- So winning a $5,000 dogfight and all the glory that goes with it must be worth the $100 million contract Michael Vick signed. Is this the most blatant example of keeping it real?
He's got more money than he could ever imagine, and he'll still risk it by continuing illegal antics he started when he was a teenager, making minimal money on a sickening enterprise, and by still associating with trash (his boys). Now THAT'S keeping it real.
From football's penthouse to its depths, Vick sabotaged himself
From the desperately tight spot he now occupies, you wonder whether Michael Vick can grasp how far he's plummeted. How much he's lost. How much he's given away.
Once -- not long ago -- he was the most spectacular football athlete in the world. Now, thanks to agreeing to a plea bargain on Monday, he's the perpetrator of the most spectacular fall from athletic grace in recent times.
Yeah, a lot of sports stars have done worse things. (If there are two things we've learned this summer, it's that Americans adore pets and animal activists are phenomenally vocal.) But few fallen sports stars had so much to forfeit.
This was to be his time. His era.
On the night of Jan. 4, 2000, fresh into the new millennium, Florida State beat Virginia Tech for the national title. And in defeat, Michael Vick took over football in the 21st century.
At least that's the way it seemed, watching it unfold in person in the Louisiana Superdome. The Hokies' redshirt freshman was a revelation -- the fastest quarterback anyone had ever seen, blowing away an ultra-fleet defense and possessing a preposterous arm. He threw for 225 yards and a touchdown and ran for 97 yards and another score, but the impact went beyond his numbers. Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden spoke with undisguised wonder about what Vick did to his defense.
He was sui generis. He looked like a new evolution of the quarterback position.
Fifteen months later he was the first player picked in the NFL draft, going to a city where he had the chance to play god: Atlanta, where they were starving for a marquee football star and an African-American athletic hero. In 2002 he led the Falcons to a playoff upset win in Green Bay, and in 2004 he led them to the NFC Championship Game. That winter he signed the richest contract in football history, for $130 million over 10 years.
He'd pulled himself out of a Tidewater ghetto and become a bona fide American success story. The possibilities seemed limitless. The sporting world was his.
Today, with a pile of dead dogs and criminal charges he has agreed to plead guilty to, Michael Vick has no ownership of the sporting world. Worse, he has no ownership of his future, having sold that and his reputation down the river in exchange for some low-class bloodsport thrills. He's all but helpless.
His immediate future is now dependent upon a sentence and the judgment of a commissioner with a proclivity for sledgehammer suspensions. If Vick is in an NFL uniform before July 2008, it would be a stunning upset -- and even that potential comeback date is pure conjecture.
But if he is in an NFL uniform in July 2008, don't expect it to be red and black. His long-term future will depend on the desperation level of some other franchise, away from the city that has adored him for six years.
The Atlanta Falcons have many self-inflicted reasons for their relatively inglorious history, but this episode veers more toward bad luck than bad management.
You can question the wisdom of building a franchise around a guy who had never grown into a star passer. You can question the wisdom of building a franchise around a guy who had never grown into a fully responsible adult. But Vick's immense talent made him worth the gamble.
So the Falcons went and got a fourth head coach to try to make him into the millennial superstar he seemed destined to be. They paid quarterback savant Bobby Petrino (who follows Dan Reeves, interim Wade Phillips and Jim Mora) a jillion bucks to come in and tailor an offense around Vick. They committed so strongly to Vick, they sent their talented backup, Matt Schaub, to Houston.
And then it all blew up.
We started hearing about the black-painted buildings in rural Virginia where dogs dueled to the death, or were killed by their owners after losing. And the more we heard, the worse it got, as fans holding out hope for a good explanation became sickened by the developing story. My 10-year-old son's No. 7 Falcons jersey stopped coming out of the drawer months ago, and I'd imagine the reaction has been similar nationwide.
Kids love athletes. But they love animals, too. There are plenty of other quarterbacks to root for who aren't facing the specter of prison time for dogfighting.
And so a guy who could seemingly run himself out of any predicament on the football field has run himself out of decent options. A guy who built his fame and game on stunning elusiveness is now trapped.
Supporters dwindling, teammates distancing, friends rolling for the feds, ownership seemingly ready to move on without him, league seemingly ready to exile him, justice system ready to incarcerate him -- it's been a stunning study in self-sabotage.
Michael Vick will have a second athletic act -- eventually, somewhere, with somebody. But it will never be the same as the first act. Not with all the promise and potential and expectation left unfulfilled.
His time has come and is now going, going …
- How would you feel if you knew you had a Super Bowl caliber team but a QB that couldn't start for the Kimball High Knights? Talk about a powerdown, Rex Grossman licks. I bet that whole team hates him. This guy is consistently in my crosshairs, going back to the Florida days.
