Called on to start, Coan expects to be comfortable under center
December 27, 2018 | Football, Mike Lucas, Bowl Central
Sophomore preparing to play close to home when Badgers take on Miami in Pinstripe Bowl
 |
||
|
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — It's a fairly easy drive on I-495W/I-295N; the 55 miles between Jack Coan's doorstep in Sayville, New York, to the Bronx and Yankee Stadium, the Dec. 27 home of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, a game that will measure how far the 20-year-old Coan has traveled as Wisconsin's starting quarterback.
"I feel comfortable going out there to start," said the 6-foot-3, 211-pound sophomore who will be the Badgers' starter for the fourth time in the last six games. His three previous starts were at Northwestern, Penn State and Purdue. "It's not my first rodeo anymore," Coan added excitedly. "I'm ready to go."
Last week, junior Alex Hornibrook was ruled out of the rematch with the Miami Hurricanes. Hornibrook was named the MVP of the 2017 Orange Bowl after throwing for 258 yards and a school-record four touchdowns in a 34-24 win.
Since Coan will be making his fifth appearance of the 2018 season, he'll exceed the four-game limit for redshirting under a first-year NCAA rule. It's not an issue to Coan, who stressed, "It's important for these seniors to go out on top. If that means me losing a year, I'm going to do my best to give them whatever I've got."
Since training camp, he noted his mindset was, "Whatever I can do to help my teammates win."
"One of those places that kind of had a magical feel to it" Earlier this month, D'Cota Dixon spent a few days in New York for an awards banquet. Now, he's excited to share the NYC experience with his teammates for the @PinstripeBowl.
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFB) December 20, 2018
Preserving Coan's redshirt was raised after Hornibrook played in the regular-season finale against Minnesota. "We didn't go into this season saying, 'We want to redshirt him (Coan),'" explained UW coach Paul Chryst. "We went into the season saying, 'We want your stats to be meaningful.'"
And they were, including Coan's relief stint in the second half against Rutgers. "One of the things we talked about with Jack at the beginning of the season was that we wouldn't play him in times when the game was decided," Chryst said. "Every time that he has played, the game has been in the balance."
All of those experiences, uplifting or not, have been invaluable to Coan's growth. After not seeing any action in the first seven games — walk-on Danny Vanden Boom was used as the mop-up QB — Coan got his first career start at Northwestern spelling Hornibrook, who was dealing with a head injury.
"I feel like I've gotten better each week from then (Oct. 27) and the beginning of the season," Coan said. "I definitely felt that, too, in bowl prep. It's both the good and bad experiences. I'd say especially the bad because they stick with you the most. Learning from those are huge."
Clinging to only a 14-10 first-half lead, Northwestern scored 17 unanswered points and won the West Division showdown, 31-17, at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. Coan completed 20 of 31 passes for 158 yards and one touchdown. He was sacked once, lost a fumble and threw an interception.
Reflecting on his starting debut, he said, "I could have gotten through my reads more than I did and taken a few more checkdowns. I remember a lot of plays … passes I shouldn't have thrown … stuff I was missing … obviously we go over it and we hit it to death on what we were doing wrong."
Every mistake was magnified compared to his freshman season when he got on the field at the tailend of six games (completing 5 of 5 passes). "Last year I would come in sort of at garbage time," he said. "All the backups were in and it was a lot of running the ball. They're just different situations."
Following the Northwestern defeat, Hornibrook was cleared and returned as the starter against Rutgers. But he played only the first half before being sidelined again. Coan came off the bench in a 10-0 game and connected on 5 of 7 throws for 64 yards and a touchdown in a 37-17 victory at Camp Randall.
"Those game reps are very valuable when you're talking about the quarterback position and playing with a good rhythm and making good decisions," said UW assistant Jon Budmayr, who coaches the QBs. "There are different moving pieces around you. But you still have to play within yourself."
A week later, Coan's inexperience was exposed. Starting in front of 105,396 at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania, he was guilty of four turnovers (two picks, two fumbles) in a 22-10 loss to Penn State. Coan connected on just 9 of 20 throws for 60 yards on a blustery day.
