Head to Head: Gill VS. Frazier

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No, this isn’t a sequel to that wonderful movie “Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever”. The experts here at “Saturdays Are 4 Football” thought we’d try something new. This section is going to be called “Head to Head” and in it, I’m going to look at two Husker greats from the past who played the same position and see if I can figure out who was “better”. And I couldn’t think of a better way to start this off than to compare two of the greatest signal callers in Cornhusker history…Tommie Frazier and Turner Gill. (In a side note, Gill and Frazier are often looked at as the gold standard among Nebraska QB’s…now that Taylor Martinez has broken almost every QB record in the history of the program, it will be interesting to see how he measures up to these two in the years to come)

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TOMMIE FRAZIER
Almost anyone who was a fan through the 1990s had some kind of Husker apparel emblazoned with the number “15″ on it. The early 1990s signaled a change in Husker philosophy: the Huskers were going to put speed and strength at every position on the field like never before, and securing Tommie Frazier’s commitment in February 1992 was the cornerstone. There were rumors that some of the coaching staff cheered wildly when Frazier called to announce his commitment, and some even cried. It was all with good reason. Frazier was an option wizard out of Bradenton Manatee High School in Bradenton, FL, and it was obvious when he set foot on campus that he was going to be a game changer. He skipped redshirting, took over the starting job midway through his freshman year, and never looked back. He made several national “All Century” teams, but does he make the grade as the greatest Husker quarterback ever?

TURNER GILL
There was baseless talk in the late 1970s that Tom Osborne wouldn’t recruit a black quarterback. TO squelched the rumors when he snatched multi-sport athlete Turner Gill from the Dallas/Fort Worth area away from rivals Oklahoma and Texas. He won Gill’s services because he promised Gill that he could also play baseball at Nebraska. Gill did have a decent college baseball career, but it was his work in football at quarterback that made him famous. Gill took Nebraska’s option attack to amazing heights, and was the trigger man for 1983′s famous “Scoring Explosion” backfield. Gill became well-known not only for his skills, but also his soft-spoken and humble demeanor. His determination to bring NU back from a two-TD, fourth-quarter deficit against Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl is legendary. He is the measuring stick by which all Nebraska quarterbacks past and present are judged. But how does Frazier measure up to Gill?

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PHYSICAL SKILLS
When they were seniors, Gill measured in at 6’0″ and 190 pounds, while Frazier was listed at 6’2″ and 205. Frazier ran a 4.6 time in the 40, and while I can’t definitely find Gill’s time, I think I remember it being a 4.6 as well. Frazier had a slightly stockier build than Gill. I don’t have any official testing numbers on either one, but both were tremendous athletes, and neither would be compared with Jared “The Pillsbury Throwboy” Lorenzen.
EDGE: EVEN

POSITION SKILLS
Both quarterbacks ran the option, so its fairly easy to compare the two. One thing of note is that both players were surrounded by incredible talent. Gill had a stable of high quality running backs like Mike Rozier, Roger Craig, Jeff Smith, and Mark Schellen (and future stars Paul Miles, Doug DuBose, and Tom Rathman) as well as receivers like Irving Fryar and Shane Swanson. Frazier had a stable that included Lawrence Phillips, Ahman Green, Damon Benning, Clinton Childs and Jay Sims, as well as receivers Brendan Holbein, Reggie Baul, and Sheldon and Vershan Jackson. It probably is no coincidence that those quarterbacks had career years in 1983 and 1995, because those were probably two of the best, if not THE best, offensive lines to come through the program.

Both were excellent runners, but there were differences here between the two. Gill was more elusive in the pocket and going down the line of scrimmage. Very seldom did Gill escape tacklers when he turned the corner, but then again, he really didn’t have to…his RBs maintained their pitch relationship throughout the entire play, allowing Gill to get a decent gain, then pitch before he got tackled. With the defense keying in on Gill, the RB he pitched to was free to make an extended gain. There were many instances when Gill would pitch five to ten yards downfield, and the running back would get credit for those yards on the rush. I believe Gill was a big reason why Mike Rozier won the Heisman…Rozier was an outstanding runner, but he was set up many times by Gill on the option.

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If Frazier hadn’t pitched by the time he got to the corner, he probably wasn’t going to pitch. Frazier was an expert at finding a seam and exploiting it. He had decent acceleration, but was still able to juke when he needed to. Perhaps more importantly, he was physical enough to pull away from defenders (75-yard run against Florida?) or when necessary, deliver a hit of his own. I found it amazing when I read one time that Brook Berringer was actually faster than Frazier in a straight 40…but then again, Frazier seldom went anywhere on the field in a straight line 40.

Frazier’s strength carried over into his passing as well. No one will ever question Frazier’s arm strength, but it was his accuracy that left a little to be desired. To his credit, it did get better as he got older, but it could still be rough at times (does anyone even remember that he threw two picks against Florida?). Defenders bit so hard on his play action fakes(they had to…you couldn’t leave Frazier with room to run), that there was often an open receiver streaking down the field, and Frazier could hit him in stride. Oh yeah, and to emphasize Frazier’s strength again, who can forget in the 1995 Colorado game when Frazier was back to pass and got drilled from the blindside by a CU safety? Frazier not only took the hit, but threw across the field to Ahman Green, who then took the ball inside the Buff 10.

