Ganz sounds off on Witt's departure

[SwiftFan87]

The potential future starting Husker quarterback looked on as the former one fired footballs in front of the windbreaker-wearing men.

 

It should come as no surprise that Zac Lee was in attendance at Nebraska’s Pro Day given what Joe Ganz had to say after his workout’s completion on Thursday at the Hawks Championship Center.

 

Ganz said he and Lee, the junior quarterback figured to be the lead candidate to replace Ganz as NU’s starter, are close friends and talk all the time.

 

“He deserves it,” Ganz said of Lee. “He’s worked really hard. I just wish I could come back and compete with him and kind of push him a little bit.”

 

Ganz said it was boggling to him why Patrick Witt, a sophomore-to-be, left the program before spring football had even started.

 

“I didn’t really understand it. I don’t understand why a guy would want to leave,” Ganz said. “All you can ask is a chance to compete for the starting quarterback job at the University of Nebraska. I don’t understand why you would leave when he had such a good opportunity. ... It’s tough to see a kid kind of waste all that time he put in here.”

 

 

Ganz continued.

 

“You know, stuff’s not going to be given to you here. This is the University of Nebraska. Things are not going to be handed to people. People are not going to be playing favorites and you’re going to have to compete for everything you get. You’re going to have to compete, compete your butt off and win that job.”

 

Ganz said he wouldn’t have asked Pelini if he’d name a starter right after the spring season, as Witt was said to have done by a source close to the program.

 

Pelini didn’t want to comment on the matter then, but Ganz guessed at what the coach’s reaction might have been had he made such a request while he was a Husker quarterback.

 

“He would rip my head off,” Ganz said with a laugh. “First off, I would never go to Coach Pelini’s office and demand anything. ... I would never think about doing that to Coach. No way. I have too much respect for the guy, too much respect for his opinion and how he goes about his business and what he does and how he gets this team ready. I would never do that.”

 

With Witt departed, Nebraska’s quarterback race seems between Lee, true freshman Cody Green and redshirt freshman Kody Spano.

 

Given his experience in the system, Lee enters as the favorite when spring practices begin on March 25.

 

“I’ve been telling him not to get too big of a head. People are going to come up and tell you you’re the next big thing,” Ganz said. “Just don’t listen to anything people say. You know what got you here. You know how hard you have to work to stay here at this level. Hopefully, I set a good example of how hard you have to work and how you have to push guys to get this team back to the winning ways.”

 

Ganz said that he and Lee are very similar as players.

 

“I think he has a little stronger arm,” Ganz said. “But we’re very similar. We’re both shorter guys, both mobile, like to get out of the pocket, like to make things happen. In spring drills, he gets happy feet sometimes. We kind of kid him about it, taking off running a little too early. He likes to be the checkdown instead of letting other people get hurt. We just told him if you’re going to spend a whole season, you’re going to have to check the ball down and let other people get hit instead of you.

 

“He’s learning. He’s still young. He’s a lot like me. Of course, I’m a lot smarter and a lot better looking. But he’s kind of got that ‘it’ you talk about with quarterbacks. He’s a confident kid and I think he’s going to be a good leader.”

 

Ganz said he has spoken with Green and is impressed with how “grounded” he is despite all the hype surrounding him.

 

As for the adjustment period for Green, Ganz said: “It’s tough. Obviously coming from high school, it’s going to be a lot different. Vocabulary, what we ask a quarterback to do here. ... It all depends on the kid. I’ve talked to Cody a couple times and he seems like a kid who’s not going to let everybody on the outside get to him.”

 

While Ganz would like to play football at the next level in the upcoming years, he said coaching someday still remains a hope, saying it’d be his “dream job” to be back in the Husker program in such a role in the future.

 

“We’re all kind of cut from the same cloth, me and Coach Pelini and Coach Wats,” Ganz said. “We were never given anything, worked for everything we got. We don’t play favorites. That’s kind of how I would be as a coach. I have two great role models to model my coaching career after. Hopefully I don’t have to do that for a while.”

