Welcome to the family Sam
According to a number of sources, former Arizona State QB Sam Keller will join the Huskers. After sitting out 2006, he will have 1 year left of eligibility. This isn't official yet, but it's supposed to be announced on Thursday.
This is a very odd situation. As currently as last Friday, some 4 days ago, he was announced as ASU's starting quarterback. Then on Saturday, the ASU head coach said he made a mistake and named their sophmore Rudy Carpenter the starter. This obviously shocked Keller who excused himself from practice to "evaluate his options." Sources point to him transferring to NU.
My first question is this...why does he want to waste a critical year in his football career, playing scout QB for the Huskers, in order to have 1 shot at playing QB for Nebraska for 1 year, all the while risking the exact same situation coming up in 2007, (with someone like Ganz, Hildebrand, or the kid from Texas beating him for the starting job)? The best case scenerio for him would be to win the job in '07, do well for a team that still probably is not a National Championship caliber team, and go in the 3rd or 4th round of the '08 draft. And what if he doesn't start for us in '07? Now he's looking at not even getting drafted.
Why doesn't he just stay at ASU? Sure he'll be the backup, but the moment Carpenter messes up, or suffers a crowbar to the knee-cap, Keller's right back in there. He finishes out his senior season, racking up yards, throwing against Pac-10 defenses, and possibly goes as high as the 1st or 2nd round in the '07 draft depending on how good his pre-draft workouts were.
I don't like this one bit. If this trend keeps up, we're not going to be able to bring in any blue-chip QB recruits because we keep stuffing our depth chart with JUCO's and journeymen.
This is a very odd situation. As currently as last Friday, some 4 days ago, he was announced as ASU's starting quarterback. Then on Saturday, the ASU head coach said he made a mistake and named their sophmore Rudy Carpenter the starter. This obviously shocked Keller who excused himself from practice to "evaluate his options." Sources point to him transferring to NU.
My first question is this...why does he want to waste a critical year in his football career, playing scout QB for the Huskers, in order to have 1 shot at playing QB for Nebraska for 1 year, all the while risking the exact same situation coming up in 2007, (with someone like Ganz, Hildebrand, or the kid from Texas beating him for the starting job)? The best case scenerio for him would be to win the job in '07, do well for a team that still probably is not a National Championship caliber team, and go in the 3rd or 4th round of the '08 draft. And what if he doesn't start for us in '07? Now he's looking at not even getting drafted.
Why doesn't he just stay at ASU? Sure he'll be the backup, but the moment Carpenter messes up, or suffers a crowbar to the knee-cap, Keller's right back in there. He finishes out his senior season, racking up yards, throwing against Pac-10 defenses, and possibly goes as high as the 1st or 2nd round in the '07 draft depending on how good his pre-draft workouts were.
I don't like this one bit. If this trend keeps up, we're not going to be able to bring in any blue-chip QB recruits because we keep stuffing our depth chart with JUCO's and journeymen.
posted by TC at 4:13 PM
5 Comments:
I agree with the last statement. I will only say that quarterback is but one position on a football team. Look at the NFL these days, you don't have to be a star to lead your team to success, even the superbowl. Maybe that's a stretch, but if you can put someone efficient and mistake-free under center, you can win a lot of games. Sure, the blue-chipper will probably have all the tools you look for, but our success rate with blue-chip QBs has bottomed out. They are either too pampered to want to come in and work, or there is too much pressure and the expectations are too high for them to succeed. I think this can work, short-term.
As for the rest of your post, it didn't make logical sense to me. He would have been an outcast on the ASU team, and anyone with any pride would not be able to stay in that situation. It is obviously his fault that he was not liked by his teammates, but in this case it is probably better to leave. I don't see how he would be a first round selection being a backup QB on a bad Pac10 team. Even if he got in the games, it's obvious his team wouldn't have been behind him.
If he can come in and be the QB that he has been, I don't see why his draft status would not be the same after practicing for a year at NU, and being the starter for 07. He will actually be playing against good defenses in the B12, and that will make him a better QB. As for dropping down to DI-AA or DII, his draft status would have plummeted. It would have been hard to be very successful in only one year total at a school.
As for me, I'm willing to take sloppy seconds on this one. We are going to get a guy who can play some QB, who will learn the system for a full year ( and maybe study film??) without the issue of "how are we going to get him playing time?", because he isn't eligible. By '07 we will have a guy who knows the system and can hopefully have some success. We were effed at QB anyways for '07. In '08 we will be able to turn to a RS-Soph in Patrick Witt or some other juco we recruit between now and then after Witt transfers.
regardless, it is a steal for NU. i was extremly doubtful about next years squad, but with an experienced quarterback (even not with callahan's offense) next years squad looks dangerous. besides the loss of the 4 DL, almost the entire team returns. all that was missing was a qb. for the last 6 months i always thought that 2006 would be a better year for NU than 2007, but not anymore. stable full of rbs, tons of talent at lb, wr. a seasoned o-line. and a secondary that will be much improved (bowman, grixby, jones....). 2007 will be fun.
TC,
I'm sorry, but I have to agree with Sto. If you remember in the article it said that the coach changed his mind after meeting with "some people" and some players. It's clear that important people at ASU (including at least part of the team) don't want him there. It would have been bad for him on all accounts. He would have been leaving his future more to chance than anything else. I like the move for NU here. As long as we can get blue chippers for our spots where athletic ability is a more of an upside (with the exception of Vick and Vince) I'm fine with getting experienced QB's that aren't named Beau. This gives us a very viable option for '07. Without him we would be depending on Joe Ganz, a true freshman, or another transfer that could easily turn into another Davis.
TC,
This is a great pickup for NU. I agree with everyone else. We need this very badly, and I see no way that it will effect future Blue Chippers.
What?!? Luke disagrees with something I said?!? I'm fucking shocked.
I haven't said that this is a bad move for NU. We are getting an experienced, proven QB who could do great things for us in 2007. I only wondered outloud what the mindset of high school QB's will be towards Nebraska if we continue bringing in these transfers and JUCO's like Taylor, Keller, and Hildebrand. But then maybe Sto is right, in that the best people to put out there as our QB are experienced, proven guys like Taylor, Keller and Hildebrand.
I also think this isn't the best move for Keller. Rudy Carpenter said in Arizona newspapers today that there was basically no issues between him, the players and Keller. He called him a friend which he misses on the field. It seems to me that Keller may have overreacted to the situation (no matter how shocking it might have been) and took it to a point where there was no way he could go back. But he can't undo what's been done and so now he's a Husker.
TC
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