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Gill turned the run-pass option into an art form. It was amazing watching him come down the line of scrimmage, checking off receivers, buying time with his feet, and if nothing was open, then taking off with it. Gill didn’t have all Frazier’s arm strength, but he did have poise in the pocket, good accuracy and a great touch on the ball. He could zip it when he had to, but when you have a receiving threat like Irving Fryar, it usually didn’t take very long to find an open receiver.
EDGE: SLIGHT EDGE TO FRAZIER IN RUNNING, SLIGHT EDGE TO GILL IN PASSING

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PEOPLE SKILLS
Gill was and pretty much always has been the poster boy as to what the University of Nebraska wants their student-athletes to be. Soft-spoken and articulate, he was the face of Husker athletics at a time when some of his teammates were living the wild college life. There were pictures of Gill on the sidelines talking to TO and it looked very much like a father-son picture. Gill was voted team captain and was a well-respected leader in the huddle. Frazier, on the other hand, gave good interviews but didn’t look all that comfortable doing them. Some of his teammates thought him to be arrogant…accounts I’ve read said he just didn’t like being in the spotlight that much. I personally saw him a couple of times in public. I don’t think he was acting like a jerk, but I do think he just wanted his privacy. Somewhat surprisingly, Frazier was never voted team captain. But one thing was universally clear…come game time, Frazier ran that huddle. He may not have been the most popular guy on the team, but he clearly had everyone’s respect. Does a person’s “people skills” have an effect on their legacy as a Husker? It can…just ask Lawrence Phillips. Gill has always embraced his Husker legacy, Frazier had to learn to accept it.
EDGE: GILL

CONSISTENCY AND DURABILITY
I challenge anyone to find a time when either Gill or Frazier “had a bad game”. If they were on the field, they were both competing at a high level. Maybe the one example you could possibly bring up might be when Frazier started the 1995 Orange Bowl against Miami, but was pulled in the first quarter with the Huskers trailing 10-0. I would attribute that to having a little bit of rust after sitting out three months with blood clots, and plus he did make amends by leading the Huskers on two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Consistency was not a problem with either one.

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One could argue that durability was somewhat of a problem, though. Gill took a late hit in the Missouri game his sophomore year (the name “Randy Jostes” will forever be known by die-hard Husker fans because of this) and got a concussion. That started a series of concussions that plagued him throughout the rest of his athletic career. He also missed the Oklahoma game and the bowl game against Clemson because of a leg injury. He had back spasms against Hawaii his junior year that kept him out of the first half. NU trailed Hawaii 10-0, but Gill came back to lead the offense in the second half as the Huskers rallied to win 37-16. Gill was by no means fragile–fragile QBs don’t last long running the option–but there was always the fear of recurring concussions. Frazier was never knocked out of a game, but I do remember waking up one morning in late September 1994 and hearing that Tommie Frazier was sidelined indefinitely, possibly permanently, with blood clots in his leg. (I may or may not have uttered a few words that would make a sailor proud upon hearing this) Frazier recovered, and I can’t recall any major scares with the blood clots during the 1995 season, although the fear lurked in the back of the minds of Husker fans.
EDGE: FRAZIER

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LEGACY
You can’t help but feel for Gill. He was arguably two plays and one injury away from three national championships. Had Gill been available against Clemson his sophomore year in the 1982 Orange Bowl, many believe the Huskers wouldn’t have lost that game 22-15. It took a horrible call by an official in Happy Valley (that receiver was OUT OF BOUNDS) to derail NU’s nation title aspirations in the 1982 season. And what Husker fan could ever forget the tipped two-point conversion pass against Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl? (Could Gill have ran it in himself? discuss…) Gill was All-Big 8, All-American, and finished fourth in the Heisman balloting his senior year. Gill was a warrior, but I think his legacy will always be tarnished just a little because his teams never won “The Big One”.

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Frazier defines the word “legacy” at Nebraska. Even though NU lost 18-16 in the 1994 Orange Bowl to Florida State, Frazier was named the MVP. In fact, he was named the MVP in three consecutive National Championship games. His teams won two national titles, and was a 45-yard missed field goal away from winning another. Frazier was a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy his junior year (he single-handedly made West Virginia look like a high school team in the Kickoff Classic) until the blood clots sidelined him. After the Lawrence Phillips debacle in 1995, Frazier took over as the Heisman candidate for the team, and finished second in the Heisman balloting. I don’t think there’s any media person out there who could say that Frazier didn’t deserve the Heisman ahead of Ohio State’s Eddie George, but it was their way of punishing NU for TO reinstating Phillips. Some will argue that Eric Crouch gained votes in the 2001 Heisman race to make up for Frazier not winning it in 1995. Frazier won a slew of awards his senior year, including becoming the first NU winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award. Few Huskers have come close to winning as many awards as Frazier…maybe the only names that could be in the same sentence would be Reynolds, Glover, Gill, Steinkuhler, Rimington, Rozier, Rodgers, Taylor, Wistrom, Crouch, and Suh. As mentioned earlier, Frazier even made several “All-Century” teams, and Sport magazine named him one of the Ten Greatest College Football Players of the Century. There’s no doubt he is the most decorated player in the history of the program.
EDGE: FRAZIER

FINAL ANALYSIS:
There is not a lot of difference between these two players physically, or in how they played the game. I think Frazier benefited from his Husker teams having better, faster defenses. The accomplishments of these two players and the marks they left on the program are staggering. It is also interesting to note that Gill was Frazier’s quarterback coach throughout the latter’s career, so I’m sure some of Gill had to have rubbed off on Frazier. Turner Gill set the bar high for Nebraska quarterbacks. Tommie Frazier raised the bar even higher.
IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, FRAZIER WINS THIS IN A CLOSE ONE.