OSKAR GARCIA / The Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 6:00 pm
Zac Taylor has been instrumental in infusing a throwing mentality into a Nebraska program with a long tradition of running the football — bringing the Huskers from a losing record in 2004 to within one win of a BCS bowl this season.
On Wednesday, the senior quarterback was selected as The Associated Press Big 12 offensive player of the year.
Oklahoma linebacker Rufus Alexander was selected as the conference’s defensive player of the year.
Texas freshman quarterback Colt McCoy was picked as the offensive newcomer of the year and finished runner-up to Taylor for top offensive honors.
Baylor freshman linebacker Joe Pawelek was voted defensive newcomer of the year, narrowly beating Iowa State’s Ty McKenzie.
The selections were made in voting by 20 reporters who regularly cover the conference for newspapers in the seven states with Big 12 teams.
The AP all-conference teams will be released Thursday.
When promoting Taylor for All-Big 12 honors, NU coach Bill Callahan said the quarterback single-handedly made the West Coast offense the norm at Nebraska, which won or shared three national championships in the 1990s with a bruising, run-oriented offense.
“He’s flourished. On top of everything else, he just competes like crazy,” Callahan said. “He’s a tough competitor; he is relentless. He’s a guy you want behind the controls.”
Taylor is the first Nebraska player to win offensive player of the year honors since quarterback Eric Crouch in 2001.
Taylor joined the Huskers (9-3, 6-2 Big 12) after Nebraska went 5-6 in 2004. The next spring, he beat out 2004 starter Joe Dailey, who soon transferred to North Carolina.
Taylor has completed 62 percent of his passes this season, throwing 24 touchdowns and just four interceptions during this record-setting season, where he’s passed for 2,789 yards — more than 232 yards a game.
He has set the school’s single-season passing yardage record in consecutive years and broke a 32-year-old Nebraska record for career passing yards.
Taylor was a football vagabond before he showed up at Nebraska. He wanted to play in the Big 12 — his dad, Sherwood Taylor, was a defensive back at OU from 1977 to 1979 — and he made a verbal commitment to Oklahoma State when he was a high school senior.
But OSU changed coaches before he enrolled, and he wound up at Wake Forest. He didn’t fit in there, so he transferred to Butler County (Kan.) Community College, where he led his team to the national championship game.
Callahan was impressed with Taylor’s knowledge of offenses and offered a scholarship.
Taylor has been pivotal in sending the Huskers to their first Big 12 title game since 1999.
This season, Taylor led Nebraska’s comeback against Kansas in a 39-32 overtime victory and was the juice behind a near-upset of Texas.
But Taylor’s signature game was the 28-27 victory over Texas A&M. After blowing a 21-10 halftime lead, the Huskers found themselves down 27-21 in the final two minutes. Taylor finished the game-winning 75-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Purify.
Taylor downplayed individual honors.
“It’s all about the ring at this point,” Taylor said of a possible Big 12 title and a chance to play in one of the season’s biggest bowl games.
The Norman, Okla., native also said he hasn’t thought much about possibly capping his Big 12 career with a title win against his father’s former team.
“Maybe 30 years down the road I’ll look back and it’ll be something special, but right now it’s just another game,” Taylor said. “We need this, we want a championship, and I don’t want to finish my career second place in the Big 12.”
When he steers No. 19 Nebraska’s offense against eighth-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday for the league title, he’ll try to pick apart a defense led by Alexander — the top tackler on the Big 12’s best defense.
Alexander has 95 tackles this season and could become the first player to lead the Sooners (10-2, 7-1) in tackling in back-to-back seasons since Rocky Calmus, who played 1999-2001.
Considered an NFL prospect, Alexander announced in January he would skip the NFL draft and return to the Sooners for his senior season so he could earn his degree.
OU’s Bob Stoops was named the league’s coach of the year on Wednesday. Even after Stoops dismissed starting quarterback Rhett Bomar for NCAA violations and an injury sidelined star running back Adrian Peterson, the Sooners won a fifth Big 12 South title and a berth in the conference championship game.