Tulsa World: Plethora of passers in Big 12

TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

		Sports Editor Mike Strain
		Sports Columnist Dave Sittler
		The Picker Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

Plethora of passers in Big 12
Daniel is preseason pick, but others have talent, too

.

OU’s Sam Bradford is one of several starting QBs returning inthe Big 12 Conference in 2008. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World file

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
Published: 7/27/2008 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 7/27/2008 2:36 AM

Daniel is preseason pick, but others have talent, too.

Who's your All-Big 12 quarterback?

Is it the hotshot senior who rewrote school records on his way to winning the North Division? Or the humble kid who set NCAA marks and led his team to the conference crown as a freshman?

Or is it the little guy who all but Flutied his team to its first Orange Bowl crown? What about the prolific gunslinger out in West Texas? Or the can't-miss NFL prospect in the Flint Hills of Kansas? Or the run-pass proficiency of the guys at the A&M schools? Or the slick playmaker in the capital city of Texas? Or the new guy in the Land of Corn?

Iowa State coach Gene Chizik puts it another way.

"It's the dangest thing I've ever seen," he said. "Do you want your eyes poked out or your nose cut off? This guy this week is going to throw for 500 yards. The guy next week is going to rush for 100 and throw for 400."

Missouri's Chase Daniel was first-team All-Big 12 last year, and is the preseason pick in 2008. But why not Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, who led the nation in pass efficiency and directs the defending Big 12 champion? Why not Kansas' Todd Reesing, who threw just seven interceptions last year in leading KU to a storybook season? Why not Texas Tech's Graham Harrell, who passed for more than three miles last year — literally, 5,705 yards? Why not Kansas State's uber-talented Josh Freeman? Why not Oklahoma State's Zac Robinson or Texas A&M's Stephen McGee? Why not Texas' Colt McCoy

or Nebraska's Joe Ganz? And don't discount Colorado's scrappy Cody Hawkins. By season's end, any one of those 10 could take home All-Big 12 honors.

"It's very challenging," said OU coach Bob Stoops, "because they're so efficient at throwing the ball."

Not too bad at running, either. In 2007, those 10 QBs passed for 30,548 yards, rushed for 3,970 yards (before sacks) and combined for 302 touchdowns.

First-year Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini, who worked previously at OU and Nebraska and last year coordinated the defense for national champion LSU, remembers seeing the huge numbers put up by Big 12 quarterbacks.

"For a defensive guy, it woke me up a little bit," Pelini said.

A quick look at 2007:

Of the nation's 119 Bowl Subdivision teams, five Big 12 quarterbacks ranked among the top 15 nationally in passer efficiency (Bradford led with a 176.5 rating). Six ranked among the top 28 in total offense (Harrell led with 431.8 yards per game). Seven Big 12 QBs averaged better than 250 yards passing per game.

"I don't know if there's been a year in any conference that's had this many great quarterbacks," said Kansas State defensive end Ian Campbell. "I've seen a lot of great quarterbacks come through the Big 12 Conference, but I don't know if I've seen this many in one year."

Everybody, of course, has their favorite. Missouri coach Gary Pinkel favors Daniel.

"He's got the two qualities that I think you have to have for greatness in a quarterback: that's the mental and physical toughness, and the other is he's a tenacious competitor," Pinkel said. "I think you can look at quarterbacks all over the country in the NFL and college football, if you don't have those two things, you'll never have greatness. You'll never have it. And he's got both, at the highest level. He's a tough son of a gun mentally and physically, and he's just a remarkable competitor. When you throw that in there, you've got somebody special."

K-State defensive back Chris Carney is naturally fond of Freeman, but sees all sides of the argument.

"Obviously the league is very good with quarterbacks," Carney said, "but I think Josh is on top of it all. He has been under the radar. I mean, that's kind of hard to see why. But we've got great quarterbacks all through the Big 12, so somebody is going to go unmentioned."

John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

Newspaper View Print this story

Bookmark

COMMENTS

Add your comment

Show: Most Recent Comment First

0 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.