Keller article

[Landlord]

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2007/0...e7333524589.txt

 

 

Steven M. Sipple: Is Keller too good to be true?

BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star

Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007 - 09:21:15 am CDT

 

Sam is awfully smart. Sam is savvy.

 

In some ways, if you’re a Nebraska football fan, quarterback Sam Keller must seem too good to be true.

 

Think about it. Keller recently was named Big 12 preseason newcomer of the year. Well, league media overlooked a reasonably significant detail.

 

Keller hasn’t even won Nebraska’s starting job.

 

Have we mentioned that Sam is smooth? The savvy Sam tried to impart on reporters Monday how much different it is playing in a game compared to practice. This may have been Sam sending a not-so-subtle signal. Something to this effect: With all due respect to my fellow (and mostly untested) Husker quarterbacks, please check my extensive resume at Arizona State and tell me I’m not the guy for the starting job.

 

“There’s nothing like a game,” Keller said during Nebraska’s preseason press conference at Memorial Stadium. “I’d be remiss to tell you a practice is anything like a game situation, anything like the games I’ve been in. Like against LSU or USC. That’s what college football is about. Playing the big teams and trying to match up against them.

 

“That is what I miss, and that is what I’m hungry for.”

 

Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said he plans to wait to name the starter until a week before the Sept. 1 season opener against Nevada. No question, Keller thinks he’s the man. But make no mistake, so does junior Joe Ganz.

 

In the court of public opinion, Keller clearly gets the nod.

 

In the court of public press conferences, Keller once again gets the nod.

 

Keller once again was impressive in front of reporters. He sparkles and shines every time in this setting. If he wins the job, he’ll make a great “face” for the program.

 

There were grizzled veteran writers in the room Monday who have seen and heard it all covering Nebraska football. They would be unfazed if Santa Claus walked to the podium. But Keller had those grizzled guys eating out of his hands.

 

Keller doesn’t work a room; he controls it.

 

If he controls the huddle like he controlled that room, well, God bless Joe Ganz.

 

But Keller has to be the starter. Right?

 

Right?

 

“I have the game experience,” Keller said. “And now I’ve had all this extra time to fine-tune things — to watch film, to throw to our wideouts, to work out. I’m as big and strong as I’ve ever been.”

 

Indeed, the 6-foot-4 Keller added 10 pounds of muscle to weigh 240 and now has the build of a linebacker. And, yes, he has big-game experience.

 

He started seven games in 2005 at Arizona State before a thumb injury ended his season. He torched Louisiana State for 461 yards and four touchdowns, with no interceptions, in a 35-31 loss. He threw for 347 yards and two TDs, with five picks, in a 38-28 loss to Southern California.

 

Hmmm. Five picks against USC. Should the Trojans again be licking their chops? Is Keller a gunslinger, a la aging Brett Favre? Well, a reporter threw out the notion Monday, and Keller bristled somewhat, but met the question head-on like, well, a gunslinger.

 

“That’s a fair assumption,” he said. “Some games I throw a lot of interceptions. But that’s because I play kind of fearless. That’s always how I’ve played. I’m a fearless kind of competitor. But at the same time, one of your best attributes can also be your worst — some erratic throws here and there.

 

“I can see those perceptions (gunslinger, gambler, etc.). However, I will tell you those aren’t true anymore. Because this offense really forces you to take what the defense gives you and almost kind of slow down. Take a check-down. Take a secondary receiver.”

 

Yes, the kid is seasoned.

 

He weathered the storm surrounding his transfer from Arizona State last August without his character being badly impugned. If there’s anything bad being said about him, it’s probably not true, he said.

 

“I’m just a worker,” he said. “I’m a grinder. That’s all I’ve done since I’ve gotten here.”

 

Callahan, of course, is wise to wait to name his starter. Let the cream rise to the top naturally, he says. To be sure, there’s no reason for haste. Make it a fair fight or risk creating factions on the team.

 

“I’ve made the best of it so far,” Keller said of his transfer. “But there’s this one last step — the most important step.”

 

Yes, of course, he badly wants to win the starting job. You can hear it in his voice cracking with emotion and feel his energy.

 

If this kid isn’t for real, he will have fooled at least one grizzled reporter.

 

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone who thinks that Joe Ganz has just as good of a chance as Keller is dreaming. I like Ganz, and I do think that he has a halfway legitimate shot and is better at a few things than Keller, but Joe Ganz could never throw for 400+ yards and 4 touchdowns against LSU. Ever.

[I am I]

he had all those yards and TD's his team still lost. beacuse he didn't have a defense or other players REALLY to help. now, he can do half that, and the WHOLE team will do their part and we will crush, son. CRUSH

[HuskerJosh82]

I'm really excited to see what he is capible of doing in the west coast offense, he could put up some Heisman like humbers this season.

[Foppa]

To be fair (and yes, college football isn't always fair), I hope if nothing else Ganz plays vs. Nevada. I think he deserves a gametime shot. But, of course, I'm not the coach. May the best man play.

[husker rob]

here is my take on this.

