Conspicuous By Their Absence
This week the Big XII holds special media days in Kansas City. Each team’s head coach, along with three players travel to respond to questions from the media. I usually don’t find too much to get excited about as the coaches and players are less concerned with candor than with saying the right things. The reporters don’t blow you away with knowledgeable questions (one inadvertantly referred to offensive tackle Lydon Murtha as “Lineman Bertha�). But there are things that can be learned. Namely, which three players do the coaches consider worthy to take to Kansas City?
The Huskers brought Adam Carriker, Zac Taylor, and Zack Bowman. The first two names are no-brainers, but the fact that they chose Zack Bowman tells us how highly they think of this young man. Sure, Corey McKeon might have said something inflammatory, but guys like Kurt Mann, Jay Moore, Terence Nunn, and Matt Herian all would have been strong choices. Zack Bowman’s presence tells me that they expect big things from this young man in 2006. Knowing that, so do I.
But more interesting than Nebraska’s choices are the choices made by the other 11 programs. Especially striking is the lack of quarterbacks that were brought to Kansas City. Schools like Texas, Colorado, Texas Tech, Kansas and Missouri all lost quarterbacks to graduation. Apparently, none of these schools have found replacements that they felt were worthy of the trip.
Missouri might be the most surprising since there was so much buzz about Chase Daniel. It’s less surprising that schools with losing records a year ago (Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma State) failed to bring a signal caller.
Perhaps most surprising is that conference favorite Oklahoma left Rhett Bomar in Norman. The kid expected to lead a championship offense didn’t make the cut ahead of a defensive end and a linebacker (the third, Heisman candidate Adrian Peterson is completely understandable).
That left only Iowa State’s Bret Meyer, and Texas A&M’s one game starter Stephen McGee (that one game a loss to Texas) as the other quarterbacks with Zac Taylor. Considering what a huge factor a quarterback can be in the outcome of games and the fact that so many conference teams failed to bring their quarterback to Kansas City, I can’t help but be heartened. The fact is only Iowa State has a quarterback with the credibility of Zac Taylor, and the Cyclones have yet to show they can win the Big XII North in ten tries. The game in Ames will be a tough one that may well determine who is the best quarterback in the conference. In every other contest (including a possible Big XII championship game versus Oklahoma), the Huskers may well take the field with the better quarterback. You have to like what that means for NU’s chances of winning not only their division, but the Big XII.
Other Big XII teams may have better players than “Lineman Bertha�, but few if any it appears have a better quarterback than Zac Taylor.
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