Sacked at Arizona State, Keller gets back up BY DIRK CHATELAIN WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER Sam Keller sat on a bench outside his Tempe, Ariz., apartment one year ago. He sipped Bud Light. After a shocking demotion, a transfer and a year of waiting, Sam Keller is a starting quarterback again — at Nebraska. "The hard part is over," he said. He wore a T-shirt and shorts, but the August desert heat was hard to escape. It stays up deep into the night. Keller had gotten used to that heat in three years at Arizona State. He'd made his name as a college football player in that heat. But on this Saturday night he felt cold. Midnight, 93 degrees For three years he was a Wild West gunslinger who could walk into a Scottsdale bar and stop conversations. That's Sam Keller. Girls pursued him, asking for pictures and hugs. Guys envied him, noting his sharp features and strong right arm. At ease on one of America's most heavenly campuses, where everybody knew him. Team captain. Face of the program. Heisman candidate. 1 a.m., 92 degrees Humility finds us all eventually. Keller sobbed into the early morning. Football had broken him. Teammates had betrayed him. And that wasn't the worst part. No, the worst part was he had to empty what remained of him in order to restore what he could be. He had to leave these people, this place. He was 21, and he had to jump on a plane bound for a different kind of desert. He had to give up Doc Holliday for Father Flanagan. Fifty-four Saturdays later, Sam Keller will initiate a rite of autumn on the prairie and complete a personal journey. He will break the huddle at sold-out Memorial Stadium and take his first snap as the most unusual Nebraska quarterback of our time, a hired gun who showed up at Bill Callahan's door when the coach needed it most. Keller offers Callahan an NFL-caliber quarterback, the program's first in 30 years. Callahan offers Keller one season to resuscitate his dream. They came together because of that Saturday in August. 2 a.m., 90 degrees Keller finished his beer, hugged his friends and went to bed. He closed his eyes on the day that changed his life. Like the desert heat, he wouldn't sleep. Biding his time In Sam Keller's first collegiate start, the 2004 Sun Bowl, he threw a touchdown pass. He turned to his sideline, put his hands together and took a bow. Most quarterbacks conceal emotion. Keller oozed it like sweat. He pointed to the crowd. He led celebrations. He rode momentum. Keller opened the 2005 season at Arizona State with one of the best Septembers by a quarterback in recent memory. He threw for 1,443 yards in four games. He threw 16 touchdowns and just two interceptions. "Going into the big games, you could see the fire in his eyes," said former teammate Chris MacDonald. Against LSU, he outplayed future No. 1 draft pick JaMarcus Russell. Against defending national champion USC, the Sun Devils took the lead with six minutes left when Keller marched them downfield for a touchdown. That was his last highlight as an ASU quarterback. USC came back to win, and a week later, he scrambled on third down against Oregon and tore a ligament in his thumb. A week later, coach Dirk Koetter benched him after a poor start against Stanford. Surgery sidelined Keller the rest of the year. Freshman reserve Rudy Carpenter took over, torched Pac-10 defenses and finished 2005 as the top-rated passer in the country. A quarterback duel awaited in 2006. They had different styles. Carpenter analyzed every scenario, asked every question. Keller has a sharp mind, but he was "black and white," said Roy Wittke, who coached Keller at ASU from January to August 2006. "Tell me what you want and point me to the field." Wittke coached Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in college. He says Keller has superior physical skills. "He's as tough an individual as I've seen play that position," Wittke said. During fall camp 2006, coach Koetter offered his two quarterbacks an opportunity to split snaps. Both balked. They wanted to win the job. On Friday, Aug. 18, Koetter gave the nod to Keller. Three years Keller had waited to make it his team, and finally it was. He dined in celebratory fashion with friends and family. Keller didn't know it, but it may as well have been a going-away party. The meeting Coach Koetter had a problem on his hands by Saturday morning. The No. 1 quarterback decision did not sit well with Carpenter. According to a person close to the situation, Koetter had met with Carpenter and Carpenter's father the morning after picking Keller. They had expressed Carpenter's intention to transfer. The same morning, Keller attended a routine meeting with players and coaches. Afterward, they dispersed by position to dissect Friday night's scrimmage. Coach Koetter ordered about a dozen players into a room where quarterbacks typically met, contrary to previous reports that have said players called the meeting. It was a cross section of team leaders, old and young. Neither quarterback was present. A player who attended the meeting, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, said the coach explained his dilemma to the group of players. Koetter didn't want to take away Keller's starting spot, especially after Keller lost it because of an injury. But he didn't want to lose Carpenter, who had three years of eligibility to Keller's one. And there was another factor: He had learned of rumors of Keller's off-field behavior that, if true, raised questions about his dedication to the game. Players started talking, sharing opinions. Two seniors raised concerns about Keller. They said they'd heard of him socializing late at night. They implied, said the player at the meeting, that Keller spent too much time partying to lead the Sun Devils. They offered few specifics. The accusations started an argument. The volume rose. "It was hard to deal with," said the player. "You had guys in there who had Sam's back, and you had guys who wanted to throw Sam under the bus because they wanted Rudy to be quarterback. The entire time, the coach didn't want our team to be torn apart." Earlier in Keller's college career, he was a night owl like a lot of underclassmen, said the player at the meeting. "He'd come out on two or three hours sleep and torch everyone in practice," he said. "Everybody wondered, 'Sam, how do you do it?'" Even so, Keller said he was 100 percent devoted to football. "No question about it. I lived for (football), loved it," Keller said. "But there were elements of that atmosphere that were just irresistible, just going out and having a good time. Most