STARKVILLE — The goal for Wake Forest quarterback Tanner Price is to be just another overlooked prospect from Westlake High School in Texas to prove the critics wrong.
Just days after Westlake High alum and current New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees set the single-season passing record in the National Football League, Price will try to throw over, around and past the Mississippi State defense.
“The bottom line is if Tanner plays well, we have a chance to win every time,” Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. “If he doesn’t, then we lose. We’re such a throwing team that’s it’s that simple.”
Price, like Brees who was offered just one scholarship out of high school, chose Wake Forest two years ago over Stanford, Northwestern, Rice and Tulsa after putting up 2,302 yards and 15 touchdowns in his senior season while leading his team to the Texas state finals.
Essentially, Price’s college decision was about academic reputation which led him to the nationally-renowned Wake Forest equipped with less-than up-to-date facilities and the smallest stadium capacity of any Bowl Championship school.
“I wasn’t that highly recruited,” Price told The Roanoke Times in October. “I did a lot of the recruiting myself, and I really focused on schools that had great academics and played in big-time football settings and conferences.”
Once he entered the Winston-Salem campus, Price was seen as the savior of the program and even bragged on by his head coach as the next great quarterback giving him the same No. 12 as the school record holder Riley Skinner in preseason spring camp.
“They’re both very similar kids in personality and it’s not unfair at all compare them skillwise,” Grobe said. “I think that Riley had more athleticism while Tanner may even throw a better ball right now in his career.”
His freshman season saw the 6-foot-2 left-hander win the starting job but struggle to throw just eight touchdown passes compared to eight interceptions while the Demon Deacons finished with a 3-9 record.
“I think a lot people saw him struggle so badly last year that the questions started to come as to ‘okay, is this kid for real or not?’ and boy has he answered them now,” Grobe said.
This season, with a new jersey number (No. 11), Price stormed out of the gate leading Wake Forest (6-6) to a 5-0 start thanks to his passing ability and the chemistry he’s developed with wide receiver Chris Givens. Price has thrown for 2,803 yards and 20 TDs.
“Tanner is a real team kid,” Grobe said. “Nothing is everything about I or me unless he’s telling the media after a loss that ‘I didn’t play well enough for us to win’ and ‘put this loss on me’,” Grobe said. “He has the perfect attitude for a quarterback.”
Price has begun to showcase the skills that led him to be showered with praise early in his career as he led Wake Forest to its first bowl bid since 2008 and his aerial attack would likely be the reason his team pulls off the upset Friday in the 2011 Music City Bowl (5:40 p.m., ESPN).
“My offensive line has done an unbelievable job this year of giving me plenty of time to throw the ball, and I have receivers right now that are catching the ball and making plays,” Price said to The Roanoke Times. “When you can throw a little 5-yard screen to a receiver and he takes it 40 yards for a touchdown, that makes your stats look a lot better.”
MSU coach Dan Mullen even admitted last week that preparing for his first left-handed starting quarterback has forced adjustments in the angles the Bulldogs front seven will rush the passer.
“The biggest thing that it does is it lets you know where his launch points are located and where they scramble,” MSU defensive coordinator Chris Wilson said. “He can throw it everywhere and make every throw.”
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