Weber on Track to Join Gophers’ Best
After 20 career starts, sophomore
quarterback Adam Weber has produced a sharp
resume. If he remains healthy and Minnesota keeps winning, Weber
may secure a place by 2010 as the Gophers' greatest quarterback ever.
Weber’s to-do list every week is
this: pass, run,
lead and understand the offense. He has demonstrated a proficiency with
all of that unequalled by any Gopher sophomore quarterback in memory.
He’s second in the Big Ten Conference in passing average per game at 228
yards. He ranks third in total offense at 241.4. He’s thrown only three
interceptions this season and has 10 touchdown passes. With more than
two seasons yet to play, he already ranks fifth all-time on the Gopher
list in career pass completions, tied for fourth in passing touchdowns,
sixth in total offense and seventh in career passing yards.
Weber has run for eight touchdowns in 20
games for the Gophers. His 39-yard fourth quarter run against Purdue
last Saturday to set up the Gophers’ last touchdown in a 17-6 win was
part athleticism and part moxie. He saw opportunity in the Purdue defense
and took off down the field to help the Gophers win for the seventh time
in eight games and move to No. 17 in the BCS rankings.
The former Mounds View High School player
said earlier this week he’s never missed a game because of injuries as a
prep or collegian. The subject came up because Weber isn’t from the
slide first school of running, instead choosing to lay a blow into a
tackler. He likes his chances of minimizing injury by being an aggressive
ball carrier.
Weber’s courage is forming his image as a
courageous player and leader. The day after the Indiana game on October
4, he had arthroscopic right knee surgery but six days later was on the field
at Illinois to help the Gophers upset the Illini, 27-20.
Weber has command of the Gopher huddle.
His poise is exemplary and was a factor when in the closing minutes of
the opening game he led the Gophers on a winning touchdown drive to beat
Northern Illinois 31-27 and end a 10 game losing streak going back to
last season.
Gopher coach Tim Brewster told
Sports Headliners last week that his quarterback has “maturity
beyond his years” and it’s an obvious key to leadership. “He has
tremendous confidence in his ability to execute our offense because of
his preparation,” Brewster said.
While Weber started every game as a
freshman, it was no day at the beach for the then 20-year-old, not with
struggling to learn the new and complicated spread offense and going
through a winless season in the Big Ten Conference.
“Obviously last year we took our lumps
somewhat watching him learn, watching him grow, watching him make
mistakes,” Brewster said. “You know...it was all part of the
process. …Last season was an uncomfortable, challenging experience for
us all, but... we knew we had to take two steps back to take that
one big step forward.”
Brewster admires his quarterback’s work
ethic. “He’s going to put himself into position to be one of the top
players in college football, in my opinion,” Brewster said. “The thing
about it is that he’s not bashful about working. Adam Weber is a worker
and that’s what is going to allow him to become what I feel like is a
really good player.”
In the Gophers’ spread system the
quarterback is a target to be hit by the defense on most plays. Pass
rushers want to sack him; defenders are ready to deliver a blow on his
runs. The Gophers’ system limits his rushing attempts per game and
Weber’s fearless mentality may help keep him in one piece. His next
endurance test comes in tomorrow’s Homecoming game against Northwestern,
a team that’s 6-2 on the season and leads the Big Ten Conference in
sacks.
If Weber stays healthy, the odds of the
Gophers continuing to win go way up. And Brewster reminds that
successful quarterbacks are judged and remembered as much for their wins
as personal statistics. The Gophers haven’t had an All-American quarterback
since Sandy Stephens in 1961. They haven’t been to a New Year’s
Day bowl game since 1962. Opportunity waits.
Not that Weber doesn’t need to keep
improving. “There’s throws he’s made this season that we’ll take a look
at in the off-season and really study, and learn from some mistakes he’s
made,” Brewster said. “There’s a ton of the little things, the little
nuances that great quarterbacks do that he still has some work yet.”
One day Weber could play in the NFL but he
doesn’t have any intention of leaving school early to try the pros.
Brewster doesn’t want to talk NFL and Weber. “I think he’s got
excellent ability to play in the National Football League at some point,
and that’s not worth talking about,” Brewster said. “The most important
thing for us to discuss is how good a player he can be for the Gophers,
not how good a player he can be for the NFL.”
