minnesota Vikings great Adrian Peterson, who is currently producing a legendary career and is Tucker’s favorite player.

“I’m going to meet him,” he said with confidence, prior to adding: “I would love to go to the (Miami) Dolphins or the Cowboys. Miami has good weather.”