Grothe Walking in Spurrier's Tracks

[E.T.]

Published Saturday, December 23, 2006

Grothe Walking in Spurrier's Tracks

TAMPA

Matt Grothe thinks for a moment. He's trying to remember the last time he was really nervous before a football game.

''Maybe ninth grade,'' he says.

Grothe and the University of South Florida are getting ready for the Papajohns.Com Bowl today in Birmingham, Ala., where they will meet East Carolina at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.

And Grothe, a redshirt freshman quarterback from Lake Gibson, is the primary reason the Bulls are in the game.

The proof of this is in the numbers: 12th nationally in total offense and first among freshman quarterbacks with 258.5 yards per game, second among freshman quarterbacks in both yards passing, 2,495, and rushing yards per game, 50.6, etc.

But numbers are not the best way to measure Grothe's value to the Bulls.

His real value is in the intangibles he brings to the team. He has an innate ability to lead, and he is the best kind of leader because he doesn't talk about what he's going to do, he just goes out and does it. He is at his best under pressure and when a play has to be made, he usually makes it. More important, if he doesn't make it, he believes he will make it the next time.

A lot of words could be used to describe Grothe as a football player. The one that best sums him up, though, is poise.

He reminds you of another young quarterback from many years ago - a guy who played at the University of Florida named Steve Spurrier. Their physical skills may be different, but they are both of the same mindset. Spurrier believed he could do anything that had to be done and usually did it.

It isn't that either one of them goes out on the field with the game on the line and consciously thinks about making the big play, and that may be the secret to their success.

Sure, they're aware of what has to be done. But what sets them apart is their ability to block out the moment, what might be at stake, and focus entirely on what they're supposed to do.

And that separates the really good players from the average guy. The average guy gets so caught up in the moment that he puts additional pressure on himself. That creates nervousness, and that creates mistakes.

Spurrier never thought about that and neither does Grothe. That's why, with the game on the line, Spurrier was as good a college quarterback as you could find, and Grothe is walking in his footsteps.

''I guess I get a little bit nervous, but not too much,'' Grothe says, ''I'm just so focused in on what I have to do I don't think about that. I used to get nervous all the time, but that went away once I got calmed down in high school.

''After that, I didn't get nervous anymore. I got to a point where I said, 'I don't care what happens, I'm just going to go out and play football and have fun.' I don't worry about losing.

''I just try and do the best I can and see what happens, and it seems like things have turned out OK.'

You could say that.