Taylor feels at home this spring

By Darrell Laurant  |   Monday, March 13, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Nebraska Cornhuskers
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Last spring, Zac Taylor bloomed as the University of Nebraska's quarterback. This year as a senior, he hopes to ripen.

Coming into the 2005 season, Taylor was not only unfamiliar with the Nebraska Cornhuskers' offense after transferring from Butler Community College in Kansas, he had barely learned his way around campus after enrolling in January of '05.

"I really didn't know what to expect or what was going to happen," he told the Omaha World-Herald recently. "I didn't know if I'd be the worst quarterback in the country, or even starting, for that matter. This spring, I'll have the confidence from day one."

A 6-2, 210-pounder, Taylor set 12 school records at Norman (OK) High School -- but as far as the hometown Sooners were concerned, he might as well have been playing in Alaska. Even though his father, Sherwood Taylor, had been a starter at safety for OU and team captain under Barry Switzer, Oklahoma never showed much interest in the hometown kid.

"They had a lot of quarterbacks in their system," Taylor said later. "I decided not to get my hopes up."

So he committed to Oklahoma State the summer before his senior year, after attending a football camp in Stillwater. But somewhere between there and high school graduation, he changed his mind and headed east to Wake Forest. Unfortunately, Cory Randolph was solidly entrenched as the quarterback there, so Taylor first red-shirted and then sat. He communicated his frustration to his father, who started looking around for pass-oriented junior colleges.

That's how Taylor wound up at Butler, where he threw for over 3,000 yards and led his team into the national junior college championship game. Meanwhile, Bill Callahan had come to Lincoln from the Oakland Raiders with a West Coast offense. The incumbent quarterbacks had been recruited by the option-oriented Frank Solich; not surprisingly, they struggled.

Nebraska Cornhuskers assistant Jay Norvell became enamored with Taylor, spent a lot of time in the Taylor household (where a large framed photograph shows Sherwood Taylor tackling a Nebraska player) and Zac eventually became a "redshirt" in a different sense.

"I never hated Nebraska," he said. "I always liked watching Tommy Frazier, Scott Frost and those guys."

He entered spring practice as part of a four-way battle that included incumbent Joe Dailey, but won the starting job by throwing for three touchdowns in the spring game.

The season started poorly for Taylor, though. He may not have been the worst quarterback in the country, but his stats weren't anything to write home to Norman about -- 39 completions in 89 attempts, one touchdown, three interceptions.

But then he had his breakout game against Iowa State, throwing for 431 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-21 victory. He finished with 2,486 yards and 16 touchdown passes, including two against Oklahoma. For dessert, he orchestrated a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Michigan in the Alamo Bowl.

Now, it seems Zac Taylor's whole career has come from behind.
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