By George Schroeder
The Oklahoman
The Nebraska QB traveled a path similar to the one taken by former OU star Josh Heupel
LINCOLN, Neb. — The very idea seems like sacrilege, but he doesn’t shy away. Tell
Zac Taylor he resembles his favorite player, and he nods. “We’ve traveled the same paths,” says
Taylor, the Nebraska quarterback.
Son of a coach. An unknown journeyman. Setting records. Winning awards. And most important, fueling a major program’s return to winning.
Does this sound familiar? It should.
Because Zac Taylor is
Josh Heupel.
The comparison isn’t perfect. The Huskers aren’t going to win the national championship
Taylor isn’t in the Heisman race.
But still, the resemblance is uncanny — “scary similarities,”
Taylor says.
He should know. Six years ago, as a Norman High student,
Taylor celebrated along with other OU fans when
Heupel led the
Sooners’ resurgence.
Do you remember Heupel’s circuitous path into OU legend? He started at
Weber State, then transferred to
Snow Junior College, where he was plucked from obscurity by
Bob Stoops and
Mike Leach.
Taylor started at
Wake Forest, then transferred to
Butler County Community College, where he was discovered by
Bill Callahan and
Jay Norvell. Although the final chapter hasn’t been written,
Taylor has forged a special place in Husker history.
“He’s the epitome of a champion football player,”
Callahan says.
Still doubting? Then consider: When
Norvell, the Huskers’ offensive coordinator, went looking two years ago for a junior-college quarterback, he had a profile of the ideal candidate. A precise passer. A cerebral type, preferably with a football background. A tough, mature leader.
Basically, the Huskers wanted, well ⦠“
Josh Heupel,”
Norvell said.
Not that another
Heupel would be easy to find, of course. As
Norvell and other assistants scoured the country, they kept crossing guys off the list. And then, on the eve of a game at OU,
Norvell stayed up late into the night watching films of prospects.
He liked a kid from San Francisco. And one other, from a little closer.
Norvell didn’t realize just how close. That next day, the Huskers’ future watched from the Owen Field stands as OU manhandled Nebraska, 30-3.
Yeah, with
Butler County off for the weekend,
Taylor attended the infamous “hillbillies” game. He saw the Huskers run the ball — and the clock — instead of Callahan’s West Coast offense. He saw a program in dire need of a quarterback.
This wasn’t the first time
Taylor had seen OU-Nebraska, of course. He grew up around the rivalry. He attended the landmark victory in 2000, the climaxing moment in Red October.
As an impressionable high-school kid, he was enthralled by Heupel’s performance in that and other games. They got to know each other, just a little. And
Taylor consciously tried to emulate his hero.
“He’s a good person to model yourself after,” he says.
Even in unexpected ways.
Heck, when
Taylor contemplated leaving
Wake Forest, a 45-minute conversation between
Heupel and Taylor’s father was pivotal. They discussed why he left
Weber State, how he climbed back to Division I, and how he succeeded when he got there.
“He sold us on that decision,”
Sherwood Taylor remembers.
Like Heupel at OU,
Taylor has become a football scholar, mastering Callahan’s complicated attack to the point he calls the offensive line’s blocking assignments. At times, scooting up and down the line of scrimmage before the snap, pointing and barking instructions, he looks like
Peyton Manning.
After the snap, that particular comparison doesn’t really hold. Taylor’s talent is less like Manning’s and more like, well, you know. But his arm has been strong enough and accurate enough to take the Huskers’ offense “to another level,”
Norvell says.
He’s taken the program to another level, too. And he’s become a Husker hero, idolized by kids and adults alike — many wearing his No. 13 on their bright red jerseys.
No, the Huskers haven’t climbed all the way back to their former perch among college football’s elite. But they’re one win away from the conference championship, a berth in a BCS bowl. It seems they’re building toward a bright future.
And the
Big 12’s offensive player of the year is the biggest reason why.
Sound like anyone you know?
“I remember how much
Heupel meant to
Oklahoma,”
Taylor says. “To even be thought of on that level is pretty neat. It’s tough for me to compare myself to him.”
Tough for anyone. But for
Taylor and Nebraska, it fits.
[5 hrs ago]
