Despite being undersized, QBs in the Big 12 get the job done

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Nebraska's Joe Ganz wasn't highly recruited out of high school, told he was too small to play quarterback on the college level.

Any other conference, maybe that holds true.

Not in the Big 12.

As Missouri's Chase Daniel and Kansas' Todd Reesing showed last season, bigger isn't always better, particularly in the Big 12, the conference that gives hope to little guys all across the country.

"What Chase and Todd have done, they've kind of opened the door for smaller guys to hopefully get recruited more," Ganz said. "Hopefully, we can open the door for a lot more coaches to realize you don't have to be the typical 6-4, 230 to have success in college. I know that's what the pro guys look for, but you don't need that big size, that big stature to be successful in college."

Nowhere is that more apparent than the Big 12, land of the little quarterback.

Ganz is 6-foot-1, 210 pounds. Daniel is a stout 6-0, 225. Colorado's Cody Hawkins is not bigger than some high school freshmen at 5-11, 190 pounds, Reesing only a little bigger at 5-11, 200. Texas Tech's Graham Harrell is listed at a generous 6-3, 200 pounds.

There are a few more in the prototypical mold -- Kansas State's Josh Freeman is 6-5, 250 pounds, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford 6-5, 213 -- but nearly half the returning quarterbacks in the Big 12 are considered undersized by today's standards.

The thing about these little guys, though, is they know how to make the most of their abilities and how to lead a team.

Take Daniel. The senior was Missouri's first Heisman Trophy finalist and was seventh in the nation in total offense with 325.64 yards per game. He completed 68 percent of his passes -- not bad for someone who supposedly couldn't see over his linemen -- for 4,306 yards and 33 touchdowns, leading the Tigers to one of the best seasons in school history.

Reesing was nearly as good, guiding the Jayhawks to 479.8 yards per game, second-best in the country, while setting numerous school records, including most yards (3,486), touchdowns (33) and completions (276) in a season. The junior also completed 61 percent of his passes, leading Kansas to its first BCS Bowl win -- over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl -- and the first 12-win season in school history.

There was a time when the undersized quarterback was an anomaly -- Fran Tarkenton and Doug Flutie being two of the few successful examples -- but that's not the case anymore, at least in the Big 12.

"They say a guy has to be 6-4 so he can drop back 10 yards and throw over a guy that's 6-7, that's a bunch of falsehoods," Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said. "It's more about passing lanes anyway. It's better to be short and be on target than tall."