"I've got to protect the ball and make more plays no matter what is happening," he said of his teaching points. "That was a dream to play in Happy Valley. I had a bunch of family there. It was cold. It was really windy. It was tough. But that's part of playing quarterback. Especially at Wisconsin."
Coan insisted that his confidence never waned during the setbacks. "You get more confident with your experience and how much you know about the game," he said. "You learn how to prepare for games once you're playing. And you prepare better and better, which gives you more confidence."
In case you didn't know, @BadgerFootball is very good at bowling. 🎳 BTN x @PizzaRanch
— Wisconsin on BTN (@WisconsinOnBTN) December 21, 2018
His mettle was put to the test on Nov. 17 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana. With 9:47 left in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin trailed Purdue, 27-13. On back-to-back scoring drives, though, Coan was a combined 6-of-6, hooking up with Danny Davis for a couple of TDs to force overtime.
After the Badgers outlasted the Boilermakers, 47-44, in triple overtime — thanks in large part to a Herculean effort out of tailback Jonathan Taylor — Coan conceded, "That's going to stick with me probably the rest of my life."
It would be hard to script a more memorable win. Especially since it was Coan's first as a starter. "At Purdue, I just decided, 'I'm going to play ball and try not to think too much — I'm just going to play the way I know how to play and the way I played in high school,'" Coan recounted.
Piecing together the feeling in the huddle during the fourth quarter and overtimes, he recalled, "I remember coming together with all the guys and saying, 'This is the time where we've got to go, when we've got to do it and win this thing.' Everything started clicking and it was a dream come true."
When he wasn't handing the football to Taylor, Coan was marveling at the receiving acrobatics of Davis, whose one-handed, end zone stab conjured up images of the New York Giants man-child Odell Beckham, Jr. "It was an unbelievable play," Coan said of Davis, "by an unbelievable receiver."
After completing 16 of 24 for 160 yards — the other Davis touchdown, incidentally, was the result of a perfectly-executed back shoulder throw — Coan received favorable reviews for his resiliency. "The biggest thing was his poise," said wide receiver A.J. Taylor. "He looked like he belonged."
So, what did Coan take from each of his three starts? What can he apply in the Pinstripe Bowl?
"I would say it's a lot about situational football," he said. "It's one thing to do it in practice. But to do it in a game is different. Third and long. Third and mediums. Red zone. Knowing when you can't turn the ball over. Knowing when you can't take sacks. It all leads to managing the game and winning."
Reviewing Coan's development, particularly the late rally at Purdue, Budmayr said, "Anytime you have success that helps with your confidence. But he also has to take all the experiences, positive and negative, because there was a lot of learning from the Northwestern and Penn State games."
He must take those decision-making lessons into the Miami game, Budmayr implied. Especially since the growing pains were inevitable. What has been Budmayr's message to Coan? "Go out and play your game, make good decisions, play with good rhythm," he told him, "and trust the guys around you."
Coan is trusting that everyone who wants to see him play, family and friends from Long Island, will get tickets. At last count, he was expecting that his rooting contingent will number in the 30s at Yankee Stadium. "I might need more tickets than that," he said. "Everyone is super excited."
Growing up in Sayville, a community of nearly 17,000, on the Great South Bay of Long Island, Coan liked the Yankees, most notable Derek Jeter. But he really wasn't into baseball that much. He didn't go out for the sport in high school because it conflicted with his first competitive love, lacrosse.
Football was his other passion, Jets football, something he shared with his dad, Mike.
"We went to a bunch of games," he said of their trips to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. "I loved Rex Ryan. He's crazy but awesome. And their defense was ridiculous with Darrelle Revis and Bart Scott."
There was another Jets player that made a lasting impression on the Coans, father and son. "I was a big Coach Leonhard fan growing up," Jack said of Jim Leonhard, a 10-year NFL vet, who's Wisconsin's defensive coordinator. "When we came on my visit, my dad made sure we found him."
Last Wednesday, in an interesting twist, it was Mike Coan who broke the news via Twitter (he has 389 followers) that "Number 17 is off redshirt" and would be starting in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Jack Coan, who's No. 17, rolled his eyes and admitted, "I'm not a big social media guy. I don't really go on it anymore."
Mike Coan punctuated his tweet with, "Let's go!!!"
Jack Coan approved this message.
