Kansas Pregame Feature: McCullick hopes to lead Lions past Redmen
By: Huey Counts
For Kansas Pregame.com
Posted: November 7, 2009 - 12:01 AM

When Keegan McCullick recalls his first meeting with Smith Center, he doesn't mince any words.

He was a ninth grader starting under center for Minneapolis in the 2006 playoffs.

"We weren't a very experienced team and we were peeing down our legs because we were nervous as heck," said McCullick, who passed for just 23 yards and had three interceptions in the game, an 83-8 loss to a Smith Center club on its way to a third consecutive state championship.

This is the same Minneapolis quarterback who three years later looks as comfortable on the field as he does on the couch watching television.

The four year starter has more than justified the faith the school's football coaches had in him when it turned to him three games into his freshman year.

While current Minneapolis head coach Jerry Mick was not part of that staff and would not recommend starting a freshman at quarterback in most cases, he agreed with the move.

"At that point in time with the personnel they had, they made the right choice in getting him in there," said Mick, who became the head coach in time for the 2007 season. "He did a great job for them then."

His 11 touchdowns that first season included a four-touchdown, 14-of-29 showing in Week 3 against Russell in which he passed for a season-high 162 yards. The following year he went for nearly 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns as the Lions went 8-4 just one season after going 3-7.

"He really came into his own his sophomore year," Mick said. "We put in a passing scheme that fit him and his talents extremely well and we had two extremely good running backs that year in Jared Schmidt and Kyle Lonberger.

"Keegan was able to blossom as a thrower while those guys took care of business on the ground."

Last season's lofty expectations were grounded early by injuries, the biggest coming when running back Jake Eckert broke his arm in a practice prior to the second game. After that, it seemed a starter was dropping every week. At a school where most starters are starting on both sides of the ball, things can get thinned out rather quickly.

Unable to establish much of a run game, Mick was forced to turn almost exclusively to the strong right arm of the 6-foot-2, 180-pound McCullick. The results were both good (15 touchdowns and 2,007 passing yards) and not so good (19 interceptions and a 3-7 record).

"The only way we were going to move the ball was passing and everybody knew that so therefore it was a fullhouse rush on us," Mick said. "There were a lot of times where we didn't have time to do a three-step drop. It was one read and get the ball out. Nobody was respecting the run because we didn't have much of a run game."

McCullick survived the season. Though he did launch the occasional wobbler, he still completed 48 percent of his passes and threw only six picks in his final five games to go with 10 touchdowns. Twice he passed for better than 300 yards.

This season, he again started slowly, as Minneapolis dropped three of its first five games. But he's been rock solid during the Lion's current five-game victory roll, throwing for 12 touchdowns -- against just one interception -- and 865 yards.

Heading into Saturday's rematch against unbeaten Smith Center, now looking for its sixth consecutive title and , he has totaled 16 touchdowns and 1,531 yards and five interceptions.

Even better news for McCullick, has been the work down the stretch by a fully healthy Eckert, his 175-pound teammate. Eckert has rushed for 169, 171 and 243 yards in the past three games and five weeks ago posted a 400-yard, five-touchdown performance against Republic.

"I wouldn't trade him for anybody," McCullick said of Eckert, who has 1,485 yards and 20 sixes for the year. "As a running back, he can run around people, but he's one of those guys who is going to light you up. He's going to lower his shoulder and run you over. He can really do it all."

Minneapolis will need contributions from everybody if it hopes to put an end to Smith Center's 76-game victory streak.

"They have some good players, but the main thing is they're very cohesive and they work well together," McCullick said. " We're pretty confident in the defense we run against the wishbone, which obviously will be important in this game.

"And we feel confident in how our coaches will exploit their defense. But we know it's not going to be easy."