Bears take control in 2nd half, overcome Grossman mistakes in win
INDIANAPOLIS -- Bad Rex was back at his worst Monday night. Not that the Chicago Bears needed any reminders of what happens when Grossman goes awry -- even in the preseason.
After struggling for most of Grossman's 26 plays, the Bears' backups bailed him out and eventually overcame the miscues to beat the Indianapolis Colts 27-24 in what had been billed as a Super Bowl rematch.
"I haven't lost any [confidence]," Grossman said. "I hope the Chicago fans and everyone else hasn't lost any. I'm a pretty optimistic guy. Just because I throw an interception in the preseason doesn't take away from a good camp."
It was more than an interception in Grossman's case, but it wasn't all bad news for the Bears. They scored on back-to-back series in the second quarter to take a 17-7 lead, then scored the first 10 points of the second half to break a 17-17 tie.
But this game wasn't merely about a win or a loss.
If Grossman intended to wipe away the inconsistency, mistakes and blown chances that have defined his NFL career, all he did Monday night was give his critics fodder.
A week after completing 8 of 10 passes in Houston, a glimpse of what Chicago hoped was a progression, Grossman regressed against Indy.
He fumbled three times, twice on snaps, threw an interception deep in Chicago territory and was sacked once. Even his one good moment, a 1-yard touchdown run, came with an unusual twist: He carried twice for minus-1 yard and a TD on the drive.
Afterward, Grossman blamed the fumbled snaps on everything from the crowd noise to sweaty hands. He didn't even try to explain the other fumble, which Robert Mathis swatted away as he sacked Grossman who finished 9-of-11 for 59 yards and with a sub-par passer rating of 51.1.
Bears coach Lovie Smith wasn't looking for excuses.
"Quarterback-center exchanges, we need to be beyond that," Smith said. "But we'll get past that. ... We haven't had a problem with that, and we won't in the future."
- National College Football News/Notes
- My dark horse winner of the PAC-10......UCLA
UCLA poised to move out of USC's shadow
LOS ANGELES -- UCLA football coach Karl Dorrell took his family to Maui this summer for vacation. To his chagrin, he was beaten one day on the golf course by his 12-year-old son, Chandler.
According to his dad, Chandler Dorrell is quite a player for his age. But if Karl's golf game is anything like his head-coaching career to date, he cards a bogey for every birdie.
Dorrell's first four years with the Bruins were characterized by a step back for nearly every stride forward. The record went from 6-7 to 6-6 to 10-2, then backslid to 7-6 last season.
An eye-opening thumping of lordly Oklahoma keyed a kismet-kissed 8-0 start in 2005, but that was followed by a 38-point loss to lowly Arizona and a 47-point atomizing at USC. Last year UCLA scored a liberating December upset of the Trojans, knocking their hated rival out of national title competition, then followed it with a miserable 17-point bowl loss to Florida State. That left UCLA 1-3 in bowl games under Dorrell, despite being favored in all four.
These powder-blue peaks and valleys are why Dorrell's .580 winning percentage ranks as the lowest for any Bruins coach since 1964. Combine that with the obnoxious 48-4 record at USC since Dorrell arrived, and tepid improvement almost feels like regression.
Now comes a season in which progress is expected to be measured in miles, not inches. With 20 returning starters and a bunch of winnable road games, the time is now for UCLA to win back a share of Los Angeles and make a push into the national elite. The Bruins begin the season ranked 14th in the AP poll, highest they've been in August since 1998.
"It's a great place to be on paper," Dorrell said. "Because it's on paper, there's an expectation. That's pressure. Can we handle that pressure? I believe this team has the maturity to do that."
There is a surplus of maturity at UCLA, from the 25 seniors on the roster to married, 24-year-old junior quarterback Ben Olson. Even with a new offensive coordinator (Jay Norvell, who came over from Nebraska), the learning curve should be no steeper than an anthill this August.
"We're more mature," All-America defensive end Bruce Davis said. "We know what it takes to win football games. There's nothing in college football we haven't seen."
Oh, there is one thing, at least. These Bruins have never seen a Pac-10 title up-close and personal. And everyone knows who they have to go through to get there.
Living with USC towering over their city and their conference has not been easy for the current Bruins. Even when UCLA had that 10-2 year, USC was going 13-0. The Trojans get the championship rings, the Heismans, the Rose Bowl bids, the pub and the love. UCLA gets asked what it's like in their shadow.
"The mind-set outside the conference is that there's one program and then there's everybody else," Dorrell said. "If you ask the coaches, we don't like that impression."
That's why beating USC 13-9 last year was such a huge deal in Westwood. It ended a seven-year losing streak in the rivalry, and first-year defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker made a name for himself by blitzing the pants off USC quarterback John David Booty. Breaking the Trojans' NCAA-record streak of 63 straight games scoring at least 20 points was great therapy for a program with an inferiority complex.
