bennychico11
All-Conference
http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2008/0...ad090914904.txt
link has video with Ganz interview
It hadn’t felt like a chore to watch football, but now it seemed a rotten way for Joe Ganz to spend a few hours.
“(It) sucked, just terrible, watching all those games on TV. It was awful,” said the man now intent on being the man. “I couldn’t even watch some of those games.”
Ganz was referring to last December, fresh off the bitterness of a losing season. Here was all this football on TV, but no game to play. Rare is a linebacker’s hit that hurt as much as that.
“It’s just a feeling you don’t want anymore,” Ganz said Monday, two days before spring practice begins with him as Nebraska’s No. 1 quarterback.
If you don’t think that’s a big deal, then you don’t know the story of Ganz, one of those talents who for a great while seemed destined to forever play the role of humble guy in the shadows.
But opportunity arose late last season, deep into the fourth quarter of a game against Texas. Sam Keller went down. The backup stepped up.
With NU driving and behind by 11 points, the new leader came into the huddle. How’d he handle this? Confidently. That’s Joe, everyone says. Always confident. A touchdown was soon on the board.
Pressure doesn’t melt him like it does some. Senior receiver Nate Swift thinks of all those practices. When was Ganz the best? Answer: When the clock was running out.
“In practice, two-minute drill, it’s the best thing he ever does,” Swift said. “He’s always scoring, taking them right down the field whether it’s first defense, second defense, whatever.”
It was amid the pressure of that Texas game, Husker senior offensive lineman Matt Slauson said, when he knew Ganz could be something special.
“Everybody always knew Joey was good,” Slauson said. “But they didn’t know he had that in him.”
Three starts and 1,399 passing yards later, Ganz comes into his final season at Nebraska as a perceived budding star, a fan favorite, from anonymous guy to the one signing autographs at the airport.
A few weeks ago, Ganz was in Omaha catching an airplane back to his parents’ home in Illinois for spring break. People kept saying hello, wishing him good luck.
“You don’t just think they’ll recognize you in street clothes going to the airport, but it’s pretty cool, kind of a surreal experience to have people recognize you and say nice things,” Ganz said.
On Monday, someone asked the guy who is finally the front-runner at quarterback about motivation. What does he chase this spring now that everyone’s finally chasing him?
“I’m just not going to let anybody take it from me now that I’ve gotten to where I want to get to,” he said. “I have to work that much harder not to let anybody take it from me. I’ve worked too hard to let somebody come up and take the job from me.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find many who would predict Ganz won’t be the starter for the season opener against Western Michigan.
Still, if anyone knows what it’s like to be the guy being counted out, it’s Ganz. And so he said he’s not dismissing his competition — Zac Lee, Patrick Witt, Beau Davis, true freshman Kody Spano.
“I would expect those guys to compete just the way I did when I was the second or third guy,” Ganz said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from them and they can expect my best, too.”
Coach Bo Pelini said Ganz will come into spring ball as the starter, but believes the competition at quarterback is going to be very good.
“Everybody will get plenty of time to show what they can do,” Pelini said.
But it’s obvious the other guys have plenty of catching up to do. The head coach says things like “the sky’s the limit” when talking about Ganz.
“At this point in his career, he’s only touched the base of his talent of how good he can be,” Pelini said. “There’s a lot more out there for him and he understands that.”
Ganz said he was “relieved” that Shawn Watson returned as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator. Alabama was courting Watson for a similar job in January.
Watson and Ganz have reviewed all of the quarterback’s performances last season. Watson delivers reports on each game with grades and notes.
Ganz was good, but the quarterback wants to be better. Got to cut back on turnovers, not force things. He threw seven interceptions last season. It’s still painful to watch any of them on film, he said.
But he’s glad he got to experience it all — the good, the bad, all lessons learned.
“I’ve been in the heat of battle now,” he said. “I’ve been against top teams, the team that won the Orange Bowl. So I know what to expect. It just gives me that much more confidence going into spring.”
He’s confident, but also tired. The losses are old. This season must be special.
