After Saturday’s loss to Purdue, Northwestern quarterback Tony Stauss acknowledged that his skills as a signal caller do not fit into the Wildcats’ offense.
The sophomore said the coaching staff spent the week attempting to tailor the offense to his strengths — which he admits do not include speed and agility — but a glaring truth remained.
“This offense came from Clemson and Woody Dantzler,” Stauss said after Saturday’s 42-13 loss. “I ain’t Woody Dantzler.”
On Monday, NU coach Randy Walker added that Stauss also is no Zak Kustok, the nimble quarterback whom Walker crafted the offense around in 2000.
But Walker extolled Stauss’ virtues and said he is confident the quarterback is capable of running the ball well enough to make the offense effective.
“I think Tony is selling himself short,” Walker said. “He’s good enough to be effective. Maybe he thinks he isn’t a perfect fit for our style of offense. Well, that probably isn’t wrong.
“But you talk about a guy that does the right things and works hard, you couldn’t ask for a better guy.”
Offensive lineman Jeff Roehl, one of Stauss’ roommates, agreed NU’s system still calls for a different kind of quarterback and indicated that Stauss might be a successful one elsewhere.
“I don’t think his skills as a quarterback fit with the offense,” Roehl said. “Maybe we pushed too hard to make him into Zak Kustok, where he could have been — and could still be — a great quarterback in his own right.
“He really is a very talented quarterback, and if you put him in a system where he can drop back and … not feel like he has to run around and scramble and make decisions on the run, he’s an excellent player.”
Stauss may have another stab at running the spread on Saturday against Indiana.
Walker said he is unsure if injured quarterback Brett Basanez will be available. The redshirt freshman, who fractured his fibula against Minnesota on Oct. 10, dressed and warmed up for Purdue, but the coaching staff did not feel he was ready to take snaps.
Walker said this will be another “we’ll see how it goes” week for Basanez.
“We’ll go through this week, ‘How’s he looking today?'” Walker said. “He was better Saturday than he was Tuesday. I expect the same (progress) this week.”
Should Basanez remain on the sidelines, NU likely will try to adjust the offense further to accommodate Stauss. But Walker said the team can only change so much.
“I don’t think you can be a gun football team and run the ball great if you just hand it to the other guy,” Walker said. “We’re not an option football team in the sense that we need an Air Force-like quarterback.
“We still need to be able to throw effectively, and we still want to have a good back that’s your cow bell of the backfield. But we need a quarterback who can run it, too.”