"It's a great win for us and does a lot for our program," Davis said. "It's a great feeling to beat them when they're supposed to be on their way to the national championship and they're the juggernaut. Now we don't have to listen to reporters sliding in comments or taking shots at us [for always losing to USC].
"But it doesn't mean we're arrogant and complacent."
Perhaps that complacency lesson was learned from the post-USC flop in the bowl game -- which, as Davis pointed out, cost UCLA offseason momentum and a few spots in the preseason polls. But losing to Florida State was not the only unexpected pratfall for the Bruins last year.
"I just expect us to be a lot more consistent and not overlook certain games," Davis said. "We did lose to [5-7] Washington last year, and I think that was the case in that game."
Beyond complacency, there were issues last season with quarterback play. Former national No. 1 high school recruit Olson began the year as the starter and lasted five games before being injured and giving way to Patrick Cowan. But even when both were healthy there was significant debate over who was UCLA's better QB. The team produced just 200 passing yards per game last year, 56th in the nation and its lowest average in at least a decade.
Both quarterbacks are back this year, but Olson won the spot in the spring. Period. For the time being.
"We don't have a quarterback controversy," Dorrell said. "It's just competition now.
"I see a difference in Ben. It's like a little level of maturity he's at right now. I noticed the difference as soon as he got married [in May]. It's almost like he reformed, reorganized his priorities. Like he's really sure of himself. I just think he's really focused on having a great season."
The support system is certainly in place for Olson. He'll have a veteran line in front of him and a multitude of weapons at his disposal, from running back Chris Markey (1,107 yards rushing, 35 receptions) to receivers Marcus Everett, Joe Cowan, Brandon Breazell and Logan Paulsen.
The defense has a chance to be tremendous -- something not often said in Westwood. Last year was the first time since 1997 that UCLA didn't allow a single regular-season opponent to score 40 points in a game, and this year it should only get better. Walker's all-pressure, all-the-time scheme produced 40 sacks in 2006, tied for sixth nationally, and 10 starters return.
In terms of working in new personnel, replacing standout kicker Justin Medlock will be the biggest challenge. In terms of schedule, this season sets up nicely.
The Bruins' first five road games -- Stanford, Utah, Oregon State, Washington State, Arizona -- are against teams with an un-threatening 2006 average Sagarin rating of 50th. If UCLA takes care of business in the Rose Bowl and is ready to live up to its ranking, it could be 11-0 when bussing across town to play USC on Dec. 1.
"That would be a dream come true if it came down to that," Davis said.
There are three months of games before then, of course. Plenty of birdie opportunities for the Bruins -- but plenty of potential bogeys, too.
- The NoTex Rant Top 25
#25 - Missouri
#24 - Hawaii
#23 - Oklahoma St.
#22 - Alabama
#21 - Texas Tech
#20 - South Carolina
#19 - Boston College
#18 - Boise State
#17 - Rutgers
#16 - Cal
#15 - Ohio State
#14 - Tennessee
Tennessee was roughly three plays away from being 12-1 and the hot team going into this season, but tough losses have become the forte of a program that continues to tease the college football world with its talent and potential.
Despite struggling offensively, Tennessee needed just one defensive stop to beat Florida, and after that didn't happen, it needed just one decent drive to get into field goal range. It didn't get either. LSU was a beaten team before JaMarcus Russell and his boys marched on the Volunteer D to win on a touchdown pass in the final seconds. Penn State was in big trouble in the fourth quarter of the Outback Bowl before Arian Foster's fumble was returned for a score leading to a Volunteer loss.
Tennessee wasn't nearly as bad as it appeared in its 2005, 5-6 season, and it wasn't quite as good as it looked in the 2006, 9-4 campaign. Now it's time to be Tennessee again, the elite national player it appeared to be after starting off the season with a dominant win over California.
There's more than enough athleticism on both sides of the ball to keep the NFL stocked for years to come, Erik Ainge is going into his fourth year as the starting quarterback, the backfield has more good backs than it'll know what to do with and the defense, which struggled so much with its consistency last year, has just enough experience to be far better.
So can the Vols finally put it all back together and win the SEC title for the first time since the 1998 national championship season? With road trips to Cal and Florida in the season's first three weeks, we'll know pretty quickly.
What to watch for on offense: More of a commitment to the running game. Tennessee, the program of Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and other stars, ran for more than 100 yards in only five games last year, and won them all. After playing musical running backs throughout last year, Tennessee might have a star to carry the offense in LaMarcus Coker, but he has been suspended indefinitely, has to be consistent if he does play and he has to beat out Montario Hardesty and one of the stars of spring ball, Arian Foster. They'll have to, given the loss of top receivers Robert Meachem, Jayson Swain and Bret Smith.
