Even-Mannered Tanner Gets Riled
Jim Grobe may not be sleeping great this week, not with a brawny, blazing Notre Dame team coming to town.
“Notre Dame will be more talented than any team we’ve played to date, and they’re very well-coached,’’ Grobe said.
But if you’re thinking the recent play of quarterback Tanner Price is keeping Grobe up at night, then you don’t know either one. Though Price is coming off his most abysmal performance of the season that resulted in three interceptions and a fumble at North Carolina, Grobe said he’s not the least bit worried about his quarterback’s state of mind.
“I think he’s going to react well,’’ Grobe said. “I’m really coaching him up this week. I called him in and told him he needed to play better. I’ve got him coached up. I’m doing my job.’‘
Grobe elaborated on the session.
“I think he was waiting for me to give him some really intelligent coaching points,’’ Grobe related. “I said `You need to play better.’ And his response was typical Tanner. `Yes sir I do.’ That was it.
“And it’s not just Tanner. I thought overall everything could have been a little better, not just Tanner.’‘
As bad as last season was, Grobe came out of it feeling really, really good about his quarterback, a player that took a fearsome pounding as a first-year freshman and never bellyached, never whined, never pointed fingers at anyone else. Invariably poised and focused, his nickname could be Even-Mannered Tanner.
But receiver Chris Givens saw the first real spark of a temper from Price last week at North Carolina, something he had been waiting to see. Price, according to Givens, is just starting to emerge as a vocal leader of the team.
“This past Saturday was the first time he really stepped up and said something to me,’’ Givens said. “I think it was the (incomplete) pass where I was in the back of the endzone. He came up to me and got on me pretty good about it. I was excited. That’s what I wanted to see from my quarterback.
“I just took it as `All right, I’m going to make the next play. Let’s move on from it.’ He was a little vocal (Monday) in practice.
“It was a slow process with him. He’s trying not to be the bad guy. He’s trying to have everybody like him right now. But I tried to tell him that sometimes if you want to be a leader, you can’t have everybody like you. He’s learning.’‘