 

Sam will be the starter, and Joe will bet some meaningful snaps, maybe just a series or two in each half, and Zach will get some mop up duty, Patrick will redshirt

[Touchdown Tommie]

I hope Keller lives up to the expectations of the fans and of the coaches. As much as I liked ZT, Keller might single handedly put the Huskers and the WCO on top of the recruiting trail for other top athletes to come in here.

Look who has come already come...with a huge year and hopefully a BCS bowl, NU will be back to dominance.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I really think that Sam is going to be the starter, but Cally not naming the starter yet is probably a great thing because it's keeping the competition going.

[Foppa]

I hope Keller lives up to the expectations of the fans and of the coaches. As much as I liked ZT, Keller might single handedly put the Huskers and the WCO on top of the recruiting trail for other top athletes to come in here.

Look who has come already come...with a huge year and hopefully a BCS bowl, NU will be back to dominance.

 

Amen!

[OmahaPoohBear]

I wish Callahan would stop this charade about it being a "battle." Keller, a guy mentioned as a Heisman candidate, never would have come to be a backup to a kid that probably wouldn't start at UNO this year.

[Landlord]

OmahaPoohBear, if you are so sure that Keller will be the starter, why does it matter that Callahan is charading? Maybe if you look at the entire situation you will think a little differently. By stating that the starting job is open, regardless of how the players feel about themselves individually, they are inconspicuously forced to try that much harder to make it a sealed deal, so how in the world is this a bad thing? I agree that Keller will be the starter, but Keller himself has stated that the competition at the starting job is a great thing because it makes all of them that much better.

[OmahaPoohBear]

OmahaPoohBear, if you are so sure that Keller will be the starter, why does it matter that Callahan is charading? Maybe if you look at the entire situation you will think a little differently. By stating that the starting job is open, regardless of how the players feel about themselves individually, they are inconspicuously forced to try that much harder to make it a sealed deal, so how in the world is this a bad thing? I agree that Keller will be the starter, but Keller himself has stated that the competition at the starting job is a great thing because it makes all of them that much better.

If I was a player that had played well against teams the caliber of LSU, it may shake my confidence to have to compete neck and neck against a second-rate scrub. I would like Callahan to be honest about something, then maybe the players and the rest of college football would take him a little more seriously.

[huskerstag]

If Keller were to lose confidence because he's being asked to compete for his job, then he must not be that good after all. Mental toughness is vital to the qb position. He surely won't be babied by the defense, the crowds or the refs, so why should Callahan protect him now? If anything, I would bet earning the spot would give him more confidence than just having it handed to him.

 

Callahan has to the let the players distinguish themselves. If he doesn't, then he could find himself in a similar situation that played out at Arizona State. When Keller first arrived, there were probably some players who favored Ganz as the next quarterback. If Callahan just dubbed Keller the starter without making him earn it, the team could have split. This way, all the players get to see who the better quarterback is, and they won't be talking about how the competition was slanted in favor of one player or the other.

 

Also, why are we all knocking Ganz? Its true that Keller has played against the likes of LSU and USC, but Ganz hasn't had that chance yet. None of us has ever gotten to see what he can do, aside from the spring game. So maybe, just maybe, he's as good as Callahan says he is and not some second rate scrub. People said the same thing about Brook Berringer in 1994 and he did pretty well.

[husker rob]

OmahaPoohBear, if you are so sure that Keller will be the starter, why does it matter that Callahan is charading? Maybe if you look at the entire situation you will think a little differently. By stating that the starting job is open, regardless of how the players feel about themselves individually, they are inconspicuously forced to try that much harder to make it a sealed deal, so how in the world is this a bad thing? I agree that Keller will be the starter, but Keller himself has stated that the competition at the starting job is a great thing because it makes all of them that much better.

If I was a player that had played well against teams the caliber of LSU, it may shake my confidence to have to compete neck and neck against a second-rate scrub. I would like Callahan to be honest about something, then maybe the players and the rest of college football would take him a little more seriously.

if you watched the press confrence on monday you would understand why Callahan has not named Keller the starter yet, and will not until the week before the Nevada game.

 

in the PC, Callahan was asked about why he has not named a starter and his reply was that when Zach Lee was being recruited he promised him and his family that he would get an opportunity to compete for the starting job. Zach was hurt in his final game at SFCC and was not able to compete during the spring, and is just now getting his opportunity to compete for that position

[Landlord]

Also, why are we all knocking Ganz? Its true that Keller has played against the likes of LSU and USC, but Ganz hasn't had that chance yet. None of us has ever gotten to see what he can do, aside from the spring game. So maybe, just maybe, he's as good as Callahan says he is and not some second rate scrub. People said the same thing about Brook Berringer in 1994 and he did pretty well.

 

 

I don't think Ganz is anything close to a second rate scrub, honestly I think he is a legitimate quarterback, if only because of his knowledge of the offense. I think he could start at quite a few decent programs across the nation, and he has really impressed me. I just think that Keller is something truly special, is all.

[Hunter94]

i like the fact that he has cleared the way for Lee, Ganz and Keller to compete. it is only fair to see how far each one of them have come and we all probably realize that Keller will start, HOWEVER it is also good to know what the back ups can do, as it is likely that sometime this year, at least for a few plays, if not an entire series, we may well need another signal caller. let them compete and learn.