Omaha
LINCOLN - Patrick Witt has the pedigree, the intelligence and the physical ability to succeed as a quarterback at Nebraska. So says the only high school coach who has actually led him into a football game.
Cecil Flowe, coach at Parkview High in suburban Atlanta, said he was not surprised to hear last week of Witt's commitment to the Huskers. The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder quarterbacked Parkview to a 10-3 record last season as a junior and a berth in the playoff quarterfinals of Georgia's largest class.
Witt has since transferred to Class 5-A Wylie (Texas) High School - his fourth school in three years - after a brief stint at Highland Park High School in Dallas. Still, his pledge to NU ranks as the most important recruiting catch for the Huskers this year, if only because of their unstable situation at the QB position behind senior starter Zac Taylor.
"I'm thrilled for Patrick," Flowe said. "He's a great kid, and he deserves this chance. It's Nebraska. I don't know what opportunity could be better. But he's going to have to work hard before he gets there, because he's not experienced running the type of offense (Nebraska) is going to ask him to run."
Flowe describes the Parkview system as "multiple," though last year with Witt under center it was somewhat one-dimensional.
For the most part, Witt handed the football to superstar running back Caleb King, a much-coveted college prospect who rushed for 2,768 and 19 touchdowns on 346 carries yards last season as a junior.
Witt, meanwhile, attempted just 8.5 passes per game. He completed 61 of 111 (55 percent) for 964 yards, eight touchdowns and six interceptions.
"When you've got a back like that, you're going to give him the ball," Flowe said. "It was nothing against Patrick and what he could do. He had a nice season, completed some important throws. But it doesn't take a genius to know what you've got to do with Caleb."
As a result, recruiters never paid much attention to Witt in Georgia.
That all changed in the spring after Witt landed at Wylie. He had hoped to succeed incoming Georgia freshman Matthew Stafford at Highland Park, the reigning Class 4-A champ in Texas.
His stay at Highland Park lasted only two months, ending with some talk that he might head back to Atlanta for his senior season.
"We talked some, and I think (Highland Park) had a situation at quarterback that might not have worked out for Patrick," Flowe said. "With kids, there's always a temptation at first to come home when something is not working out. We would have taken him with open arms.
"But I think this has probably worked out well for him."
The scholarship offers began to arrive soon after Witt won the starting job at Wylie during spring practice. Wisconsin, Texas Tech and Purdue, among others, offered before Nebraska.
Witt must complete only two required classes in the fall at Wylie in order to graduate in December. He plans to start school at NU in January and compete for the QB job with a group that includes sophomores Harrison Beck, Joe Ganz and Beau Davis.
The Huskers are also expected to bid for a junior college quarterback. Many of their other top high school prospects are headed elsewhere, including Logan Gray of Columbia, Mo., who eliminated NU from contention last week.
According to Flowe, Witt will handle the transition well to college.
The coach said Witt shares many traits with his older brother, Jeff Witt, a sophomore quarterback at Harvard.
The Witt brothers transferred to Parkview from Atlanta's Chattahoochee High School after Patrick Witt's freshman year. Jeff Witt, as a senior in 2004, then earned all-state honors and led Parkview to the state-title game, where it came up short in its bid for a fifth crown since 1997.
The elder Witt scored a 1,450 on the SAT. He has spent part of this summer tending to missionary work in South America.
When Patrick succeeded his brother last season at Parkview, he was the first non-senior to start at quarterback for the school since 2001.
"Of course there was a pressure," Flowe said. "He felt it, following his brother. But I told him that he had to be his own player. He's not his brother. They're both extremely intelligent guys, but they're different quarterbacks. Jeff was a smaller player, and he maybe ran the football a little better.
"But Patrick has a lot of strengths. He realized that and turned it into his own position."
Sounds like he could be a good one. We will see how his team does this year.