What to watch for on defense: Improvement in the run defense. Long known for being a brick wall against the run, the Vols got steamrolled by Arkansas, Penn State and LSU and got pushed around way too often, allowing 100 yards or more in 10 games, including each of the last six. Part of the reason was injuries, like the loss of top tackle Justin Harrell, and part of the reason was a lack of consistent pass rush to bring down the net numbers. That's why ...
The team will be far better if ... the defensive front four plays like the Tennessee defensive front four. Job one will be to focus on being better up the middle, which might be a problem without tackles Turk McBride and Matt McGlothlin. Some semblance of a pass rush has to be generated from the outside with Xavier Mitchell, Antonio Reynolds and Robert Ayers all looking the part, but needing to be more productive.
The Schedule: Does any national title-caliber team (at least in expectations from the fan base) have two tougher road games before September 15th than going to California and Florida? The rest of the away dates aren't horrible, as the Vols travel to Mississippi State, Alabama and Kentucky, and there's a nice four-game homestand over the second half of the season against South Carolina, UL Lafayette, Arkansas and Kentucky.
Best Offensive Player: Senior QB Erik Ainge. From all indications, the knee injury suffered this spring isn't going to be any big deal once the season starts. The bigger problem will be the loss of Robert Meachem, who made Ainge look good. Yeah, he was night-and-day better once David Cutcliffe came aboard to handle the offense, but it helped when his receivers took several short passes a long, long way. Of course, Ainge had to put the ball in the right spot and he set up his targets well, and now he'll have to be even better.
Best Defensive Player: Senior FS Jonathan Hefney. There might not be a better pound-for-pound tackler in the country. The 5-9, 185-pound senior has been all over the field for three years, getting in on 226 tackles while being a top ball-hawk, breaking up 16 passes and picking off nine others. He's also becoming an elite punt returner.
Key player to a successful season: Sophomore OT Chris Scott. Senior Eric Young will find a starting spot at one of the tackle spots, with a gaping hole still to be filled at the other. The 325-pound Scott has the size, and he has a year of tutelage under his belt after backing up Arron Sears. Now he'll likely have to step in at left tackle and replace the All-American, while the rest of the line tries to improve after two off years.
The season will be a success if ... Tennessee wins 11 games. Yeah, you heard this last year, but California really is good enough to be in the national title discussion, and playing Florida at Florida is as tough as it gets. If the Vols can at least split against those two, an 11-1 regular season is an attainable goal. Missing Auburn and LSU from the West is a huge break. A little more offensive consistency, and more close wins, should lead to a double-digit win season.
Key game: Sept. 15 at Florida. The Vols likely will be favored in every game after the trip to The Swamp, so if they can pull off the win they'll be the favorites to win the East and to play for the SEC championship. If they can also beat California, then it might be Tennessee vs. LSU for the conference title, as well as the national championship.
2006 Fun Stats:
First quarter scoring: Tennessee 65; Opponents 34
Sacks: Tennessee 17 for 122 yards; Opponents 19 for 134 yards
Rushing yards per game: Tennessee 108; Opponents 146.7
- Nebraska News/Notes
- Let the Sam Keller era begin..........
Keller, transfer from ASU, tagged as starting QB for Nebraska
Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Sam Keller will start at quarterback for Nebraska in the season opener against Nevada on September 1.
"Maybe because I've become so diligent in my approach every day, I don't think this is a huge jump-up-and-down situation," said Keller, who transferred from Arizona State last year. "I definitely feel good about myself. Let's go to work. It's just a beginning."
Keller had been competing with two-year backup Joe Ganz. Coach Bill Callahan told Keller of his decision Monday.
"We have a lot of confidence in Sam, and I conveyed that to him," Callahan said. "He knows I've got his back, like I do with all these quarterbacks. We're going to run and ride that horse, so to speak."
Ganz remains the No. 2 quarterback.
Keller, a senior, was MVP of the Sun bowl at the end of the 2004 season after leading Arizona State to a come-from-behind victory over Purdue. In 2005, he threw for 2,165 yards and 20 touchdowns in the first seven games before a season-ending hand injury.
Keller was named the Sun Devils' starter in preseason last year, but coach Dirk Koetter changed his mind two days later and went with Rudy Carpenter. Keller transferred to Nebraska shortly after Koetter's reversal.
Callahan said the competition between Keller and Ganz was close.
"Joe Ganz is a class act through and through," Callahan said. "I appreciate all his efforts. Joe was disappointed and he should be disappointed. I would be disappointed as well. It's a good sign."
Keller said Ganz pushed him hard through the spring and preseason practice, and he benefited from the competition.