of the time, all the time, it was with my teammates anyway." Friends attribute the perception of Keller as a party magnet to his celebrity status at one of the country's top party schools. "He's just got that presence about him," said MacDonald. "That's just Sam Keller. . . . He's a big, physical guy. He's going to stand out anywhere he goes. Not only that, but his attitude, he has an ability to talk to anybody." The players meeting lasted about an hour. Some players defended Keller. Some backed Carpenter. But, according to the player at the meeting, they agreed on one point: A quarterback distracted by extracurricular activity was a ticket to trouble. That seed of doubt about Keller was enough to sway the group. Players — not Koetter — decided to go with Carpenter. Those in the room took a vow of secrecy, agreeing not to talk about what had happened. A couple of hours later, Coach Koetter called another meeting, this time with the quarterback he'd recruited. Keller broke down and cried. He called his parents, who were traveling back home. Come back, he said. They returned and met with the coach late that afternoon. Keller's father demanded that Sam be able to face his accusers. Koetter said no. They gave Koetter one day to change his mind. He didn't. Sunday, the Kellers asked for a scholarship release. Sunday night, the coach made his announcement: "It's simple. I made a mistake on the quarterback situation and I'm changing my mind." By that time Keller's father, Mike, was contacting schools that might need a quarterback in 2007, including Nebraska. The elder Keller was an All-American at Michigan and a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker. He'd worked in professional football front offices most of his adult life. He didn't know Bill Callahan personally, but the two had mutual friends. Mike Keller knew Callahan's protégé, Harrison Beck, had just transferred. Wednesday, Aug. 23, Sam Keller got on a plane bound for Omaha. Starting over Roommates at Arizona State knew him as "Ice Man," a "Top Gun" fanatic who blasted Journey and Doobie Brothers. Last fall in Lincoln, Sam Keller didn't have roommates. After football practices, he called his parents, called his friends, called his girlfriend. He read Clive Cussler and Sun Tzu until time came to turn out the lights in his one-bedroom apartment. It was the life of a football mercenary. Keller wanted to play in the NFL, and a dozen Saturdays in 2007 were his chance. Without the game, he'd be . . . he's not sure. Football's all he's ever known. A firefighter, maybe. "My best friend in high school, his dad's captain of a firehouse." He didn't regret leaving the desert — "Why would I want to stay there? I had no place there" — but he considered those first weeks rock bottom. Small victories lifted him: home games during which he got to be on the sideline; winning over friends on the team like Bo Ruud and Corey McKeon; his girlfriend moving to Lincoln in October. He stayed out of the spotlight as best he could. He listed his credentials only when someone asked. He kept his mouth shut at practice — except during scout team drills. "He's up in every receiver's face getting into them about their scout-team routes," said Ruud, an NU starting linebacker. "Seven-on-seven scout team. To say it's a meaningless drill . . . nobody wants to be doing it, especially the scout team. He's going hard core. . . . And this is mid-December outside in the cold." Before Keller transferred, the crucial fourth season of Callahan's tenure appeared hazy. How could the coach rebuild the Huskers to national prominence without a qualified quarterback? Named NU's starting quarterback earlier this week, Keller recognizes a different kind of heat in Nebraska, where people admire and critique their quarterbacks like politicians. At times, he must resist what feels natural. Take downtown Lincoln. You can occasionally see him at a bar, but he's careful to keep his nose clean, to protect his reputation. "Whenever I take a picture with somebody, I put my drink down," he says. Bars will always be there, Keller says. Football won't. Coaches have encouraged him to take fewer risks on the field, too. Don't try to make the perfect throw when you can make the easy throw. Move the chains. Destroy a defense's spirit with consistency, not with highlights. Keller's reward for waiting, for falling in line, is crystal clear to him: "The hard part is over. This part right now, the part I'm in right now, is just unbelievable. . . . Being able to play pretty soon." Resist what feels natural. He tried last fall to avoid watching Arizona State. Rudy Carpenter performed like a shell of the player he was in 2005. The Sun Devils' offense sputtered. ASU went 7-6. Dirk Koetter got fired. Keller says he doesn't think about that fateful Saturday, or the teammates who accused him of wrongdoing. Dwell on it, ponder it, lie awake trying to figure it out and it'll tear you apart. So he tries to forget. He tries to forgive. Some things are harder than winning a quarterback job, harder than throwing a football in front of 80,000 people. The 80,000 on Saturday, that's what enables him to let go. That's what allows him to sleep through the summer heat. "Look where I ended up. I'm at Nebraska."
He's 23 Doc. But hey, if it's good for Lindsay lohan, it's good for Sammy. I expect 1 hell of a season outa this kid. He knows it's his only chance left to impress the scouts. I just hope he doesn't try to hard and force it when he shouldn't. NU vs Nevada this Sat Doc, regional T.V., maybe you'll get it. If not, fork out the $24.95 and take a look on one of the pay-per-views.
SAM I AM ON SAM I like this kids ATTITUDE!! Sense of urgency = BEAT SOMEBODY!! OOOHHHRRRAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! DOING BATTLE
Check your stats Cotton Eye, they went to a bowl game last year and almost pulled the trick on your second favorite team....and I'm not talking about Brown U. :twisted:
Hey Joel. Don't be making fun of our esteemed Indiana institutions of higher learning. Seriously, do you remember Ball mason jars? Well, they originated in Muncie, Indiana, a product of the Ball family business. The family was such a large contributor to the local state teachers college that they renamed the school in honor of the family. Now....Do you feel like you've learned something useful today? :wink:
Some ASU fans will tell you that despite living in the desert, Keller spent a lot of time playing in the snow. I don't know if that's sour grapes or not, but I hope he has a big season with the Huskers, if only to frustrate the Sun Gerbils.