Price Keeps Rising
Afforded one more opportunity to talk with Tanner Price last week, I started brain-storming about who he was, what he has done and how he has changed since he arrived at Wake before the 2010 season.
That’s when the thought hit me that, when mentioned, floored the both of us.
Come Friday, after the Deacons close their season against Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl, his college career will be halfway over.
And here I thought that time accelerated as we get older, but he was as stunned by the observation at age 20 as I am at 59.
“It’s gone by so fast,’’ Price said. “I can’t believe I’ve only got two seasons left.
“A lot of it had to do with last year, just trying to forget about it and put it in the past. So it really kind of feels like one year.
“But I really can’t believe I’ve got only two years.’‘
If he were like every other Deacons’ quarterback to play for Jim Grobe, he’d have three seasons remaining. But Price became the first to play his first season, something I never thought I’d ever see. And because of that, the time has really flown.
I wrote a piece that ran Saturday in the Journal dealing with Price’s growth as a leader that you may have missed during the holiday revelry. If so, you can check it out here Deacons Price Putting All the Piece Together
But it being a week for leftovers, I thought I’d trot out some material that didn’t make the cut while I pack and pull things together for tomorrow’s drive out to Music City.
Price’s statistics are improved in almost every way over his freshman season, and sophomore receiver Michael Campanaro said there’s no mystery why. Going into his 13th game of the season, Price has completed 229 of 376 passes (61 percent) for 2,803 yards and 20 touchdowns, while throwing only six interceptions. A year ago he threw eight interceptions on 241 passes.
“I think just comparing last year to this year there’s a huge jump,’’ Campanaro said. “And I think even throughout the season I saw it.
“Personally, being a receiver you just see him reading the defense a lot faster. Presnap, he knows exactly where he’s going to go with the ball before the play even starts. Going into next year I think he’ll make another big jump, knowing him, the way he works and his work ethic.
“I’m just happy I’ve got him for the next two years.’‘
Price said he would hope he’s better as a sophomore with 21 starts under his belt than he was as a freshman.
“As you play the game and the more and more you play, you just learn from your experiences,’’ Price said. “And I felt much more comfortable and my understanding of the game continues to grow. So I think that’s the biggest area.
“But when you play quarterback you’ve always got to continually be improving. The moment you forget about your mechanics and footwork, it’s a disaster. So you’ve got to continually keep working on improving every element of playing quarterback.’‘
Grobe, for his part, was excited about Price as a person ever before he was completely sold on him as a quarterback.
“He doesn’t play the blame game,’’ Grobe said. “He never has. He didn’t last year. But he’s a real-deal guy. He’s just a good guy to have running the show.’‘
But he had a hunch Price would be a good one, and he’s turning out to be right.
“He’s just better in every way,’’ Grobe said. “He’s so much better than he was last year. He’s so much better than he was at the start of the year. But the next step for Tanner is to, instead of having eight or nine really good games, have 12 really good games and hopefully in a bowl game play well.
“The nice thing about Tanner, the best thing about him, is he plays hard every week. If he doesn’t have a real good game, it’s not because he’s not trying to have a great game. But the improvements that he’s made – Riley Skinner did some great things for us, but I don’t think anybody has made the kind of improvements at that position that Tanner has made up until now.’‘