Zac Taylor says he’s aiming for a completion percentage of better than 60 percent this season. In fact, the Nebraska senior quarterback would prefer something between 65 and 70 percent.

“I think that’s a good goal,” Taylor said, “and we’ve worked hard to make that happen.”

Taylor sounds confident and poised for a strong start to the 2006 season. A start that would propel him toward reaching those goals.

A start better than last season’s.

Suffice it to say, Taylor expects considerably better numbers that he had in his first two career starts with Nebraska last season — a combined 306 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions on 29-of-69 passing. That’s 42 percent.

“The thing I remember about those first couple of games, I was just uncomfortable in the pocket,” Taylor said. “I was making throws too soon, I was really inaccurate.

“I think I expected everything to just kind of be pretty smooth.”

It wasn’t. But by game four, when Taylor threw for a school-record 431 yards against Iowa State, things started clicking. That hasn’t really stopped.

Taylor finished his junior season completing 55.1 percent of his passes for a school- record 2,653 yards, 19 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

During the offseason, Taylor worked extensively on his footwork. Throughout fall camp, Nebraska coach Bill Callahan noticed Taylor’s accuracy improving. Coaches and players say he’s had a little more zip on the ball, a little quicker release.

All of that, plus a quarterback who’s more comfortable in the pocket.

“We’ve done a good job of getting back in the pocket,” Taylor said, “and Coach (Jay) Norvell has had us do a lot of different drills to try to help elude the rush and find soft spots in the pocket that will help with the offensive line.”

In short, Taylor’s much better prepared for a season opener.

“I tried not to let it show (last year),” Taylor said, “but you definitely are worried about that first game, when you’ve never played here before.

“It was tough to find a rhythm. You’ve never really played as a team in a game-day atmosphere. It’s a lot different from practice. Now, we’ve got 12 games under our belt, and that’s really going to help us out a lot. I think the team will gel a lot better than in the first couple of games last year.”

Norvell, Nebraska’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, said Taylor’s slow start last season wasn’t all on Taylor. New receivers and inexperienced linemen were adjusting, too.

“When you’re playing in a new offense, sometimes you play by the seat of your pants,” Norvell said. “You don’t really know all the players around you. You don’t know all of their adjustments. And there is indecision on the perimeter as well. We had a lot of young receivers. Our receiving group improved more than probably any position on the field last year.”

In that same regard, if Taylor begins this season on a hot streak, that, too, won’t all be because of Taylor.

“It’s much different now,” Norvell said. “We have guys who know what to do, who know where to go, know how to adjust. They have a collective understanding, which should help our execution, which should help us execute better early and start faster.”

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.