"Joe has been here a long time. He knows offense, he knows the players. He didn't like throwing an incomplete pass. He wouldn't let himself," Keller said. "I had to prepare as well, as far as completing balls, being a good manager of this offense. A lot of my improvement as a quarterback is due to him."
- The Denver Post weighs in
Passed over no more
Keller set to start at QB for Huskers after leaving Arizona State
By John Henderson Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 08/21/2007 01:31:44 AM MDT
Lincoln, Neb. - When Sam Keller walks into a room, he doesn't look like one of the nation's best quarterbacks from two years ago. He looks like one of the nation's best linebackers now.
Keller is huge. He's 6-feet-4 and 240 pounds. He has a chest seemingly as broad as Nebraska's scoreboard video screen, and his legs look easy to take down only with a Buick. He's loud. He's boisterous. If trash talk were a Nebraska major, he would make the dean's list.
Then again, Keller also doesn't look like a guy who was reduced to tears last year in a coach's office. Or a guy who went from wondering which round he would go in the next NFL draft to which school he would play for. Or a guy who spent last season taking snaps behind a line made up of a bunch of frosh from Broken Bow and Sodtown.
Yes, the Sam Keller named Monday as 20th-ranked Nebraska's starting quarterback is a humbled Sam Keller. Oh, he's not quiet. He's too overjoyed with the cush landing pad he hit after Arizona State blew him out of the college football stratosphere last August.
But he knows he has only one year left to prove he's the quarterback who passed for 461 yards against Louisiana State and for 347 against Southern California in 2005 with the Sun Devils.
"I kind of wondered," he said, "how I could go from being so good to being in Nebraska."
Or how he could go from being so good to not even start. It all started Oct. 8, 2005. In his first five games at Arizona State that season, Keller had one of the greatest starts in Pacific 10 history. He threw four touchdown passes in each of the Sun Devils' first four games, and after five games he had passed for 1,790 yards and 18 touchdowns.
He had charisma. He had chutzpah. Most of all, he had an arm.
"The guy was fantastic and is fantastic," said Colorado offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich, Keller's position coach at Arizona State. "He's very confident. He's very accurate."
Then on a warm day at Sun Devil Stadium against Oregon, life in the desert for Keller started becoming Dante's Inferno. On a third-and-5 play, Keller scrambled for a first down but his right thumb got caught in a defensive tackle's face mask.
"I got up and it felt like a bullet went through my thumb," he said.
Keller had torn it up. He finished the game and played the next half against Stanford, but no more. He was out for the year. Usually, this isn't foreshadowing disaster. A junior, Keller still had a year left. He had plenty of time to rehab from surgery and be ready for spring camp.
Only one problem: Rudy Carpenter spent Arizona State's last six games in 2005 climbing atop the nation's passing leaders, throwing 17 touchdown passes with two interceptions, topped by four touchdowns in the Sun Devils' 45-40 Insight Bowl victory over Rutgers.
Dirk Koetter, Arizona State's coach at the time, opened up the competition and after an intense, highly scrutinized battle between possibly the nation's top quarterback tandem, Koetter announced Aug. 18 a year ago that Keller would be his starter. Keller celebrated the next day by thrashing the Sun Devils' defense in a scrimmage.
Afterward, Keller was in the weight room when Koetter called him into his office. Sorry, Sam, he said. He had made a mistake. He had changed his mind, and Carpenter would be the starter. Keller was too stunned to ask many questions.
He simply cried.
"I was just completely shocked," he said. "I was floored. It was just unbelievable. My dad was driving out to Vegas. My mom was on the way to the airport. So I called him as quick as I could and said, 'Please come back.' That was as low as I've ever felt."
What happened? No one really knows. Koetter refused to elaborate publicly, but he did speak to the team between the two decisions.
Keller didn't investigate any rumors of character assassination.
"I didn't have any time to do that," he said. "I was already gone."
His father, Mike Keller, a former Michigan All-American who helped start the XFL and is a sports management consultant in Las Vegas, started working the phones. Sam had one week to find a school, move and enroll. He settled on three potential schools: Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado. Helfrich was a huge lure.
But Nebraska's West Coast offense had started to click, the Huskers had come off an 8-4 season and quarterback Zac Taylor would be gone in a year. Also, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan had watched Keller play for San Ramon Valley High School in Danville, Calif., where Callahan lived while coaching the Oakland Raiders.
"I was thinking about (Colorado) but I had to make a decision fast," Keller said. "With Nebraska and everything they've got going here, you can't lose with that decision. And I haven't lost."
In fact, he won even playing for the scout team while redshirting last year. Normally, transfer quarterbacks are treated like crown princes waiting to adhere to the throne. Not Keller. His diligent work imitating the likes of Missouri's Chase Daniel and Texas' Colt McCoy earned him scout team MVP honors.
