Justin Drudik is the sixth quarterback to play for the University of Nebraska-Kearney this season.

The fifth-year senior started the year fourth on the depth chart — the wide receivers depth chart.

“It’s nothing like I expected to end my career,” Drudik said.

A rash of injuries forced Drudik into a quarterbacking crash course as the UNK Lopers’ season appeared to be slipping away. In the first seven games of the season, UNK started six different quarterbacks. Two, including Drudik, started the year as wide receivers.

For a team that prides itself on the timing of its spread offense, the constant changes have been disastrous. The team is 1-7 after going 30-6 the past three seasons. It’s not Drudik’s fault. He’s just closing out his college career in a bizarre situation.

Lopers offensive coordinator Andy Siegal called his coaching friends around the country asking for advice as his quarterbacks dropped like flies. They all responded with the same question.

“‘How do you have six quarterbacks?’” they asked.

Siegal always had the same answer: “We don’t.”

Redshirt freshman Aric Kaiser started the season opener against Washburn University. The team lost 24-14, but the game ended with a healthy stable of quarterbacks still on the roster.

After a slow first half with Kaiser under center in Week Two versus Emporia State, UNK brought in Kevin Romero. He led the team to a touchdown on his first drive. Then early in the fourth quarter, he tore his ACL.

The game against Missouri Western on Sept. 15 cost the Lopers two quarterbacks.

Kaiser started and struggled again before being replaced by Arizona transfer Tyler D’Amore. D’Amore, already nursing a knee injury, hurt his shoulder six plays in. Kaiser then returned and injured his shoulder, so D’Amore — who could not physically throw the ball — finished the game handing it off in the backfield.

The injuries left the Lopers desperate at the quarterback position.

Enter Matt Berry, a receiver who hadn’t played quarterback since his days at McCook High School. Siegal described Berry as a quick, natural reader of defenses in a zone-option offense.

So the playbook was reinvented, and contracted.

“Spread doesn’t mean air raid, throw it every single down, so that’s what you do is you find it, and that’s the thing we’ve done with all of them is ‘What do they do that’s positive?’” Siegal said. “OK, well in Matt’s case it’s he can run the option, he can run all over the place, he’s got escapability.”

But a bad hamstring limited Berry to three halves of football before spending three weeks in street clothes on game days. At that point, Berry and redshirt freshman Sean Flanagan had split snaps in practice.

Flanagan was quarterback No. 5. He started against Truman State in what would be UNK’s sixth straight loss of the season. During the third quarter of the TSU game, without the benefit of a single practice snap, Drudik came on after Flanagan’s helmet had fallen off.

Drudik threw just two passes before Flanagan was back under center.

At the start of the following week’s practice, Siegal sat down with what remained of his quarterback corps and announced Drudik would start against the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“I said, ‘Did you ever think you were going to play quarterback?’” Siegal said. “And he said, ‘You know coach, my dream’s always been to be like Tim Tebow and come in and run the football into the end zone for a touchdown.’”

One problem: Drudik isn’t fast. He’s a possession receiver primarily used for blocking.

Still, he went to work studying option reads with his fellow receiver-turned-quarterback Berry. On Oct. 13, Lincoln game day, Berry was on the sideline — in street clothes — talking Drudik through option reads.

Drudik had never run the option before. He took snaps in a Maryland-I offense in high school. In other words, he almost exclusively handed the ball off.

Berry told Drudik he thought he could probably cut around the defensive end on his options runs. With 9:46 remaining in the second quarter, Drudik used that advice and burst around the corner and downfield for a 23-yard touchdown. Berry ran over and congratulated him.

“I was really happy for him, getting that touchdown, because a lot of people give him a little grief about not being the fastest guy out there,” Berry said. “But he does put in a lot of work and he does work really hard at making the right read and getting the ball to who the ball needs to get to.”

The passing chapter of the UNK playbook had 30 plays in August. Now, it’s down to six.

The injuries besieging the Lopers are enough to drive any team apart, especially one hardly accustomed to losing. But not this team.

Head coach Darrell Morris and his staff gave the players a simple message: Keep it together and play through for the seniors. With displaced talent like Berry and Drudik giving up personal gain for the team, the persistence came naturally.

Drudik helped Berry call out protection audibles. Berry showed Drudik how to play an option. And though the team lost Drudik’s first game at quarterback 34-27 at Lincoln, the Lopers earned their first victory of the season last week over Southwest Baptist University.

Drudik had a modest day passing, completing 10 of 27 passes for 80 yards. But he managed the game, getting the ball to the team’s backs and receivers quickly in the 34-20 win.

“He’s the ultimate team guy if you’ve ever met one,” Siegal said. “And I tease him all the time; I say, ‘Hey I coached junior college football for 10 years, I know what it’s like to prepare a quarterback that doesn’t know anything, so this is easy.’”

This season marks the end of Drudik’s football career. One he never envisioned traversing this many turns, but he’s proud to end it under center.

When Drudik trotted off the field after his touchdown run against Lincoln, Siegal met him at the sideline. Referring back to his visions of Tebow, Siegal asked him one rhetorical question:

“Dream came true, huh?”

Drudik just laughed.

Published on October 23, 2012 at 1:16 am

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_