Big 12 QBs: Slingin' it on the plains

David Yost’s team was up 14–0, but he was in some big trouble. Sitting in Chase Daniel’s room back in late ’04, Yost had scored a quick TD and then converted a Daniel turnover to up the count to double digits. Things became pretty uncomfortable.

“He stopped talking,” Yost says.

Daniel was still a high school senior, and he fashioned himself quite an X-box star. When the Missouri quarterbacks coach took the early lead in the video game, he couldn’t really enjoy it, because Daniel had yet to sign a letter-of-intent to become a Tiger. Yost started to worry that beating Daniel in an X-box showdown would yield short-term joy but lead to misery down the road. So, according to Yost, he pulled back. “I didn’t want to beat him, because he hadn’t signed,” Yost says, laughing. “As soon as he started winning, he was okay again.”

As you might imagine, Daniel scoffs at Yost’s version of the story. Yes, the coach did take the two-touchdown lead. No, he didn’t let Daniel win. “No way,” Daniel says emphatically.

Don’t kid around with Daniel when it comes to winning and losing, because he is committed to one and abhors the other. “He can be a little bit of a jerk when he’s losing,” Yost says. Missouri coaches and fans didn’t see too much of that behavior last year, when Daniel led the Tigers to a 12–2 record, finished fourth in the ’07 Heisman voting and threw for 4,306 yards and 33 TDs. He enters this year with even loftier goals after two years as a starter in Mizzou’s spread system, which is quite similar to the offense Daniel ran at Carroll High School, just outside Dallas. “I can’t get anymore comfortable than I am now,” Daniel says.

Daniel isn’t the only Big 12 quarterback who is relaxed in his position. Once a part of the country devoted to ground-based attacks, especially going back to its roots as the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences, the Big 12 is bursting with strong arms and big numbers. Daniel, Kansas’ Todd Reesing, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, Texas’ Colt McCoy, Colorado’s Cody Hawkins, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Kansas State’s Josh Freeman all threw for at least 3,000 yards last year and all return to build on those performances in ’08. In addition, Oklahoma State’s Zac Robinson and Baylor’s Blake Szymanski each topped 2,800 yards through the air and have come back for more. The conference’s two departing starters each threw for more than 2,000 yards last year, which used to be three years of work for a Big Eight optionmeister.

“High schools are throwing the ball much more than they ever have before,” Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis says. “We’re getting quarterbacks who have been throwing at an earlier age, because the defenses they’re seeing are so good you have to have the ability to throw.

“There was a time in Texas, where you’d go to evaluate quarterbacks, and they were all running the wishbone, the Houston veer or the wing-T.”

Daniel is a perfect example of how things have changed. He spent his prep years in Todd Dodge’s spread system at Carroll, throwing on almost every down. By the time he arrived at Missouri, Daniel was ready to play immediately. After appearing in 10 games as a freshman, he started each of the next two seasons. Never did he feel like a rookie.

“I did so many quarterback drills in high school, that I don’t think anyone in the nation was throwing as much as we did,” Daniel says. “We had winter drills three times a week where we threw for 45 minutes. That really helped my accuracy.”

Yost has pretty high standards in that area for Daniel this year, establishing 75 percent as the goal. That should be pretty easy, since Daniel completed 84 percent of his throws during the spring. That comes from complete control of the offense and the desire to attack the defenses, rather than merely exploiting soft spots. “He’s playing better this spring than we’ve ever seen,” Yost says.

Davis saw an improvement in McCoy during the spring as well. After an impressive redshirt freshman campaign, McCoy slipped some last year. His numbers were hardly horrible. In fact, he threw for more yards (3,303) than he had the year before. But his completion percentage dipped from a school-record 68.2 percent to a still-strong 65.1 percent, his TDs fell from 29 to 22, and his interception total climbed from seven to 18. It wasn’t a disastrous season, but ’07 did feature a second straight loss to Texas A&M and three total defeats for the second year in a row.

