Callahan: Keller is starting QB
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Now we know what we thought we knew.
It’s Sam’s army.
Perhaps only surprising in the timing of the announcement, Husker football coach Bill Callahan said after Monday’s practice that senior Sam Keller will start at quarterback in the Sept. 1 season opener against Nevada.
In competition for the job with junior Joe Ganz, it was suspected Callahan might wait until next week to name his starter.
Callahan didn’t need the extra week.
“We have had a thorough evaluation and at this point, in the best interest of the team, we feel that Sam is the starter going into the Nevada game and we’re going to go from that point,” Callahan said.
Shortly after, Keller appeared before the media, showing up in a ballcap and with his typically cool demeanor. He had plenty of thoughtful answers but few smiles.
Keller said he’d like to reserve any celebrating until January, after a successful season.
“Maybe it hasn’t sank in,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I’ve become so diligent in my approach everyday that I don’t think of this as like a huge jump-up-for-joy situation.
“It’s not by any means a situation that isn’t making me feel good about myself. I definitely feel good about myself. But at the same time, I feel like, ‘OK, I’m humbled. I’m honored, but let’s go to work.’ It’s just the beginning.”
Callahan said the team has already conducted more plays in this fall camp than in any of his previous years here. Plenty of film had been evaluated and there was no lack of confidence in making the decision.
“I just think his consistency throughout the competition,” Callahan said as to why he chose Keller. “It was a very close competition. Both are great kids. It’s a good problem to have.”
Keller found out the news in a five-minute meeting with Callahan around lunchtime Monday.
Callahan also met one-on-one with Ganz, who the coach said handled the decision with great class.
Ganz was not around for comment after practice, but is supposed to be available for media Tuesday.
“Joe is disappointed and he should be disappointed,” Callahan said. “I would be disappointed as well. That’s a good sign (that he’s disappointed.)”
While Ganz had only thrown 13 passes in his college career, Keller came to the quarterback race with big-game experience in his back pocket.
At Arizona State two years ago, he threw for 2,165 yards and 20 touchdowns while only starting the season’s first seven games before a hand injury sidelined him.
After battling for the ASU starting job with Rudy Carpenter last offseason, he was initially named the starter by then-Sun Devils’ head coach Dirk Koetter, only to be told less than 24 hours later that the job was Carpenter’s.
Such news prompted a transfer to Nebraska, which brought about this competition with Ganz.
Asked if he thought about the Arizona State situation as he competed for the Nebraska job, Keller said: “No way. It would have been devastating. I would have been thinking myself through hula hoops. I would have been killing myself. I had a big enough task here already in learning the offense and trying to be a leader of the offense.”
Keller said he hadn’t yet spoken to Ganz about the decision, but that practice went on Monday with the same competitiveness it had in previous days.
The difference is Keller is now taking about 60- to 70-percent of the snaps while training camp finishes out. More snaps will come his way next week — game week.
“Me and him have handled this thing well. I commend Joe. I look up to him,” Keller said. “He didn’t like throwing an incomplete pass. He wouldn’t let himself. So that was a thing I had to keep up with. I had to perform as well as far as completing balls and doing the right things and just being a good manager of this offense. Joe forced me to do that.”
The post-practice questioning of Keller went on for a good 15 minutes.
You don’t hear a lot of people using the words “expedite” and “arduous” in dinner conversation, let alone football interviews, but Keller used both Monday.
If Nebraska’s new starting quarterback throws the ball with the same command he has for the language, the Huskers really have themselves something here.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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