Said Ganz: “The worst thing in the world is losing.”
link has video with Ganz interview
It hadn’t felt like a chore to watch football, but now it seemed a rotten way for Joe Ganz to spend a few hours.
“(It) sucked, just terrible, watching all those games on TV. It was awful,” said the man now intent on being the man. “I couldn’t even watch some of those games.”
Ganz was referring to last December, fresh off the bitterness of a losing season. Here was all this football on TV, but no game to play. Rare is a linebacker’s hit that hurt as much as that.
“It’s just a feeling you don’t want anymore,” Ganz said Monday, two days before spring practice begins with him as Nebraska’s No. 1 quarterback.
If you don’t think that’s a big deal, then you don’t know the story of Ganz, one of those talents who for a great while seemed destined to forever play the role of humble guy in the shadows.
But opportunity arose late last season, deep into the fourth quarter of a game against Texas. Sam Keller went down. The backup stepped up.
With NU driving and behind by 11 points, the new leader came into the huddle. How’d he handle this? Confidently. That’s Joe, everyone says. Always confident. A touchdown was soon on the board.
Pressure doesn’t melt him like it does some. Senior receiver Nate Swift thinks of all those practices. When was Ganz the best? Answer: When the clock was running out.
“In practice, two-minute drill, it’s the best thing he ever does,” Swift said. “He’s always scoring, taking them right down the field whether it’s first defense, second defense, whatever.”
It was amid the pressure of that Texas game, Husker senior offensive lineman Matt Slauson said, when he knew Ganz could be something special.
“Everybody always knew Joey was good,” Slauson said. “But they didn’t know he had that in him.”
Three starts and 1,399 passing yards later, Ganz comes into his final season at Nebraska as a perceived budding star, a fan favorite, from anonymous guy to the one signing autographs at the airport.
A few weeks ago, Ganz was in Omaha catching an airplane back to his parents’ home in Illinois for spring break. People kept saying hello, wishing him good luck.
“You don’t just think they’ll recognize you in street clothes going to the airport, but it’s pretty cool, kind of a surreal experience to have people recognize you and say nice things,” Ganz said.
On Monday, someone asked the guy who is finally the front-runner at quarterback about motivation. What does he chase this spring now that everyone’s finally chasing him?
“I’m just not going to let anybody take it from me now that I’ve gotten to where I want to get to,” he said. “I have to work that much harder not to let anybody take it from me. I’ve worked too hard to let somebody come up and take the job from me.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find many who would predict Ganz won’t be the starter for the season opener against Western Michigan.
Still, if anyone knows what it’s like to be the guy being counted out, it’s Ganz. And so he said he’s not dismissing his competition — Zac Lee, Patrick Witt, Beau Davis, true freshman Kody Spano.
“I would expect those guys to compete just the way I did when I was the second or third guy,” Ganz said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from them and they can expect my best, too.”
Coach Bo Pelini said Ganz will come into spring ball as the starter, but believes the competition at quarterback is going to be very good.
“Everybody will get plenty of time to show what they can do,” Pelini said.
But it’s obvious the other guys have plenty of catching up to do. The head coach says things like “the sky’s the limit” when talking about Ganz.
“At this point in his career, he’s only touched the base of his talent of how good he can be,” Pelini said. “There’s a lot more out there for him and he understands that.”
Ganz said he was “relieved” that Shawn Watson returned as Nebraska’s offensive coordinator. Alabama was courting Watson for a similar job in January.
Watson and Ganz have reviewed all of the quarterback’s performances last season. Watson delivers reports on each game with grades and notes.
Ganz was good, but the quarterback wants to be better. Got to cut back on turnovers, not force things. He threw seven interceptions last season. It’s still painful to watch any of them on film, he said.
But he’s glad he got to experience it all — the good, the bad, all lessons learned.
“I’ve been in the heat of battle now,” he said. “I’ve been against top teams, the team that won the Orange Bowl. So I know what to expect. It just gives me that much more confidence going into spring.”
He’s confident, but also tired. The losses are old. This season must be special.
Said Ganz: “The worst thing in the world is losing.”
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