Davis blames a couple factors for McCoy’s stumble. The first was the offensive line, which lost three ’06 starters and struggled early to provide adequate protection. Compounding that trouble was Davis’ decision to give McCoy more responsibility early in the season than he had in ’06. That made sense, because the quarterback was no longer a rookie and should have been up to the challenge. But as the line struggled, so did McCoy. He forced some passes, suffered from some bad luck on tipped balls and needed half the season to get comfortable again.

“When you put a lot on a quarterback, you’re also putting a lot on the offensive line,” Davis says. “We gave him a lot of choices at the line last year to change protections and plays. While he did a lot of things right, the offensive line wasn’t ready for it.

“At midseason, we stepped back a bit from that, and we were a better offense.”

Listening to McCoy talk, you get the impression his coach is protecting him a bit. The line and McCoy’s struggles with the added responsibilities were factors in last year’s slump, but McCoy believes he became a little complacent after such a strong debut. “It’s easy to slip up during your sophomore year and think you know it all,” he says. It may surprise some that McCoy, who is described as conscientious to a fault by those around the program, lost focus early last season, but it shouldn’t be at all surprising that he made amends in the spring of ’08. “I took the game like I didn’t know it and did things differently in the spring,” he says. “This spring, I prepared better.”

With the offensive line — and quarterback — more experienced, Davis was able to unload the full playbook on the Longhorns this spring. He also stressed the need to be patient and understand that the defense wins every now and then and that punting is far better than throwing an interception. The result? “The best spring since I’ve been here,” McCoy says.

You can be sure that’s how things felt in Lubbock, where Harrell is poised to break former Red Raider B.J. Symons’ record for most passing yards in a season (5,833), after missing the mark by only 128 yards last year. The numbers will certainly come in Mike Leach’s pass-crazed offense, but Harrell’s mandate is not to pile up the statistics. “Coach Leach tells me every day in meetings that my job is to make people better,” Harrell says with conviction.

Harrell must make that his first priority, because the Texas Tech system gives him almost complete autonomy once he hits the field. He can call whatever play he wants, based on the defense he sees “from goal line to goal line,” Harrell says. If he were to be selfish, the Red Raiders wouldn’t be successful. To achieve tremendous individual success while still putting the team first is a more impressive accomplishment. Harrell certainly did that in ’07. In addition to leading the nation in passing yardage (5,705), total offense (431.8 yards/game) and touchdown passes (48), he helped the Raiders to a 9–4 mark and Gator Bowl win. With all but one starter returning on offense, Tech should be again among the best of the Big 12. Thanks to Harrell, there is a chance for something truly special.

“Graham is so level-headed,” Leach says. “Everybody’s going to have a bad outing or a bad series, but Graham doesn’t break down. He regroups and gets back after it quicker than most.”

There are quick recoveries, and then there are quick rises to prominence. Kansas junior Reesing certainly fits the latter. After exiting last spring as the backup under center, he turned into one of the nation’s most compelling stories, leading the Jayhawks to a 12–1 record and Orange Bowl triumph. Reesing proved to be the perfect triggerman for the KU spread, throwing for 3,486 yards, 33 touchdowns and only seven picks.

Reesing’s rise began in the middle of August, when he separated himself from former starter Kerry Meier in first-year offensive coordinator Ed Warinner’s attack. Once Reesing took over, it was up to Warinner to tailor the scheme to Reesing’s talents. “We wanted to take advantage of his ability to move, quick release and accuracy,” Warinner says. Reesing wasn’t perfect right away. In the Jayhawks’ fifth-game win over Kansas State, he threw three interceptions, something that had to change. “After that, he realized he had better take care of the ball,” Warinner says.

Reesing did that by quelling his desire to make big plays and working more within the offense. Since he was a sophomore, Reesing wasn’t asked to audible much. He brought the team to the line, waited for a signal from the bench and then went to work, focusing primarily on good decisions. By season’s end, that was a prime characteristic for the young man the Jayhawks call “Sparky.”

“Every umpire or referee in the Big 12 made the comment after each game about how in charge and composed (Reesing) was,” Warinner says. “He has a field presence when he goes out there. Everything slows down for him, and he can just play. He knows exactly what’s going on.”