 

After all, his interview complete, Ganz was about to go take a personality quiz with the New England Patriots.

 

Hard not to root for a guy like Joe. I especially love this quote.

 

"We’re all kind of cut from the same cloth, me and Coach Pelini and Coach Wats,” Ganz said. “We were never given anything, worked for everything we got. We don’t play favorites. That’s kind of how I would be as a coach. I have two great role models to model my coaching career after.”

[Street Novelist]

Ganz telling it how it is...makes you really wonder about Witt's character; the way he just took off

[DRAINO]

Thanks for the post... I agree with ya on the quote... Hopefully Ganz gets a chance to be a backup somewhere

[Enhance]

Maybe Ganz will have the same fortunes as Cassel did with New England

 

One can only hope..

[Huskers Forever]

Joe sounded pretty disgusted by the whole deal, which does not suprise me with his blue-collar Chicago upbringing. Joe's daddy never interviened in his life, and he worked hard for an opportunity at NU. If I was a Coach at a team Patrick wanted to transfer to, I would think twice about accepting him into my program. He is a quiter, and that is the last thing you want in a starting QB.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Great to hear from Ganz again, he seems like a great guy and I wish him the best. He spoke the truth here and you can't knock him for that.

[hack]

i'm gonna miss that kid. back in the day when taylor was QB, i used to joke about how nobody... and i mean NOBODY... held a clipboard like joe ganz.

 

how little did any of us know. best of luck to him.

[zoogs]

Hahahaha, Joe is hilarious. "Of course, I'm a lot smarter and better-looking." Mann...and all the trash talk he piles on Zac Taylor. Going to miss this guy lots.

[huskered17]

Maybe Ganz will have the same fortunes as Cassel did with New England

 

One can only hope..

 

 

There is an opening there.

 

GBR!!!

[fishnfrank]

What a great guy. I hope he does well in the futere, as i'm sure he will. He always has a positive attitude, and you have to have that. I also agree with the comment about Witt, I don't want somebody with that kind of attitude around anyway. I think we will be fine with the backup that we have. GO BIG RED

[Cy the Cyclone]

I heard Witt is going to transfer to Ohio where he can compete head to head with that other Big 12 quitter Phil Bates....

[Hunter94]

i sometimes wonder how much better Ganz would have been if Cally had played him sooner....at least we got to see his leadership and guts before he left......smart kid, good model for others...he held on when he probably should have been playing sooner.....Witt??...go figure??

[Pedro Guerrero]

Here is Witt’s response to “lovebug” Ganz.

 

Witt later described his former teammate's comments as "pure speculation."

 

"Joe clearly has no idea why I made the decision that I did," Witt said in a written statement, "and I don't expect him to. There is more to my life than football, and that will be evident when I decide upon my next school."

 

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=3918...;u_sid=10585427

 

Playing at NU isn’t the end all be all for a lot of people even ones that get the chance to do it. Just because some folks don’t understand why Witt left (myself included) doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the right decision for him and for the team for that matter. Patrick Witt will go on to be successful in life (probably more successful then if we would have continued playing football at NU) and you know what I hope he does well wherever he ends up. People have quit this team before and will quit in the future why can’t it just end when they are released why does it have to carry on 3 weeks later.

 

Everybody has or will quit something (maybe multiple things) whether they want to admit it or not.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Ganz is certainly entertaining and will probably be a fun coach to play for when he finally goes in that direction.

 

I'm guessing Witt will be going Ivy League from his school comment.

[C N Red]

Ganz is certainly entertaining and will probably be a fun coach to play for when he finally goes in that direction.

 

I'm guessing Witt will be going Ivy League from his school comment.

 

Yeah, definitely sounds like Ivy league. Didn't he get offered a scholly from Harvard or something when he was a senior? From what I remember he is ridiculously smart. I think he had a brother go to an Ivy league school too?

 

I don't know if anyone ever said what religion he is, but his brother went on a mission somewhere in the past. A mission might also be a possibility if he is LDS.