Keller's Told His Story - Now He Wants to Play

Husker quarterback says "I don't have time to think about the past."

A wig of fashionably teased brown hair falls on her bare shoulders as she prowls toward the camera. Her look is that of a girl we'd call a vixen if we didn't already know she spent some of her late nights in recent years contemplating time travel and aliens.

“Britney Spears,” barksthe cover of September's issue of Allure Magazine, “tells us nothing – and everything.”

“Nothing,” because while Spears showed up for the photo session, a real smoky-eyed professional, Allure assures us, she flaked out on the interview portion of the article.

“Everything,” because, well, that's what a fashion magazine does when it pays for a photo shoot of a wig-wearing, semi-topless bozo of a former pop star. It pretends an unreturned phone call is profound.

And so we round into another week of the Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller's saga, a study in local celebrity that turns the Spears cover on its head.

In the last month, Keller has told assorted media types just about everything about himself. He's done it with a coherence and professional eloquence rare for a college student. He's talked about his stint on the scout team last year, his newfound maturity, his stormy departure from Arizona State, his competitive spirit, his performances against Southern California and Louisiana State, the weather, nightlife and his tattoos. He spent another half-hour talking about it Tuesday in preparation for Saturday's Nevada game.

Because he's thus far operated in closed practices, the story of Keller has had to be, to this point, the football life he's already lived.

In reality, Keller's told us nothing. Hasn't had a chance yet.

The game against the Wolfpack, on Saturday, will be the first NU speaking engagement that means anything.

Keller knows it, too. Despite patiently answering questions about comparing his new self to the old Sun Devil, he made it clear Tuesday he's ready to be just a football player now that he's beaten junior Joe Ganz for the starting quarterback job.

“The whole 'full circle' thing has kinda been put behind me,” he said. “I've kinda realized that I've come full circle already. I don't have any time to think about the past or the whole full circle thing at this moment. That kind of ended last week. So now it's strictly this season beginning and getting this thing kicked off on the right foot. Just 100 percent devoted to spending all my time looking at this team, Nevada...

“This Saturday is gonna be the first barometer for where I'm at and how far I've come as a competitor and as a player. We'll see when it's put to the test.”

The “test” is this: Nevada is one of the more exotic defenses in college football. Fast, undersized and accustomed to playing some of the best passing teams in college football in the Western Athletic Conference, the Wolfpack have more than ten coverage packages, Nebraska Head Coach Bill Callahan said, and they're up to showing all of them. Such is the life when you're playing Hawaii one week, Fresno State the next.

“They have every coverage in the book,” Callahan said. 

The coach then proceeded to list a whole bunch of chapters. They'll play man coverage. They play the popular cover two defense. They'll play cover four – essentially a prevent - with just a three man rush. They'll play cover five, which is rarely spoken of in any defensive vernacular.

“If you want to keep going we can keep going on that for a while,” Callahan said “They play a lot of coverages and that’s the challenge.”

Nevada Coach Chris Ault doesn't imagine that will much phase Keller. 

"He is a veteran quarterback who has great experience and happens to be in a fine offensive scheme that fits him well," Ault said. "He has seen a lot of defense and there is nothing that we can throw at him that will surprise him."

“I expect that they will try to blitz and blitz early,” Keller said. “Maybe they think they might be able to get to me.”

It's a thought, considering Nebraska's offensive line left Zac Taylor a sitting duck more than 40 times last season. Though Keller has more mobility than Taylor, he's not an escape artist.

Senior tackle Carl Nicks said the Huskers spent much of the fall camp preparing for Nevada's package and honing their blitz packages

“If we can stop their blitzes and kill them in the air and kill them on the ground,” Nicks said, “it will set the tempo for this season.”

Keller said his improved patience – his greater willingness to take what's given by the defense, rather than force throws into coverage – will also help avoid sacks. He's made repeated references to utilizing his running backs as safety valve receivers on what he calls “essentially long handoffs.” Because the shorter running back routes are “coupled” with receiver routes downfield, Keller said, the check down should generally be in his line of sight.

From there, it's finding a rhythm. He will be nervous - “I've never played a football game where I haven't been nervous,” Keller said Tuesday – but once he hits a few, he settle into a “business-like” mode.

Although the media ignored it for the first year Keller was at Nebraska, the quarterback's low throwing motion was brought up Tuesday. Keller's motion, not unlike Philip Rivers of the San Diego Chargers, starts below his ear and generally stays there. The release is short and quick, but unconventional. It would seem to work against throwing a deep ball.

Because Keller's 6-foot-4, the low motion isn't as crucial as it would have been for, say, Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch, was was six feet tall. Vince Young, for example, often uses a sidearm motion and gets away with because he's 6-5, and Vince Young. But the shorter Josh Heupel led Oklahoma to a national title in 2000 using just about any throwing motion that came to his mind. Some of his passes were almost submarine jobs.

“He has a real quick release,” Callahan said of Keller. “He has a very fast trigger. It is smooth in my eyes. I think he has excellent accuracy, location, and ball placement.”

It's just another element of scrutiny for a guy who, as one reporter put it, will have every Nebraskan “live of die” on how he handles each snap. Keller handled that admonition with aplomb: “It comes with the territory.”

“Everything that is coming with this responsibility that I have, this opportunity that I have gotten, I hold very close to my heart,” Keller said.

As is winning. Unlike No. 9's forthright, patient testimonials, It's the answer that really means something to Husker fans.

He's told Nebraskans a lot. Can he show them?

"People are going to say what they’re going to say across the country, and I understand that,” Keller said. “There are always going to be pros and cons, but what it comes down to is what happens between the white lines.”

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