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Thu November 30, 2006

Taylor story is familiar

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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.

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