"What he expects out of his scout-team players was more than I've ever seen, even when I played scout team," said linebacker Corey McKeon, Keller's best friend on the team. "No one was as demanding like that."
Keller also bonded. He hung out with McKeon, the rest of the defense and the linemen. Thursday nights are big in Lincoln, Neb., and Huskers strength coach Dave Kennedy tried foiling evening pub crawls by holding weight-training sessions on Fridays at dawn. No problem. McKeon and Keller would go to one of the watering holes on O Street and drink a few Belgian Blue Moons on Thursdays at 1 p.m.
But Callahan shoots down any rumors of Keller's work ethic being his downfall at Arizona State.
"You should see him in the weight room," Callahan said. "He's there every day. He works as hard as you can even imagine. He is a solid guy."
Fine, but he had better be solid on the field, too. Until Monday, he still hadn't won the starting job officially, as Callahan was dividing snaps between Keller and junior Joe Ganz, a career backup. But for anyone listening to Callahan talk about the way Keller has soaked up the offense, it was clear who would start the Sept. 1 opener against Nevada.
"He's got stature," Callahan said. "You look at him and he doesn't look like a 240-pound quarterback. You look at him and he's cut. He's ripped. He's put together. He can make all the throws. And he's a tremendous competitor."
Keller said he's not bitter. He's not in contact with anyone at Arizona State anymore. He said he took no satisfaction in Carpenter's struggles last year and Koetter's subsequent firing. And the confidence that came crashing down in that coach's office in the desert has been resurrected on a football field in the Great Plains.
"On the scout team, I realized how much I love football," Keller said. "I realize you can't control the bad things. You can just control how you react. After awhile it became kind of refreshing. I felt like there wasn't any pressure on me. I felt like I could give it just one last crack."
Long way to Lincoln
Sam Keller was named Nebraska's starting quarterback Monday. How he got there:
2003 season: Plays in six games for Arizona State as a freshman, including the second half against UCLA (11-of-21, 79 yards).
Dec. 31, 2004: Makes first start for the Sun Devils, in the Sun Bowl against Purdue. Passes for 370 yards, three touchdowns.
Oct. 8, 2005: Injures right thumb against Oregon, after passing for 1,790 yards and 18 touchdowns in Arizona State's first five games. Has surgery on Nov. 1.
Aug. 18, 2006: Named the ASU starter for the season over Rudy Carpenter. The next day, coach Dirk Koetter changes his mind and names Carpenter the starter.
Aug. 23, 2006: Transfers to Nebraska and has to sit out a season.
- From the Omaha paper
NU Football: Callahan names Keller to start
BY RICH KAIPUST
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — If you saw the calendar, it was almost too weird Monday as Nebraska coach Bill Callahan made the announcement that Sam Keller would be the Huskers' starting quarterback.
On Aug. 20 of 2007, Keller was talking about a brand new opportunity. About being humbled and honored and ready to go.
On Aug. 20 of 2006, Keller was getting his release from Arizona State and telling former coach Dirk Koetter that he was gone. That time it was about being devastated and confused and not knowing where he was going next.
"You talk about déjà vu . . . ," Mike Keller, his father, said Monday night.
No reversed decisions are expected in coming days. No messy breakups should follow.
And Sam Keller said it's "apples and oranges" if you even try to compare the events of Aug. 20 the past two years.
"Different program, different coaches, different situation," he said. "Here, I just told myself from the get-go that Coach Callahan extended an opportunity to me, so I was going to honor that by trusting him. Whatever was going to happen with the situation was what was going to happen, and I was going to be fine with that.
"It was just going out every day and competing, and doing what I love to do, and trying to help this team."
Callahan decided between Keller and junior Joe Ganz after letting the two quarterbacks battle through spring practice and two weeks of preseason camp. Keller will make his first start since October of 2005 when Nebraska hosts Nevada on Sept. 1.
All five NU quarterbacks were told where they stand during short meetings with Callahan on Monday afternoon.
"They all want to be the starter," Callahan said. "Joe was disappointed and he should be disappointed, and I would be disappointed as well. It's a good sign."
Callahan said Keller was consistent through camp and lauded his passion, intensity and preparation. The senior had an edge on the others in experience, starting eight games and playing in 19 overall at ASU, where he threw for 3,018 yards and 26 touchdowns.
"We've got a lot of confidence in Sam," Callahan said. "I conveyed that to him today. He knows that I've got his back like I do all these quarterbacks. We're going to go with him, and we're going to run and ride that horse, so to speak."
Keller said he felt no different Monday as he started taking the majority of practice repetitions with the No. 1 offense. It wasn't so much a relief as a realization that everything becomes more serious now.
"It's something I've been waiting for for a long, long, long time," he said. "To even go out and practice as the starter again . . . that's been a long time.
