Posted: Saturday, April 15, 2006 7:00 pm
Nebraska fans arrived in droves Saturday, many probably hoping to analyze Zac Taylor’s potential heir apparent. Harrison Beck, however, sat out the Red-White Game because of a sore shoulder that reduced him to shot putting the football in pre-game warmups. As he watched, along with 57,415 sun-splashed spectators, he might have noted something that was glaringly — and perhaps alarmingly — transparent.
Taylor is a much better quarterback than any of his backups. He has lapped the field, folks. Yes, that includes Beck.
No, this isn’t a newsflash. It’s more of an advance warning.
Nebraska obviously has something good brewing for 2006, something good enough to take the Huskers to Arrowhead Stadium in December. Indeed, Kansas City, here they come.
But not without Taylor leading the way.
Joe Ganz is a Grade-A athlete, a fiery competitor, a hard-nosed kid. At this stage of his career, however, the sophomore isn’t ready to lead a team to a championship in such a rugged league. That was apparent Saturday for all to see.
Oh, Ganz could get you some wins, plenty of them probably, but he’s not ready for a title chase.
Taylor’s ready.
Saturday, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior deftly picked apart a band of reserve defenders who never had a chance. He finished 14-for-21 passing for 184 yards and three touchdowns in the Reds’ 35-7 stroll. Two of his passes were dropped.
His backups, Ganz and Beau Davis, were a combined 5-for-25 with an interception against a defense that never blitzed and remained in a base look pretty much all day.
All three quarterbacks wore “hands-off” green jerseys. Taylor should’ve worn a green helmet, green pants, green socks and green shoes. The golden boy is that valuable. He ought to draw a paycheck.
Bear in mind that Ganz has challenged Beck this spring for the top backup spot. Point is, Beck, even when healthy, isn’t in Taylor’s realm, either. At least not yet.
The gap separating Taylor from his backups stands as one of Nebraska’s primary concerns as it heads into summer. Think ahead to autumn. Every time Taylor gets thrown to the ground, and wobbles coming up, Husker fans’ hearts will sink to their stomachs.
Which brings us to the good news. Nebraska appears to have improved in at least a few critical areas:
n Offensive line. OK, so it’s not Zach Wiegert, Brenden Stai and company, but there appears to be fewer breakdowns and more overall athleticism, especially at the tackle positions.
n I-back production on the ground. You saw what I saw Saturday from three sophomores. Yards after contact. Powerful bursts of speed. Swagger. Versatility.
n Overall defense. The Blackshirts were good last year and will be better in 2006. Depth in the secondary appears to be the only pressing concern.
Improvement in those areas obviously would relieve pressure on Taylor, who operated Saturday as if he were playing a video game in his living room. He pushed the right buttons, and touchdowns ensued.
The junior college transfer entered last year’s Red-White Game with sweaty palms, but barely broke a sweat Saturday.
“I didn’t ask him to do a lot,” Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan said. “I just wanted him to manage the offense — get the guys in and out (of the huddle), make some simple, routine throws.”
Taylor is living proof that a strong arm is arguably the most overrated attribute of a quarterback. Yes, he has a strong enough arm. But his foremost quality may be his leadership ability and resiliency.
Taylor stayed cool even as the Red’s first scoring drive seemed to be breaking down in the red zone. He threw a terrible pass that bounced off of cornerback Titus Brothers’ chest. On the next play, he bobbled the snap. Then, on fourth-and-5, he fired a strike to fullback Dane Todd for 6 yards. A touchdown soon followed, as did a cakewalk.
Taylor, however, can’t do it all. An improved running game obviously would help matters. Remember, Taylor will be a marked man in 2006. He no longer will take anyone by surprise. But with fewer second-and-longs, there’ll be fewer opportunities for blitzing linebackers and safeties to try to knock him from the game. Oh, yes, they’ll be trying.
If Taylor does go down? Perhaps Nebraska will take to the ground. When Ganz took over the first-team offense in the second half, Callahan called seven pass plays (Ganz was 1-for-6) compared with 17 rushes. With Taylor at the controls, it was 21 passes and 30 rushes.
During the postmortem, Callahan seemed more concerned about Beck’s health than Ganz’s struggle. After all, this was to be a critical spring of development for Beck. The plan was for Beck to make big strides and reduce the gap between him and Taylor.
Instead, Beck missed a half-dozen practices, and the chasm remains.
We saw it Saturday. The Huskers have some OK backups — and a Big 12 championship-level starter.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.