Nebraska bets on transfer QB Tanner Lee

LINCOLN, Neb. — Almost every time Tanner Lee was knocked down at Tulane, he’d get up. And he was knocked down plenty: Tulane allowed a combined 51 sacks in 2014 and 2015, Lee’s two seasons as the Green Wave’s starting quarterback, not to mention the near-incalculable number of times he was hit, pressured, shoved, smashed and crushed behind one of the nation’s most porous offensive lines.

But he wasn’t unbreakable. Lee missed time due to a concussion. Had a shoulder ailment — a joint separation suffered when falling to the turf, smashed flat by 300-pound linemen — and multiple injuries to his hand. One, a broken index finger, came when his digit became entangled in a helmet; the other, to his ring finger, needed an inserted pin to be stabilized.

“I got a hit a lot, yeah,” Lee said of his time at Tulane, in a drastic understatement: Lee was a tackling dummy, easy prey for defensive predators salivating at the idea of deconstructing the Green Wave’s flimsy offense. And he struggled, predictably.

During his two playing seasons at Tulane, encompassing his redshirt freshman and sophomore campaigns, Lee compiled barely more touchdowns, 23, than interceptions, 21. He completed little above half of his attempts. Only once in 19 games did he pass for more than 300 yards.

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“I think I learned so much, so quickly, especially during the two years that I played, that it made me a 10-times better player — just more mature, a better leader,” he said. “We went through so much, I guess, in tough games and tough times, that I learned a lot. I learned a ton.”

Lost among the sacks, incomplete throws, broken fingers and humbling losses was potential. Tulane’s coaches saw it; his peers, counselors and instructors at the Manning Passing Academy, where Lee is an annual attendee, saw it; Lee himself even felt it, with a growing sense of confidence tempered by the inevitable setbacks that ensued with the Green Wave.

“I always felt like I was just as good as those guys in high school,” Lee said. “Whether I had stars or numbers or recognition or not, I don’t know if that really mattered to me. I just wanted to be able to show it.”

This helps in part to explain why he’s here, at Nebraska, weeks away from ascending to the second-most scrutinized public position in this state, behind only third-year coach Mike Riley — that of the Cornhuskers’ starting quarterback.

OK, so the idea doesn’t seem to compute. Tulane, then Nebraska? A quarterback who did little on the field to draw attention with the Green Wave is now — according to quarterback gurus and current Football Bowl Subdivision coaches who spoke with USA TODAY Sports — one of the nation’s premier quarterback talents?

But Lee is absolutely an elite NFL prospect, with the arm, size and smarts to shine in the Cornhuskers’ style of play, and this is how transfers are supposed to work. Nebraska desperately needed a quarterback; Lee, evaluating his options after Tulane hired Willie Fritz and his option-based offense, was equally desperate to find the right scheme, the right coaching staff and the right fit.

“I’ve definitely always dreamed of being able to play at a school like this,” Lee said. “That’s always what I really wanted. Going back to being 12 years old, this is what you sort of envision.”

Now, one year after arriving on campus, Lee stands poised to capture the potential once seen only in flashes at Tulane — giving Nebraska not just an elite quarterback prospect but installing into place a piece missing during Riley’s first two seasons.

“We’ve got a lot of high expectations, let’s put it that way,” said Nebraska offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf.

While Lee had options following his decision to leave Tulane following the 2015 season — notably LSU, which was in dire need of its own pro-style quarterback — Nebraska long held the inside track. Three people close to Riley clued the Cornhuskers’ coaching staff into the transfer:

The first was his former colleague with the San Diego Chargers, Billy Devaney, who is now Nebraska’s director of player personnel. The second was the Cornhuskers’ wide receivers coach, Keith Williams, who held the same position at Tulane when Lee was the Green Wave’s starting quarterback. The third was ESPN reporter Chris Mortensen, who had seen Lee throw at the Manning Passing Academy in the summer of 2015 and came away impressed.

Devaney, a longtime NFL personnel executive, told Riley he’d found in Lee his next quarterback recommendation. Williams said Lee was terrific; on the field and off, he’s a winner. Mortensen, who is close with Lee’s family, recommended they speak with Nebraska.

Riley and Langsdorf reviewed Lee’s game film and came away with a secure assessment: This guy can sling it. He can hit all the throws in our playbook. He’s got the quick release we want. Most of all, he’s a veteran, he’s not some fresh-faced rookie. This is our guy, they decided.

“That experience of playing in a college football game is so valuable. Being in the game is not going to be new for him,” said Riley.

Sitting was new, however. As a transfer, Lee spent last season piloting Nebraska’s scout team, running the opposition’s offense from Monday through Friday before taking the reins of the Cornhuskers’ system during the program’s unique Sunday scrimmages — a weekly chance for backups and redshirts to take snaps in the team’s scheme. In drips, Nebraska’s primary contributors would make their way to these practices, drawn in large part to witness how well Lee could handle the offense.

They saw what Riley called “defining moments.” Lee hitting a receiver in the corner of the end zone. Unfurling a deep post down the numbers. Showing a quick decision-making process that’s “almost as good as I’ve been around,” Riley said.

“I don’t know anything about quarterbacks, except that when he throws it looks good,” added senior linebacker Chris Weber. “He’s a passer. Growing up and watching Nebraska football, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a passer like him.”

Internally, at least, the hype machine has been in full swing since Lee’s first days on campus. Welcome to Nebraska, after all — you’re not at Tulane anymore.

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“He’s under the microscope, like everyone is in Nebraska football,” Langsdorf said. “I think he’s been very humble in his approach. That part of it is all really positive. It’s not an ego thing, being the Nebraska quarterback. He’s just one of the guys.”

With one profound difference: Lee is built for the next level. Already, Nebraska coaches have considered the possibility that he’ll be a one-and-done recruit — a player who transfers in, redshirts and then flourishes before hopping into the NFL, leaving an additional year of eligibility on the table. It’s a trade the staff will take, of course.

“I can’t be naïve about it,” Riley said, “because I’ve got to have a contingency. Just know that’s a possibility. And that’s not a bad thing.”

It may seem to be happening so fast — the quick step from transfer to redshirt to starter to, if the plan comes together, the best quarterback prospect in Nebraska’s proud history. That Lee brings just middling on-field results into his junior season only adds to the confusion.

But this marriage, born from a mixture of necessity and timing, will yield unexpected results. Nebraska has placed its chips behind Lee, fully engaged in the idea that this player — a statuesque, pocket-passing quarterback in the mold of Matt Moore, Sean Mannion and Riley’s past pupils at Oregon State — will lift this team to a Big Ten West Division title and into the mix for a New Year’s Six bowl.

Lee, meanwhile, has found his opportunity. And what was once seen just in small pockets of college football, by only those clued into a burgeoning NFL talent on the Group of Five ranks, may soon become common knowledge: Lee, perhaps like Nebraska as a whole, is poised to capture his potential.

“If I can just make the most of this opportunity at Nebraska hopefully the rest can just take care of itself,” Lee said. “And I’m just trying to kill it. Because I don’t think a lot of people bounce back in my situation. So I’m really lucky.”

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