At times last year, no one who followed Oklahoma State had a good grasp on what the quarterback situation was. Bobby Reid was in. Then he wasn’t. Zac Robinson got his shot. Then he sat. Finally, it was Robinson’s show, and that looked just right. Though he was in charge of the attack for only about a half-year, Robinson posted some impressive numbers, rushing for 847 yards and throwing for 2,824 in the Cowboys’ hybrid spread attack. As he heads into the ’08 season as the unquestioned first-stringer, Robinson is thrilled not to be worrying about anything but getting better.

“Last year was kind of tough knowing there was a guy over your shoulder who had been successful the previous season,” Robinson says. “You never knew if you messed up whether you would get pulled. I tried not to think about it and just got better every week.”

Robinson may have been peeking back to see if Reid was coming to take his place, but the junior never showed a bit of reticence on the field. In fact, Robinson was a little too decisive, especially when running the ball. Many times, the OSU coaches, particularly offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer, asked him to stop trying to be so aggressive when confronting enemy tacklers and to use the mental traits that make him so adept at understanding the Cowboy attack. “We had to tell him to be smart last year,” Brewer says. “He wanted to prove he was the guy, and he has a competitive nature. When you’re one-on-one (against a defender), you have to have an idea of what’s good for the team. I told him, ‘We need you for the next 25 plays. We have a fullback who can tear some people up.’”

The coaches spoke, but it’s hard to tell whether Robinson listened. During the offseason, instead of lifting weights with the quarterbacks, he did the linebacker workout. “I hit it pretty hard for a while,” he says. The result is a gain of about 10 pounds, more armor for collisions with angry defenders. “I feel as strong as I ever have,” Robinson says.

Colorado’s Hawkins doesn’t care how big and tough he looks, although he would prefer not to have a repeat of his redshirt year — 2006 — when his weight dipped to about 168 pounds. He’s up to a semi-robust 190 pounds now but still stands 5'11" and doesn’t exactly remind anybody of classic dropback gunslingers. That’s fine with him. “I want to look like a scrub, as long as my guys have faith in me,” he says. “That way, defensive backs will try to bait me, and I can hit them over the top when they think I can’t do it.”

While Hawkins works through his Napoleon complex, he’s also becoming more confident after throwing for 3,015 yards and 22 touchdowns last season as a redshirt freshman. Hawkins’ charge this year is to improve his accuracy (56.4 percent completion rate) and make better decisions (17 interceptions). He’s excited to be part of a program that has so many weapons and capabilities. By the time he’s a senior, the Buffaloes should be a Big 12 factor again, and Hawkins might just be considered a big-timer, if not a tall quarterback.

“Growing up, nobody gave me any credit,” he says. “I know Chase Daniel and Todd Reesing are shorter than me. I know a lot of 6'5" guys who have more balls knocked down at the line than me. I use my charisma and leadership abilities to overcome any physical shortcomings.”

While Hawkins was breaking in at Colorado, Bradford was enjoying a remarkable redshirt freshman season at Oklahoma, completing a ridiculous 69.5 percent of his passes for 3,121 yards, 36 scores and a mere eight interceptions. Okay, so he threw three picks during the ’08 OU spring scrimmage, but it didn’t really matter all that much. What does matter is that Bradford had a spectacular debut and is poised for even better things this year. So much is expected of him that the only thing that upset OU coach Bob Stoops after the scrimmage was not the interceptions, but the fact that Bradford tried — and succeeded — to tackle Alan Davis as the Sooner defensive back headed to the end zone with a pick. It brought back bad memories from last year’s loss to Texas Tech, when Bradford suffered a concussion tackling a Red Raider who had scooped up a fumble. “I told him ‘I don’t ever want to see that,’” Stoops says.

Kansas State coach Ron Prince was similarly intolerant toward mistakes and loafing during spring practice, in light of last year’s four-game losing streak that closed the season. One person he didn’t have to worry much about was Freeman, who set school records for passing yards (3,353), attempts and completions last year. The two-year starter worked under a new coordinator during the spring (Dave Brock) but didn’t seem to mind a bit. “(Freeman) continues to get better, continues to improve,” Prince said. “He had a terrific spring.”

He’ll need to carry that over into the fall, because now — unlike in past years — the Big 12 is a passing conference, and QBs had better be ready to throw it around.

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