"I really haven't changed in my feelings. I owe it to myself, to this team, to the coaches to keep competing as if it were the same situation. I even owe that to Joe. I'm just very honored that I've been given this opportunity to lead the team."
Callahan had said it was possible that Nebraska wouldn't name a No. 1 quarterback until the week before the first game. By Monday he felt that he had "enough information to make a decision."
The Huskers will start focusing on Nevada when practice resumes today, and Keller said having a little more time with the No. 1s should only benefit him.
"It helps me kind of dial in that way," he said. "Our offense needs it to. It's time to flip that page and get ready for the task at hand."
Twelve months ago, Keller thought that was happening at Arizona State after Koetter announced after an Aug. 18 scrimmage that Keller was his starter. On Aug. 19, Koetter called an audible and switched to Rudy Carpenter. On Aug. 20, Keller was out the door.
"I think this all just made him more resilient, matured him a little, maybe taken a little naivete out of him," Mike Keller said. "In life you always see times where a person can get stronger or crack, but I think you'll see a strong-minded competitor who knows what he wants and if there is a way he's going to find it."
- Hurricane Dean blows through Mexico
Dean strikes Mexico's Yucatan
FELIPE CARRILLO PUERTO, Mexico - Hurricane Dean slammed into the Caribbean coast of Mexico on Tuesday as a roaring Category 5 hurricane, the most intense Atlantic storm to make landfall in two decades. It lashed ancient Mayan ruins and headed for the modern oil installations of the Yucatan Peninsula.
Dean's path was a stroke of luck for Mexico: It made landfall in a sparsely populated coastline that had already been evacuated, skirting most of the major tourist resorts. It weakened within hours to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.
The eye of the storm hit land near Majahual, a port popular with cruise liners, and it was racing across the Yucatan Peninsula toward a Tuesday afternoon entry into the Bay of Campeche, where the state oil company evacuated the oil rigs that produce most of Mexico's oil.
In the largely Mayan town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto, at one point about 30 miles from the center of the storm, people stared from their porches at broken tree limbs and electrical cables crisscrossing the streets, some of which were flooded with ankle-deep water.
Tin roofing ripped from houses clunked hollowly as it bounced in the wind whistling through town.
"We began to feel the strong winds about 2 in the morning and you could hear that the trees were breaking and some tin roofs were coming off," said Miguel Colli, a 36-year-old store employee. "Everyone holed up in their houses. Thank God that the worst is over."
With the storm still screaming, there were no immediate reports of deaths, injuries or major damage, Quintana Roo Gov. Felix Gonzalez told Mexico's Televisa network, though officials had not been able to survey the area. In the Quintana Roo state capital, Chetumal, the storm downed trees and sent sheets of metal flying through the air.
At landfall, Dean had sustained winds near 165 mph and gusts that reached 200 mph -- faster than the takeoff speed of many passenger jets. It was moving west-northwest near 20 mph across the Yucatan Peninsula.
The hurricane killed at least 12 people across the Caribbean, picked up strength after brushing Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and became a monstrous Category 5 hurricane Monday. Sections of the Jamaican capital and the island's east suffered severe damage in the storm, and the country postponed Aug. 27 general elections.
Only three Category 5 storms, capable of catastrophic damage, have hit the U.S. since 1935. Dean is the first Category 5 to make landfall in the Atlantic region since Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida in 1992.
Thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera. Though expected to escape a direct hit, Cancun still could face destructive winds.
"There's a lot of noisy wind now with this creature all over us," state civil protection official Francisco de la Cruz said from his hurricane-proof offices in Chetumal.
The hurricane center said Dean could gain power as it crosses the Bay of Campeche and would likely be a major hurricane when it makes landfall a second time on Wednesday. The storm's track would carry it into the central Mexican coast about 400 miles south of the Texas border.
"We often see that when a storm weakens, people let down their guard completely. You shouldn't do that," said Jamie Rhome, a hurricane specialist. "This storm probably won't become a Category 5 again, but it will still be powerful."
At 7 a.m. EDT, Dean's eye was over the Yucatan Peninsula, 40 miles northwest of Chetumal.
Meteorologists said a storm surge of 12 to 18 feet was possible at the storm's center, which could push sea water deep inland. Heavy rains threatened to inundate the swampy region.
Petroleos Mexicanos evacuated all 18,000 offshore workers and shut down production rigs on the Bay of Campeche -- resulting in a production loss of 2.7 million barrels of oil and 2.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.
On Tuesday, Dean threatened the Yucatan's most vulnerable population -- the Mayan people -- many of whom have seen little of the riches from oil or tourism, and still live in traditional wooden slat huts in small settlements all over this low-lying area.
