Lincoln, Neb. – If it’s true one can tell a lot about a man by the way he plays poker, maybe Nebraska’s opponents should spend one day a week at the Taylor-Tomerlin household near campus.
Zac Taylor and Justin Tomerlin, Nebraska’s new quarterback and defensive end, hook horns and bluffs in weekly poker games. They have roomed together since last year at Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kan., and Tomerlin still hasn’t figured out whether to hold ’em or fold ’em when Taylor is staring him down.
“The man, he’s throwing his chips in the middle all the time,” Tomerlin said. “You never know what he’s got. He could have the best cards or the worst cards, and he’s going all in.”
Taylor, 22, is hoping he keeps defenses guessing just as much this season. A year ago, Nebraska’s overwhelmed young quarterback, Joe Dailey, did all the guessing and usually held when he should have folded or folded when he should have held. The Cornhuskers cashed in their chips with their worst season (5-6) in 43 years.
Much of Nebraska’s rebound depends on Taylor, an easy-going, pleasant kid whom the Huskers don’t view as a gamble. He arrived in January and put such a chokehold on the job – throwing for 357 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of the spring game – that Dailey transferred to North Carolina.
Second-year Nebraska coach Bill Callahan hasn’t officially named Taylor the starter, but his praise has all but penned him in for Saturday night’s opener against Division I-AA Maine.
“I like Taylor because he’s got great poise,” Callahan said. “He’s very dialed into everything you tell him. He reads your lips when you talk to him.”
How Taylor wound up in Lincoln would confuse Lewis and Clark, but where Taylor started will confuse every soul in the Big 12. Taylor arrived in Lincoln indirectly from Norman, Okla. Yes, Nebraska’s new quarterback prepped at Norman High School, a long punt from Oklahoma’s campus, and is the son of former Oklahoma defensive back Sherwood Taylor.
So how ya’ feel about raising a Cornhusker, pal?
“You could’ve beat me with a stick and I would’ve said, ‘No way,”‘ said Sherwood Taylor, who owns a surplus textbook company called Powderhorn Book Company. “But I will say if there was any program I’d like my son to go to besides OU, it would be Nebraska.”
It probably had something to do with Oklahoma going 3-1 against Nebraska when he played for the Sooners from 1977-79, but it may have something to do with a misconception about Oklahoma fans.
“I never hated Nebraska,” said Zac Taylor, wearing his green “no-touch” practice jersey before practice Friday. “People in Colorado hate Nebraska. I honestly don’t think people in Norman hate Nebraska. They hate Texas and Oklahoma State. The Nebraska game is all respect.”
Still, Taylor grew up dreaming of becoming a Sooner. That lasted until before his senior year in 2001 when Oklahoma still had three more years of Jason White, who became the 2003 Heisman Trophy winner, ballyhooed recruit Brent Rawls and had signed current starter Paul Thompson. Taylor had committed to Oklahoma State in the summer 2001, declining an offer from Colorado.
He visited Wake Forest as a courtesy to his father’s friend, who was an assistant coach there, and signed. But Taylor lasted just a redshirt year and one year as a backup. Wake Forest signed current star running back Chris Barclay, and Taylor didn’t want his arm to rot.
He transferred to Butler County last year and appeared headed to Memphis or Marshall until Nebraska called the night before his national JC championship game. The next day, Taylor played awful and his team lost, but Nebraska never lost faith. Today, after three years, Taylor finally feels comfortable putting his unpacked bags in the cellar instead of near the front door.
“To be honest, it feels more like six or seven years,” he said. “It’s been a long ride.”
Nebraska hopes it can ride the 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior for two years, and he already has grasped more of Callahan’s complicated offense than Dailey did all season.
“He has grasped it all,” Callahan said.
Added Tomerlin: “He’s got that down. That boy spends three hours, four hours in that playbook. And I’m talking 1, 2 in the morning when we’ve got to get up at 6 or 7. The thing that he’s going after now is he’s just going for total control.”
Taylor won’t go that far but admits his biggest hurdle was the complicated vocabulary. Besides, teammates say, he brushes off mistakes – mental and physical – with all the effort of a shooing a wingless mosquito.
His sister gives him perspective. Kathryn Taylor, 20, has Down syndrome but is an award-winning Special Olympics swimmer and has become another rabid Huskers fan in Norman. Volunteering as a Special Olympics referee has kept Zac grounded.
“She always lifts you up,” Zac said. “I couldn’t be more thankful to have her in my life. If I do have a bad game, there are times I get down on myself but it is easier knowing that I’m just lucky to be playing the game.”
He may be lucky but, moving from a junior college to Nebraska, he definitely is upping the ante. And there’s proof he is ready. He and Tomerlin recently went on eBay and ordered a big poker table.
Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
