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Measure Of Success

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By BRETT McMURPHY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 12, 2008

TAMPA - University of South Florida's Matt Grothe and Kansas' Todd Reesing have different jersey numbers and very different hobbies. Grothe prefers hunting and fishing, while Reesing enjoys tennis, dancing and music.

But the two junior quarterbacks, who will battle in tonight's Top 20 showdown at Raymond James Stadium between the No. 19 Bulls and No. 13 Jayhawks, have a lot more similarities than differences.

"What's Reesing like?" USF secondary coach Troy Douglas said. "It's like what we see in practice every day."

In high school Grothe and Reesing were supposedly too small to succeed in big-time college football. Because of this misconception, both were ignored by the so-called powerhouses from each of their respective football crazed states.

Grothe starred at Lake Gibson, but received little interest from Florida, Florida State or Miami. Reesing threw for 6,500 yards and 70 TDs in two seasons at Lake Travis High in Austin, Texas, but he could have thrown for 65,000 yards and the only way the hometown Longhorns might look at him is if he bought a ticket to a UT game and stopped by the coaches' offices.

As a junior at Lake Travis, Reesing was named the state's Class 4A Offensive Player of the Year over some guy named Matt Stafford, who was then rated the nation's No. 1 recruit and is now at Georgia.

Even with all of Reesing's success, he was recruited by only one Texas school: TCU.

"There are certain aspects that are the same as we both make plays with our arms and legs," Grothe said. "I'm sure it will be compared throughout the week.

"And he'll agree with me as much as the next 'short' quarterback. If you can play, you can play, doesn't matter how tall you are."

Reesing is listed at 5-foot-11, 200 pounds; Grothe at 6-foot, 200 pounds.

What they've accomplished, however, for their teams can't be measured.

Grothe has started 27 of 28 games, leading USF to consecutive school-record nine-win seasons and back-to-back bowl berths.

Reesing led KU to a12-1 record and a victory in the Orange Bowl.

Both USF and KU reached No. 2 in the BCS polls during last season.

"You can tell Reesing is a very competitive kid and, like Grothe, has a little chip on his shoulder and may not be playing where he initially wanted to play, like the University of Texas," USF defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said.

"But he's accurate, boy, I'll tell you what. I don't know what his accuracy rating is, I'm afraid to look."

Burnham might not want to look at this next sentence: Through two games, Reesing is completing 76.7 percent, averaging 45 attempts and 334 yards a game with six touchdowns and one interception.

Last season, Reesing set the Big 12 record with 213 consecutive pass attempts without an interception and threw for a school record 3,486 yards.

"Reesing throws a nice ball, he has a strong arm when he needs it," Douglas said. "He has a great feel for this offense. He's a very good player, a very good player.

"I think Grothe is a little bit more athletic. Reesing might have a little better touch, but I don't think he's as fast as Grothe. They're very similar. He's a playmaker. What can you say? He's short, but he makes plays."

Kansas coach Mark Mangino is equally impressed with Grothe.

"They feature an outstanding quarterback who throws the ball very well, yet also runs the ball very well in a designed run game," Mangino said. "They have various plays that are designed for Grothe to carry the football in the same fashion that a tailback would carry the ball."

In 2006, in only Grothe's third career start, the Jayhawks defeated the Bulls, 13-7, as Grothe was intercepted in the end zone on the game's final play.

"We knew in 2006 they had a great defense with a lot of young guys," Grothe said. "Now they have a great defense with a lot of experienced guys.

"I've looked forward to this game about as much as I've looked forward to any game we've played."

Mangino knew back then that Grothe would be something special.

"We thought that the quarterback had the potential to be pretty good, but he was young when he was here," Mangino said.

While Reesing hasn't run as much this year (only 13 carries in two games), Grothe has led the Bulls in rushing the past two seasons and already has a team-high 24 carries.

Kansas cornerback Chris Harris knows what awaits tonight.

"He's probably the best quarterback we've seen so far this season because of the running ability," Harris said. "He's basically another running back for them. He's not scared to take a hit. He just lowers his shoulder and tries to run over people and that's just a challenge for us to try to stop the run.

"He reminds us of Todd, but Todd's not one who's out there trying to run over linebackers. That's what this dude does."

No matter how under-sized he supposedly might be.

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com.

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