President Felipe Calderon said he would cut short a trip to Canada where he is meeting with President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and travel Tuesday to the areas where the hurricane was expected to hit.
Trees fell and debris flew through the air in Corozal on Belize's northern border with Mexico. The government had evacuated Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye -- both popular with U.S. tourists -- and ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew from Belize City to the Mexican border.
Authorities evacuated Belize City's three hospitals and were moving high-risk patients inland to the nation's capital, Belmopan, founded after 1961's Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize City.
Mayor Zenaida Moya urged residents to leave Belize City, saying it does not have shelters strong enough to withstand a storm of Dean's size.
At the southern tip of Texas, sandbags were distributed in the resort town of South Padre Island, and residents were urged to evacuate.
The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour prepared to land a day early Tuesday because of the threat NASA had once feared Hurricane Dean would pose to Mission Control in Houston.
In Mexico during the past three days, officials put more than 50,000 people on flights leaving various parts of the Yucatan peninsula, the federal Communications and Transportation Department said in a statement.
Cancun, well north of Dean's landfall, saw strong winds since the storm swirled over 75,000 square miles, about the size of Nebraska.
Cancun's tourist strip is still marked with cranes used to repair the damage from 2005's Hurricane Wilma, which caused $3 billion in losses. Dean is expected to be even stronger than Wilma, which stalled over Cancun and pummeled it for a day.
Dean had a minimum central pressure of 906 millibars just before landfall, the third lowest at landfall after the 1935 Labor Day hurricane in the Florida Keys and Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Cancun in 1988.
"A very low pressure indicates a very strong storm," said Hurricane Center meteorologist Rebecca Waddington.
The worst storm to hit Latin America in modern times was 1998's Hurricane Mitch, which killed nearly 11,000 people and left more than 8,000 missing, most in Honduras and Nicaragua.
- Edinson Volquez frustrates the organization to the point to where they send him from the majors to low A ball. He works his way back up, does well at every minor league level, is given a 2nd chance at the majors, and what does he do? Oversleeps a bullpen session. Congrats.
Rangers' Volquez to stay in minors
11:37 PM CDT on Monday, August 20, 2007
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com
BALTIMORE – In each of the past two years, Edinson Volquez lost a spot in the Rangers' starting rotation because he was wild on the mound.
But this time, he didn't even have to take the mound to lose the job.
Less than 24 hours after saying Volquez would be recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma to return to the majors, the Rangers had switched course and decided to leave the 24-year-old right-hander in the minors. On Sunday, as the Rangers were announcing his pending recall, Volquez was missing a scheduled bullpen session with Triple-A pitching coach Andy Hawkins in New Orleans, where the RedHawks were playing.
Instead of Volquez, the Rangers will keep lefty John Rheinecker and right-hander Kameron Loe in the rotation for now. One of them was going to lose a spot to Volquez.
Volquez told team officials that he overslept for the scheduled morning throwing session. The Rangers decided to postpone his comeback from an extreme makeover that started with his assignment to Class A Bakersfield to start the year.
It's likely Volquez will be recalled in September when rosters can be expanded.
"A lot of the program we put in place for him was not only for on the field but off-field as well," general manager Jon Daniels said by phone. "Being professional and accountable. We're trying to hold him to a high standard. We explained to him why we weren't calling him up, and he was remorseful and apologetic to his teammates."
Daniels said this was an isolated incident with Volquez. He said he can't recall any need to discipline Volquez in the past.
The problem has been a lack of maturity on the mound. After being rushed from Class A all the way to the majors in 2005 when he was just months past his 22nd birthday, Volquez struggled with command and with making adjustments.
He was 0-4 with a 14.20 ERA in six major league appearances (three starts) after his promotion. He went to Oklahoma to start the 2006 season and was recalled Aug. 7 after going 6-6 with a 3.21 ERA.
He was, however, leading the Pacific Coast League in walks at the time of his recall.
Volquez again struggled with command after the Rangers recalled him. He managed to pitch more than five innings just once in eight starts. During that time, he walked 17 in 33 1/3 innings.
After watching Volquez deal with the same command issues this spring, the Rangers formulated a plan that called for him to go all the way back to Class A.
He made a seven-start tutorial there, then was dominant at Double-A Frisco and Oklahoma. He went 13-2 with a 2.90 ERA. He struck out 112 and walked only 35 in 96 1/3 innings.
When Brandon McCarthy went on the disabled list with a stress fracture in his right shoulder last week, it cleared the way for Volquez to join the rotation.
"I think the kid has done everything we've asked him to do, and it's about time he comes up here and we see exactly where he is as far as facing major league competition," manager Ron Washington had said Sunday. "If he brings the maturity and the focus he had down there up here, we'll finally see the Volquez everyone wanted to see."
The Rangers will wait a little longer.
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